What is the ideal size for nest boxes for standard chickens? Our neighbors are 12"X12" but that seemed somewhat small to me. How many layers to a nest box? We have 11 or so pullets right now.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Nest box size for standard chickens?
- Thread starter SpringChickens
- Start date
If the 12x12 seems small Id go 16x16. I belive you need 1 nest box per 4 or 5 hens.
ETA: 11 hens 3 nest boxes would be plenty. But 2 would probally work.
ETA: 11 hens 3 nest boxes would be plenty. But 2 would probally work.
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Our boxes are 12x12 and we have some good sized girls and they seem to fit ok. we have 10 standards and 3 bantam hens, 4 are not laying yet. We have 6 boxes now which is overkill but we have overly spoiled chickens!
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waynesgarden
Feathers of Steel
My medium sized Chanteclers have 12x12 boxes. Haven't heard any complaints. 2 boxes for 6 hens.
Wayne
Wayne
- Thread starter
- #6
Great ideas! Thank you all!! It's so nice to have this readily available source of information.
My current boxes are 18" x 21". The girls aren't complaining, but I'm going larger soon. They just look cramped in them to me. They are LF brahmas.
They say one box for every four hens, but on any given day all 14 of my hens use at most 2 of the 4 boxes.
Something to keep in mind during the construction of your coop and nest boxes...you want your nest boxes to be lower than your roosts. Chickens want to roost as high as possible at night and you don't want them sleeping in your nest boxes. Poopey eggs = ewwwwwwwwww.
They say one box for every four hens, but on any given day all 14 of my hens use at most 2 of the 4 boxes.
Something to keep in mind during the construction of your coop and nest boxes...you want your nest boxes to be lower than your roosts. Chickens want to roost as high as possible at night and you don't want them sleeping in your nest boxes. Poopey eggs = ewwwwwwwwww.
- Thread starter
- #8
What about putting the nest boxes at floor level with a board (or something) to keep the eggs and bedding in?
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Don't see why that wouldn't work.
Don't see why that wouldn't work.
It depends on how big your standard chickens are.
We got prefab nest boxes in the "big bird" size and they fit our barred rocks, RI Reds, EEs, and SLW just fine. But the nests are not quite big enough for Lucille, our Cornish X girl. She really wants to nest in there, and she can get in, but it's scraping some of the feathers off her chest.
We got prefab nest boxes in the "big bird" size and they fit our barred rocks, RI Reds, EEs, and SLW just fine. But the nests are not quite big enough for Lucille, our Cornish X girl. She really wants to nest in there, and she can get in, but it's scraping some of the feathers off her chest.
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