Any Problem with Oversized Nesting Boxes? My Current Footprint?

[Red Barn Farms]

All of our nesting boxes are 12" x 12" X 14". We have six nesting boxes but out of our 20 or so laying age chickens they really only use two of the boxes anyway. The 14" is the height which works well with larger standard breeds while getting into and out of the boxes. Providing more head room never hurts. We also provide a community nest box which three of our Cochin bantams use. We have a few chickens (game birds) who never use the boxes and prefer to build their own nests on hay bales which are located in the barn loft. .

One of our black silkies dug her nest in a hay bale and has decided to become broody. She's on week two!

 

[aoxa]

All of our nesting boxes are 12" x 12" X 14".   We have six nesting boxes but out of our 20 or so laying age chickens they really only use two of the boxes anyway.  The 14" is the height which works well with larger standard breeds while getting into and out of the boxes.  Providing more head room never hurts.  We also provide a community nest box which three of our Cochin bantams use.   We have a few chickens (game birds) who never use the boxes and prefer to build their own nests on hay bales which are located in the barn loft. .    One of our black silkies dug her nest in a hay bale and has decided to become broody.  She's on week two!  

Congrats on your broody!

My silkies do the same thing. I have one nesting in the corner behind a swimming pool filled with dirt for dust bathing. She's really crammed in there!

 

[makemineirish]

Thanks for taking time out of your day to lend a neophyte a hand.

aoxa - I appreciate your point with regards to communal boxes and may include that as
an option in my proposed modular system. Your commentary on the age
dependency of behaviors exhibited by the chickens is great.
Izzyman - I LOVE that you included experimental results on the chickens' preference
(inadvertent as the experiment may have been).
JeffOoef - Upcycling is my primary objective in all projects and am thrilled that you had
a suggestion for something easy to put my hands on. I have already asked my
mother to start saving her litter buckets for me.
Ridgerunner - I cannot express how helpful it is when posters use a specific term like
"garden moat". Ninety precent of my difficulty in researching anything comes
from finding the magic words to ender into the search field.

Here is the current plan based on the your suggestions

I wanted to do 14"x14" because that coincided with the diameter of some stainless dog bowls that I had to use as pans, but could easily use cat litter buckets if that is a better size for bantams. I intend to use 14"x14" wood "shelf" with a cutout the diameter of my pan. the pan will rest in the "shelf", leaving no crevices on the sides to collect debris. The lip is created by the 4" depth of the pan. I am going to raise the "roof" a couple of inches to allow for a 12" opening above the 4"h pan

The interior face of the nesting box would be a solid wall with a 12" circular cutout for entrance and a simple bracket system to hold a removable cover in place. I can keep the nest boxes closed off while the juvenile chickens are growing and establish their roosting behavior until they mature.

The nesting boxes will be external with exterior doors, rather than a heavy hinged roof, (similar to Heather Bullard's coop http://heatherbullard.typepad.com/heather_bullard_collectio/2010/03/our-chicken-coop.html) and arranged in quads (stacked 2x2 on two adjacent walls with the blind corner being used for feed storage. The external position does not allow for roosting on top.

The collective wisdom appears to be that larger is acceptable, but that the chickens prefer to be a bit cozier. To this end, I am going to fool around with modular divider concepts. This would allow me to have a two permanent 3' square nesting areas, but rearrange the subdividers as my needs require. If I do it well, some of the unnecessary nest space could be utilized as extra storage.

 

[makemineirish]

A cat litter bucket is the perfect size for bantams. You could build them 14 x 14 x 14, then place a bucket in each as long as you are raising bantams, then take them out if you change or mix. Sounds like you're building more nest boxes than you need for the size coop you're building. They'll share, even if they have private ones available. You need about one for every 4 or 5 birds.

You are right, eight nesting boxes is way more than I need. The suggested number given in different sources varied between one per 2-5 chickens. I was creating the exterior/interior aesthetic that I liked and allowing for the possibility of "chicken math" getting me

I have already edited my original post to include slightly larger dimensions for the henhouse and coop (when I still have not gotten chickens). If I do a modular system, I may be able choose between nest boxes or storage as needed.

