Nest Boxes; why do we make a sitting hens job so difficult?

Excellent article Shadrach! I have a Buff Orpington that is a regular broody, and I have felt so bad for her, seeing her legs all splayed. She loses circulation I suppose and as she struggles to get up sometimes I see her fall back down & she is notorious for breaking an egg or three over the 3 weeks she sits. After reading your article, I am sure this is the cause, and now I have a few ideas about how to make my ladies more comfortable. Thank you!

Good idea to compare a chicken that is brooding in a natural situation with the artificial setup of a coop with nestboxes.

This is a very informative article. Making sure that the broody has control over her environment seems like it would make her more comfortable and lead to a more successful hatch and I really like the idea of using natural materials.

Great informative article! I am guilty of giving broodies flat surfaces (plastic dog crates) to incubate their eggs in. Early on when lots of hens began to go broody, I did notice the plastic bottom was too slick for them to keep their legs from splaying out to the side, so I started putting rectangular, low-sided cardboard boxes inside the plastic crates to decrease the nest size. This has worked sufficiently, but the surface is still flat, and your way seems so much better. Especially since my soil is very sandy, and so very easy for a hen to make a perfect nest area. Broodies are nearly done hatching this year, but next year I will let them do it your way!

very helpful

Useful information as I work on my new coop and the intended built-in broody facility.

So interesting. If you keep your birds at the balcony in cardboard boxes with sand and wood savings as a nest, with no garden, would a luffa sponge buried in a pot with grass allowed to grow on it, could be used as a base ground? Or their nails will be tangled?

Fascinating, pertinent information, lovely writing. A pleasure to read.

My flock has no rooster and I am unlikely to ever have a hen incubate eggs. That doesn't mean I am not curious about the subject, especially after reading various hatch-a-long threads and discovering that incubator success rate is a lot lower than I'd realized.

Thank you for this article Shadrach. It really illustrates that natural is best and satisfies my curiosity.

Very interesting i think I'll have to give this a try in the future!

Just binge read all of your articles. Gave me so much to think about...so much new information! Thank you!

Very nice work @shadrach.

Great read

Great observations and very well written! I especially appreciated the focus on natural behavior, and using it to improve keeping techniques.
I too would be interested in reading your book. What topics will you cover?

Will be earmarked for the future, when I find a Roo to breed my hens.

The 'bowl' shaped nest - a basic and frequently overlooked reality. Well observed and written.

Thanks, Shadrack! This article has prompted me to change the design of my nest boxes when I do my shed to coop conversion this spring. Anything to make my chickens lives more natural and enjoyable.

Thanks for a great article! As a newbie, I was wondering what the best nesting materials were. Your observations and conclusions make very good sense. I really appreciate you taking the time and sharing this information. I just put together a nestbox condo - 3 in a row - built with plywood. I think I’ll find some shallow containers (maybe dish pans) to fill with a piece of sod a few inches thick, and put one of these in each box. Mahalo for all your help!