nest box size?

[no1hilbily]

How big should i make nest boxes for isa browns and how many for 14 hens thank you

 

[Ridgerunner]

Good question. First, let me give you a thread that has a lot of different nest types. Some are pretty wild and some are real easy. They will also show that there is no one correct answer. You are only limited by your imagination.

Nesting Boxes
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=41108

The general rule of thumb is one nest box for every 4 hens. For 14 hens you could probably get by with 3 but I would provide 4. You will find that they strongly prefer one or two over the others. If I get 10 eggs with my 3 nests, I'll usually find 7 in one, 3 in another, and the third one empty. You'll often see a hen on the nest and another hen pacing, looking in the nest, and doing anything she can to tell the other hen to hurry up while there are other nests empty. But there are times those other nests come in handly, such as when a hen goes broody and will not let another hen in with her.

For ISA Browns, the minimum size I would use if I were building instead of using a bucket or something like that is 12" x 12". I made mine 16" x 16" on the theory that some hens like to lay together and a larger nest would give them room to do that. You'll see some photos on this forum of one hen actually laying on top of another hen in a small nest. Some hens will not allow another hen in the same nest to lay, yet I have seen three hens crowded into one nest.

I find that unless I put a pretty high lip on the bottom of my nest, like 5" to 6", the hens tend to scratch the nesting material and sometimes other eggs out of the nest box when they are scratching in the nest ot get it just right for laying an egg. You can see from the thread that others apparently don't have that problem, but I definitely do. Again, it just shows that there is no one correct answer to this question.

As far as the size of the opening for the hen to enter the nest, I've made mine as short as 6" and had no problem, but I prefer 8". It just seem seasier for them to enter if the nest is elevated a little, but I think that is just my preference. I've had hens that preferred the nests with the 6" opening.

Hope this helps some. Good luck!