Topic of the Week - Nest boxes

[aart]

It is.....hahahahaha!....sorry, it IS a PITA.

 

[CDA15]

We have 3 nest boxes that are off the ground, but all 3 chickens prefer to use the same nest box! What would the reason for this be? It perplexes me. We use shaving in our next boxes - but I think I'd like to try something different so I'm looking forward to seeing what you all do.

I can't offer a reason, but I have questions. Lol. How big are your boxes? I guess they take turns, and they don't bother each other's eggs? We are still building our coop and our nesting box is about 24w and 12d and 15h. It is attached to the exterior but with the way the framing of the coop is, the width of opening to the nesting box is about 20 in wide. So I'm in a quandary about dividing the box. Do you think I can leave it as one big box? We will have 6 hens. Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[RowanTheRed]

It is.....hahahahaha!....sorry, it IS a PITA.

Lol, that it is

 

[GC-Raptor]

There IS a pretty good lip on them, about 6 inches I'd say
View attachment 1075100

WOW, you got some rambunctious girls there. Most recommend a 4 inch lip. GC

 

[RowanTheRed]

WOW, you got some rambunctious girls there. Most recommend a 4 inch lip. GC

You have no idea! Rambunctious is an understatement when it comes to them wrecking havoc with the nest boxes.

 

[anatess]

I got egg boxes from the dollar store. I have silkies and they fit perfectly in this dollar store container. Most of the time, I see 2 of them pile in one container. They are silly silkies. Anyway, the first time I used it, I didn't realize that the bucket would flip to the side when they step into it so they ended up laying eggs in the corner. I put a piece of tile under the kiln-dried pine bedding and it hasn't been a problem and my silkies are happy (I think. Who knows what these silly chickens are really thinking! For all I know they're cursing me out for being a cheapskate everytime they lay an egg!)

 

[cmom]

Mine lay their eggs all over the yard and then do a massive poop on the eggs!

I tried encouraging them with the boxes but these are wild hens!

Your avatar looks like a Leghorn and they are flighty birds. I have Leghorns also. They lay in a milk crate filled with hay with a golf ball in it. They always lay in their milk crate nest box.

 

[cmom]

I can't offer a reason, but I have questions. Lol. How big are your boxes? I guess they take turns, and they don't bother each other's eggs? We are still building our coop and our nesting box is about 24w and 12d and 15h. It is attached to the exterior but with the way the framing of the coop is, the width of opening to the nesting box is about 20 in wide. So I'm in a quandary about dividing the box. Do you think I can leave it as one big box? We will have 6 hens. Thanks for your thoughts!

Yes you can leave it as one big nest box. All of my coops have multiple nest boxes and there are many times when I will find almost a dozen eggs in one next box. All of my coops have at least 4 nest boxes in each. One coop has 8 and another coop has 12, but more often they don't lay in all of them, just a few boxes.

 

[cmom]

My neighbor bought a few birds from me and she put a 2 shelf book shelf up and put a piece of wood across the bottom of each shelf to keep the shavings she uses in them in. She has around a dozen birds that lay their eggs in the modified book shelves. She did put a couple of golf balls one on each shelf to encourage the girls to lay in them. A peculiar thing with the girls, if they see an egg in a nest box they want to lay in there too.

 

[CDA15]

Yes you can leave it as one big nest box. All of my coops have multiple nest boxes and there are many times when I will find almost a dozen eggs in one next box. All of my coops have at least 4 nest boxes in each. One coop has 8 and another coop has 12, but more often they don't lay in all of them, just a few boxes.

Thank you! That helps us a lot. I thought we might have to rebuild or modify the coop.