Nesting boxes

I have 24 hens and 8 nesting boxes.  they use one of the boxes and a corner of the coop.

The general rule of thumb is 1 nest box for every 4-5 hens.  I have four nest boxes and 13 hens and honestly they usually just use the two "favorites".  It's like they think "hey there's an egg in here, so I'm going to lay one in here too", even if there are two other hens scrunched into the same box at the moment or if the other three are empty...

This is my first attempt at raising chicks & ducks & building a coop as well. I have a mix of full-sized & bantums. Do I need different sized nest boxes in my coop for the different sized birds? And how big should the boxes be? I have an old kitchen cupboard with 4 doors & 2-3 shelves in each door that I was considering cutting part of the shelves out of to make dividers between boxes. Plus the back panel would come off to attach that side to the coop & I can use pieces of that for dividers as well. And would it be better to use floor tile or shelf/contact paper in the bottom of the boxes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nsampsel 

This is my first attempt at raising chicks & ducks & building a coop as well. I have a mix of full-sized & bantums. Do I need different sized nest boxes in my coop for the different sized birds? And how big should the boxes be? I have an old kitchen cupboard with 4 doors & 2-3 shelves in each door that I was considering cutting part of the shelves out of to make dividers between boxes. Plus the back panel would come off to attach that side to the coop & I can use pieces of that for dividers as well. And would it be better to use floor tile or shelf/contact paper in the bottom of the boxes?

Mine are 12"X12"X12" with Berber carpet and pine shavings in them. My RIRs and araucana banties both use them. I would not use floor tile in them.

How do you keep the carpet clean in the nest boxes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nsampsel 

How do you keep the carpet clean in the nest boxes?

The carpet has shavings on top of it. It's been in there for 6 months and not soiled yet. If it does get dirty I'll just cut another piece.
 

I don't have ready access to carpeting, but I do have the pine bedding & can get straw or hay. What would you suggest in place of the carpeting as long as something was going over top of it? Would the vinyl floor tile or contact paper be ok then?

Ahh! When you said "floor tile", I automatically thought ceramic. Yeah, vinyl tile, sheet vinyl, painted plywood, unpainted plywood... anything will work. I just put the carpet in there cause they have the tendency to "bowl" the shavings, exposing the plywood underneath.

Ok...ty :)