I've had full sized hens (Orpington, Delaware, Sussex, Australorp) use a nest with a 6" high opening. I did not have enough of a lip on the bottom to hold in their bedding so I had to increase the lip, that's why it was so small. This was in a tractor I had and the nest was low enough they could just step in. Those nests were 8" wide.
The way I understand it each of your nests has an opening 12" wide and 9" high. The overall height inside varies between 14" to 16". The front to back inside depth is 16". You have two nests but I can't tell how wide each one is inside but at least 12" wide. Is this a reasonably accurate summary?
An opening of 9" high is high enough, I see no reason to change that. I would not remove any of the lip to jeopardize getting it low enough that they could scratch bedding and eggs out. I personally don't see a problem with the opening being 12" wide but if you reduce that down to 8" I don't see a problem. Either should work. The insides of the nests are plenty big enough.
A standard recommendation is for a nest for full sized fowl be at least 12" x 12" x 12". Your nests exceed these minimums.
I grew up on a farm. One of my chores was collecting eggs. Most of them came from the nests in the hen house (open top nests with no cover) but some hens would hide nests in a hay loft or other places. If people could just see some of the places they used, anywhere from on top of a bale of hay in the open to pretty small holes way back in the hay. Or in the corner of a stable.
Thinking of some of these nests I kind of smile when I see some of the rules people put on what the nests have to look like for the hens to lay in them. But the serious side of that is that we do want them to use our nests instead of hiding a nest. I think yours will meet that criteria for most hens though every now and then you get a hen that is just plain weird. You can help your odds by putting a fake egg in each nest. I use golf balls.
The way I understand it each of your nests has an opening 12" wide and 9" high. The overall height inside varies between 14" to 16". The front to back inside depth is 16". You have two nests but I can't tell how wide each one is inside but at least 12" wide. Is this a reasonably accurate summary?
An opening of 9" high is high enough, I see no reason to change that. I would not remove any of the lip to jeopardize getting it low enough that they could scratch bedding and eggs out. I personally don't see a problem with the opening being 12" wide but if you reduce that down to 8" I don't see a problem. Either should work. The insides of the nests are plenty big enough.
A standard recommendation is for a nest for full sized fowl be at least 12" x 12" x 12". Your nests exceed these minimums.
I grew up on a farm. One of my chores was collecting eggs. Most of them came from the nests in the hen house (open top nests with no cover) but some hens would hide nests in a hay loft or other places. If people could just see some of the places they used, anywhere from on top of a bale of hay in the open to pretty small holes way back in the hay. Or in the corner of a stable.
Thinking of some of these nests I kind of smile when I see some of the rules people put on what the nests have to look like for the hens to lay in them. But the serious side of that is that we do want them to use our nests instead of hiding a nest. I think yours will meet that criteria for most hens though every now and then you get a hen that is just plain weird. You can help your odds by putting a fake egg in each nest. I use golf balls.
