Opinion on nesting boxes

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Renee572

Renee572

Songster
5 Years
Apr 11, 2014
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We turned an old dresser into our nesting boxes, so far we have 1 layer and she will not lay in the boxes. Honestly I haven't even seen any of my chickens checking out the boxes. I have fake eggs in there as I have read that suggested. If my kids weren't the ones responsible for doing chicken chores I would be fine with wherever they laid their eggs in the coop but I am afraid my kids won't be observant and they will end up stepping on them. Anyway I was wondering if you guys could look at my setup and see if I should change it to be more inviting, I have some ideas but maybe I just need to give my girl some more time to figure it out. Here's a pic.


I have thought about taking the dividers back out and just putting the 2nd and 4th drawers back in, either putting the dish pans inside the drawers or just putting the wood chips into the drawers themselves. And maybe adding some fabric to the top to give the girls more privacy. If you can see to the left of the dresser there is kind of a dark space in the corner and that is where my BA likes to lay her egg so I am wondering if she needs some more privacy. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
 
Renee572 said:
We turned an old dresser into our nesting boxes, so far we have 1 layer and she will not lay in the boxes. Honestly I haven't even seen any of my chickens checking out the boxes. I have fake eggs in there as I have read that suggested. If my kids weren't the ones responsible for doing chicken chores I would be fine with wherever they laid their eggs in the coop but I am afraid my kids won't be observant and they will end up stepping on them. Anyway I was wondering if you guys could look at my setup and see if I should change it to be more inviting, I have some ideas but maybe I just need to give my girl some more time to figure it out. Here's a pic.


I have thought about taking the dividers back out and just putting the 2nd and 4th drawers back in, either putting the dish pans inside the drawers or just putting the wood chips into the drawers themselves. And maybe adding some fabric to the top to give the girls more privacy. If you can see to the left of the dresser there is kind of a dark space in the corner and that is where my BA likes to lay her egg so I am wondering if she needs some more privacy. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
My opinion would be to take the dish pans out, nail or screw a three or four inch piece of wood like plywood on the bottom of both drawer spaces and leave the dividers in that gives you four nesting areas instead of two, the lip will give the girls more privacy and add straw to the nest boxes my girls like straw better then shavings. How many chickens do you have?
jumpy.gif
 
Thanks papas chickens, we have 5 chickens. We tried to plan for having more in the future so I know 4 nest boxes is more than enough. I think I will work on the boxes but I think maybe Penguin is just gonna be stubborn. Just went to check on them and she laid another egg right out in the open this time so maybe she doesn't like the boxes period.
 
Renee572 said:
Thanks papas chickens, we have 5 chickens. We tried to plan for having more in the future so I know 4 nest boxes is more than enough. I think I will work on the boxes but I think maybe Penguin is just gonna be stubborn. Just went to check on them and she laid another egg right out in the open this time so maybe she doesn't like the boxes period.
Click to expand...
Maybe take one of those dish pans and put it were she is laying see if she will use it then. I have 45 chickens and 5 guinea keets i use a rule of thumb, 1 box for 4 chickens but the more the better IMO lol.
jumpy.gif
 
Thanks jetdog, definitely need to make some adjustments to my boxes then. I need to get the hens to lay in the boxes because laying on the ground of the coop just won't do with 5 kids in and out of there doing chores.
 
Fronts of my nest boxes are covered with plywood with a hole for entry.....makes it a little darker, holds in the bedding and looks cool IMO.
A perch in front of nests can surely help, a necessity if they're off the floor very far.
I used golf balls in nest when I got my adult flock, tho the rooster actually got into a double nest to show them where to lay.
My new layers wouldn't use the nest until I took the golf balls out.

This is a solid model of my main coop nests with back access(dividers aren't shown).
Dimensions for each division is 14" wide, 16" tall and 14" deep, hole is 10" diameter centered 7" from top.



This is the nest I just cobbled together yesterday for my junior coop...have 2 just starting to lay.
I was using a 5 gallon bucket here but felt it was just a little small for comfortable maneuvering.
Dimensions are 14" wide, 16" tall and 16" deep, hole is 10" diameter centered 7" from top.
 

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