 

[aoxa]

Thanks for taking time out of your day to lend a neophyte a hand.

aoxa - I appreciate your point with regards to communal boxes and may include that as
an option in my proposed modular system. Your commentary on the age
dependency of behaviors exhibited by the chickens is great.
Izzyman - I LOVE that you included experimental results on the chickens' preference
(inadvertent as the experiment may have been).
JeffOoef - Upcycling is my primary objective in all projects and am thrilled that you had
a suggestion for something easy to put my hands on. I have already asked my
mother to start saving her litter buckets for me.
Ridgerunner - I cannot express how helpful it is when posters use a specific term like
"garden moat". Ninety precent of my difficulty in researching anything comes
from finding the magic words to ender into the search field.
Here is the current plan based on the your suggestions I wanted to do 14"x14" because that coincided with the diameter of some stainless dog bowls that I had to use as pans, but could easily use cat litter buckets if that is a better size for bantams. I intend to use 14"x14" wood "shelf" with a cutout the diameter of my pan. the pan will rest in the "shelf", leaving no crevices on the sides to collect debris. The lip is created by the 4" depth of the pan. I am going to raise the "roof" a couple of inches to allow for a 12" opening above the 4"h pan The interior face of the nesting box would be a solid wall with a 12" circular cutout for entrance and a simple bracket system to hold a removable cover in place. I can keep the nest boxes closed off while the juvenile chickens are growing and establish their roosting behavior until they mature. The nesting boxes will be external with exterior doors, rather than a heavy hinged roof, (similar to Heather Bullard's coop http://heatherbullard.typepad.com/heather_bullard_collectio/2010/03/our-chicken-coop.html) and arranged in quads (stacked 2x2 on two adjacent walls with the blind corner being used for feed storage. The external position does not allow for roosting on top. The collective wisdom appears to be that larger is acceptable, but that the chickens prefer to be a bit cozier. To this end, I am going to fool around with modular divider concepts. This would allow me to have a two permanent 3' square nesting areas, but rearrange the subdividers as my needs require. If I do it well, some of the unnecessary nest space could be utilized as extra storage.

I find it very inspiring that you are really thinking all this through BEFORE the purchase. Bigger is better in coop size. Chicken math does not discriminate, and I'm sure you will come down with the chicken bug as well. Remember that though most sites recommend 4 square feet per chicken, more is better. Especially if you live in a cold climate and the birds will spend time indoors in the winter. At least 10 square feet per chicken in the run. How big is your coop again so far? I like the subdivider idea. If you ever have a hen who wants to be mama, you can expand her space to 2 nesting boxes, though even better would be a separate broody area. Some people build this up high and hang feeders and waterers under that. I'm not sure what you are planning to do with your birds, or even if you will want to brood chicks, but it's also a great thing to have if you want to have chicks again another year, or have an injured bird that needs isolation.

 

[Going Quackers]

This thread has been an interesting read, we have a nestbox 'area' that is as far as i have gotten..

it even has a hinged lid(outside access) yet it's screwed down still. We only have 4 birds and with the way we built the coop it ended up where we can divide this space to make 3 nextboxes of pretty good size... i'm still trying to figure out how to do it, 3 nextboxes is to many for 4 birds...

The ladies are only coming up on 4mths so i doubt they will lay for awhile, i am used to my ducks who have no nestboxes they just rearrange bedding and lay

 

[makemineirish]

I find it very inspiring that you are really thinking all this through BEFORE the purchase. Bigger is better in coop size. Chicken math does not discriminate, and I'm sure you will come down with the chicken bug as well. Remember that though most sites recommend 4 square feet per chicken, more is better. Especially if you live in a cold climate and the birds will spend time indoors in the winter. At least 10 square feet per chicken in the run. How big is your coop again so far?
I like the subdivider idea. If you ever have a hen who wants to be mama, you can expand her space to 2 nesting boxes, though even better would be a separate broody area. Some people build this up high and hang feeders and waterers under that. I'm not sure what you are planning to do with your birds, or even if you will want to brood chicks, but it's also a great thing to have if you want to have chicks again another year, or have an injured bird that needs isolation.

I live in Austin, TX. Cold is rarely the problem. Rather, I am being careful in the placement, construction materials, and venting to ensure that I do not cook my chickens

.

In answer to the question on coop size, my tentative plan is a:
- 6' square henhouse with two external 3'w x 3'h x 18" nesting areas with modular dividers forming as many as eight nesting boxes
- 6' x 12' fully-roofed run with another 6' running beneath the henhouse.
That gives me 36sft of interior space(excluding nest boxes) and 108 sqft of run. My math indicates that the henhouse is sufficient for nine standard chickens and as many as eighteen bantams (while I am only planning on 7-9). The run should be adequate for ten of either. Although...I keep expanding the plan.

