Hen Chronicles: Fighting over their turf . . . (well, sort of )

Our three hens share their living quarters quite well, nuzzling side by side on the roost at night, eating amiably in their pen, taking dust baths together, snoozing under the elevated coop on hot summer afternoons.

But there’s one piece of real estate that is coveted by each hen and, sometimes, hotly contested by them: the nest box.

This box, a tiny, three-walled room of sorts tucked into a back corner of the coop, is where Snow, Nellie and Hope lay their eggs. Actually, our coop has two side-by-side nest boxes, but one is longer and more open than the other, and all three hens insist on using the more secluded of the two. The larger one is, for all intents and purposes, wasted space.

The nest boxes are covered by a lid. Retrieving eggs is as simple as lifting the lid and reaching in to grab whatever goodies the hens have left behind. If Snow is in the nest box when I peek in, I may give her a gentle nudge to see if she’ll walk away, so I can check on whether she’s been sitting on any eggs.

Usually, Snow will saunter off, at least temporarily. The same goes for Nellie. But Hope is another matter. Otherwise meek and gentle, Hope tolerates no disturbances while in the nest box. She has been known to give an intruding hand a lightning-fast peck with her hard, sharp beak. Message received. Lesson learned.

When I lifted the lid the other day, there was Hope in the nest box, giving me the evil eye. I gently closed the lid and walked off, knowing full well who was in charge. 

A short time later, I noticed that Nellie was alone outside in the pen. Based on past experience, that could mean only one thing. Sure enough, Snow had muscled her way into the nest box while Hope was still there, even though the box is only big enough to accommodate one hen comfortably. Snow sat quietly on the bedding while Hope stood next to her, making a high-pitched sound that I recognized as a show of anger or frustration. Unfortunately for Hope, she's at the bottom of the pecking order. Snow is at the top, and she showed no sign of ceding her turf to Hope.

This was no time for human intervention. I left the hens to work things out between themselves.

Eventually, Snow and Hope rejoined Nellie in the pen. With the coast finally clear, I checked the nest box yet again. Three eggs! To rewrite that disclaimer that always pops up in movie credits: No animals (or humans) were harmed in the making of this breakfast.