Nest box questions

[AnitaBheer]

Still building the coop and now I have nest box questions. Thinking out loud, and willing to take advice.

I built this shelf (30" high off the floor) to put the nest boxes on. The area underneath I planned to fence off for a sick bay/ introduction pen/etc.

Is this too high for chickens? Even with a ramp? Roosts would be similar height and I would slope the nest box top to deter roosting. But reading elsewhere, it sounds like I need roosts higher than nest boxes.

I'm getting orpingtons in the hopes they will brood and raise chicks. I assume this shelf is too high for chicks, so could I move the broody hen and her nest to the "pen" area? Or would she abandon it? Or could I just watch for hatching and assist chicks down?

I could move the whole shelf/sick bay and just put a roost above it and put the nest boxes on the floor. Not terrible but not what I originally hoped for.

 

[nuthatched]

Not too high at all, mine are about that high. My highest roost is about 5', ny lowest roost is about 3' high. Ramps are not remotely necessarily.
You want your roosts at least a chicken high taller than the roosts.
I'd turn under neath into a broody bay.

 

[AnitaBheer]

Not too high at all, mine are about that high. My highest roost is about 5', ny lowest roost is about 3' high. Ramps are not remotely necessarily.
You want your roosts at least a chicken high taller than the roosts.
I'd turn under neath into a broody bay.

Will a broody hen abandon her nest if I move it from the nest box up top to the broody bay? I suppose I can lock her in with it for a few days to be sure.

 

[nuthatched]

Will a broody hen abandon her nest if I move it from the nest box up top to the broody bay? I suppose I can lock her in with it for a few days to be sure.

It all depends on her.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Roosts do need to be higher than nests. Chickens want to roost as high as they can get for safety. If they sleep in the nests they will poop in them, and you will have nasty, poopy eggs. But you don't want your roosts too high, especially for heavy birds like Orps. They can bruise their feet jumping down, resulting in bumblefoot. You do not want bumblefoot in your chickens. I'd think 3.5 to 4' high maximum for your roosts.

Also, rethink staggered roosts. You do not want chickens on the lower bars getting pooped on from the birds on the higher bars. If you do stagger your roosts, be sure they are spaced far enough apart to prevent this.

I highly recommend poop trays under your roosts. At first I never heard of poop trays. Now I have them. They contain sand and Sweet PDZ (avail in the horse section of the feed store). I scoop the poop daily and my coop does not stink.

 

[Poppy Putentake]

I've raised chicks with a broody hen several times, in a small tractor separate from the larger coop for the grown hens. It has a ramp leading to an "upstairs" area with a place for brooding chicks somewhat larger than a regular nesting box. However, I have always started the chicks with the hen in the "downstairs" area, in an oversized temporary brooding/nesting box (made from a cardboard box). After about five days, the hen will always move the chicks to the "upstairs" area.

I have considered starting the hen and chicks from the beginning in the "upstairs" area (which the hen seems to prefer) but have not done so because of concern about the chicks not being able to handle the ramp until they are a few days older. I've wondered whether they might actually be okay being "upstairs" right away.

(Chicks develop with remarkable rapidity during the first few days. By a week old, they are usually quite a bit more agile, and some even have flight feathers then and are beginning to try to fly.)

As for nest boxes, for my next coop, I'm planning on four boxes in two tiers (i.e, 2x2), with the lower tier about 10"-12" from the coop floor and the upper tier about 14" higher than that.