Based on research and suggestions in my "Indispensable Features" thread, I am trying to incorporate:
- Complete exterior access to everything
- Exterior nesting boxes with modular subdividers
- Raised hen house with mesh floor to allow for deep litter
- Removable hen house floor for thorough cleaning
- Removable bins in nest boxes for cleaning
- Interior doors on nest boxes to prevent entry when warranted
- Coop door wide enough to accommodate a wheelbarrow.
- Automatic door on hen house triggered by light exposure (if the cost-benefit analysis can sway me to drop $200 on one)
- Hanging feed and water
- Staggered height roosts (for a safe ladder to the highest roost)
- Windows on the henhouse to easily view chickens, food, and water
- Dutch doors
- Gutters
- Rainwater collection barrel
(This is why the significant other hates for me to design things. He could happily build a shanty out of discarded shipping crates before I am done drafting detailed blueprints

.)

My understanding is that bantams need just as much outdoor space as standards because they are typically more active. I also plan to have a 3'w x 2'h tunnel that runs along my fence on the opposite side of the henhouse from the run. I can simply add to the length as time permits until they have a track down the length of the yard, providing another 3 sqft per linear foot of "tunnel". The tunnel would not be predator-proof, but would only be for daytime excursions. I would love to free-range them, but read that bantams are still relatively flight-capable; my fence is only 6' near the house and 4' at the rear property line. I am concerned that the best outcome I could hope for to an unimpeded walkabout... would be bare-assed chickens and feather-bearded neighbor dogs.

As to what I am doing with my birds...
Primarily, they would be pets. Their only job would be to rid the vegetable garden of bugs when I can turn them loose without fear for fruits and shoots. The vegetable garden is currently 11'w x 28'l x 10'h, and fully enclosed with 3/4" hardware cloth. I intend to eat the eggs, but never chickens that I have cosseted and named

. I am allowing for the possibility of having chicks, but usually do not like to reproduce anything that I am not keeping. It is going to be hard enough to find homes for any excess roos from my initial chicks. I may caponize them to facilitate re-homing...or to keep them.

The brooder area would be easy enough and I love the idea for an isolation chamber option. If I built a temporary fence separating the 36 sqft of run beneath the henhouse and included a trapdoor/ladder from the double-box...I could have a coop-within-a-coop at will! You've got me spinning off on another tangent!

Thanks for the props on what most people consider to be WAY over-thinking. The boyfriend tries not to roll his eyes when he asks me what an shape on the sketch is, only to hear a non-funtional item like "lantern", "planter", "chandelier", etc as a response

.

 

[makemineirish]

i'm still trying to figure out how to do it, 3 nextboxes is to many for 4 birds...

Could you subdivide the space to give yourself 1-2 nest boxes and use the remaining cavity as storage for food/treats/tools/etc?

 

[JeffOeuf]

Unless I missed something somewhere, mesh floor and deep litter are not compatible with each other. Wouldn't the deep litter just filter through the mesh?

 

[makemineirish]

Unless I missed something somewhere, mesh floor and deep litter are not compatible with each other. Wouldn't the deep litter just filter through the mesh?

I feel ineffective trying to describe the images in my head without a pencil and sketch paper to aid me....but I'll try. One day, I'll have coop photos as aids.

The removable iron grate that I am using for a henhouse floor sits 18" above the ground. The space beneath the henhouse is enclosed and connected to the roofed run. There are 18" high doors along the run that goes beneath the henhouse for side access. The front of the henhouse is hinged and can be opened from inside the run and the grate floor removed for full, unimpeded access to ground beneath the henhouse.

You are correct that the mesh/grate allows for the defecation to fall right through the henhouse floor. It then deposits on the ground beneath. It is here that the deep litter method is employed. I can add shavings, straw, etc and stir the mix with a collapsible garden rake (purchased before Smith & Hawkin disappeared

). The chickens can help with this when they are out in their run. When I need to do a biannual cleaning, I enter the 4' wide door on the run with the wheelbarrow, open the hinged front of the henhouse, lift the removable grate henhouse floor, and go to town. I can actually hose the grate off and/or scrub it down before replacing it. Heck, I could even walk straight in to the henhouse and repaint the walls if I wanted to go crazy.

I like to over-think, over-build, and over-do just about everything. I hope this makes sense. If not, I'll post photos of my ridiculous sketches

.