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[Korva]

So I'm puttering around a bit in an 31.19 test fort to see the new critters. Embarking with a rooster and two hens yielded a whooping total of 19 eggs for the first clutch which I allowed to hatch, then another clutch or two which were eaten. So far so good.

However, I then deconstructed the nest boxes to move them to another spot, and since then the hens refuse to lay more eggs. They "claim" them just fine, but never sit on them. Nothing seems to persuade them to do so. Assigning them to a pasture with the boxes in it, removing the boxes again, building more boxes. Now I have four boxes for my two hens and all are "claimed", but never used.

Anyone else found that problem? I think I'll toss it on the bug tracker.

[Girlinhat]

How long have you waited.  Egg-layers seem to notice something's off after a random amount of time.

[Korva]

About two seasons now. I'll further keep an eye on it, and see what happens when the chicks mature and get ready to claim their own nests.

[ral]

How have you managed to keep wild birds out of your nest boxes? I still haven't found a way, other than killing them when they come along. Chain up some war dogs?

[Korva]

Make it a year, now. A hen will "claim" every available nest box but never actually sit on one to lay/incubate a clutch once she loses her first nest. I reproduced this in a new embark/world and reported it as a bug.

Neither embark had wild birds to rush my boxes, which is a shame since it sounds like a hoot. Will the wild ones evict tame birds from "claimed" nests?

[ral]

No, they just run up and claim boxes then cause lots of "Urist Woodcutter cancels fell tree, interrupted by Turkey Hen" spam. I'd just ignore them and steal their eggs if they weren't interrupting dwarves.

[Keldane]

This explains much - I posted elsewhere with a similar issue, and this thread seems to have the answer to why I had someone's pet turkey hen claiming every nest box as soon as it was built without using any of them. It was my mistake for having deconstructed the nest box to oust the hen, then rebuilding it.

[Korva]

Now that the hens from the first clutches have matured, I chucked their mothers in a cage, de- and re-constructed the nests so they were not claimed uselessly anymore, and let some of the "new" hens out. They promptly claimed the nests and are happily incubating their own clutches now. Bottom line: if you have to move claimed nests, let the birds lay a clutch first so their daughters can properly use the nests in their new location later. The original nest-owners seem to be good only for the pot once evicted.

Of course, this does not solve the problem if the nest-hogging bird is a pet ...

[ShattererOfWorlds]

How have you managed to keep wild birds out of your nest boxes? I still haven't found a way, other than killing them when they come along. Chain up some war dogs?

Worked for me:

• cage-trap the door to wherever your nest boxes are
• wait for wild birds to claim 'em and get trapped
• tame the wild birds at a kennel and let them go to the box, where they will now be useful

[ral]

Thats what I ended up doing. After a while the birds seemed to learn to stay away.