At least check them out!

[Baumshell28]

Here’s my issue: my coop is original to this property and there is 1 wooden nest box original to the coop.

I have 12 hens, so I ordered 3 plastic nesting boxes giving them access to 4 nesting boxes total. I installed the plastic boxes WEEKS before they ever got to POL just so they’d be familiar & comfortable with their presence when the right time came. No signs of interest or inspection. On the 16th of this month they started laying...in the original wooden nest. Still, none of the 3 plastic ones had been touched; undisturbed dust on boxes & box perches, fake egg still in same position in untouched nesting materials & nesting herbs, etc.

Logically I could see that between the ascending box levels (not same installation heights) and where the feeder is located it would probably be troublesome for them to enter/exit boxes. Thought about adding ramps to them, but that only accomplished taking up TONS of coop space. I removed the middle box altogether and lowered the remaining 2 plastic boxes as low as possible on their plywood wall. When my best/sweetest girl came in ready to lay, I placed her in a plastic box, talked to her & gave her a few treats...she laid an egg in there and sat on it in that box for a while afterwards also! Well, that was the first and last time any plastic box in their coop has gotten any use!!! I am getting roughly 5-7 eggs daily now in the wooden box. It also just so happens that the fake egg in the wooden box is being kicked out of its home & onto the coop floor. Do they know it’s a fake? Or am I lucky that THAT happens to be the one getting pushed out? Are they pushing it out to create room for their eggs? Because if so, eventually I’m gonna start losing good eggs so they can make more room in their ONE chosen box! What can I possibly do to get them using at least one other box? I thought about closing access to the wooden one for a while, but then got scared that I’d force them into the bad habit of laying eggs everywhere around the coop and run so they could still avoid the plastic boxes at any/all cost...... Thoughts? Suggestions? I’ll try anything else at this point, anything!

 

[Duckee]

I think the wood box being between the 2 2x4's offers the hens a sense of more security. Maybe if you put the plastic boxes between the 2 2x4's as well.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The wood one shouldn't be too hard to construct, maybe make more of those since they seem to like it?

 

[Baumshell28]

The wood one shouldn't be too hard to construct, maybe make more of those since they seem to like it?

@rosemarythyme that is TOOO funny! I think the previous owner had a very distinct building style, so a couple days ago, I ripped a storage shelf off of one of the shop walls and flipped it upside down.

I’m thinking about having a couple dividers cut to fit, attaching a front barrier to hold in nesting materials and a top that matches the wooden nest box in the coop. Then removing & selling the plastic nesting boxes (basically new & unused just dusty). Finally nailing the “new set” of “old style” boxes onto the plywood running right up to the original box! If they’re still squirrelly about it then they’ll just have to share the one box between the 12 of them!!!

 

[rosemarythyme]

@rosemarythyme that is TOOO funny! I think the previous owner had a very distinct building style, so a couple days ago, I ripped a storage shelf off of one of the shop walls and flipped it upside down.

Yeah I agree it's an unusual nest configuration that was already there, but since we know for a fact that the chickens approve of it, figured it was easier to cater to them than trying to train them to accept something new. That shelf looks pretty good as a base for making some "copies."

 

[Baumshell28]

Yeah I agree it's an unusual nest configuration that was already there, but since we know for a fact that the chickens approve of it, figured it was easier to cater to them than trying to train them to accept something new. That shelf looks pretty good as a base for making some "copies."

I swear that’s what he did. Used slightly smaller dimensions of the way he built shelves, flipped it upside down, nailed a board to the top, a board to the bottom front, nailed it in the corner of the coop and called it a day! Should be good enough for me too, right?!?

 

[Acre4Me]

I swear that’s what he did. Used slightly smaller dimensions of the way he built shelves, flipped it upside down, nailed a board to the top, a board to the bottom front, nailed it in the corner of the coop and called it a day! Should be good enough for me too, right?!?
View attachment 2315590View attachment 2315591

mybe our previous owner and yours were related. One bedroom was completely lined with shelves about 14” from the ceiling.... it really made the room feel closed in!

 

[Baumshell28]

mybe our previous owner and yours were related. One bedroom was completely lined with shelves about 14” from the ceiling.... it really made the room feel closed in!

Ugh! 22 years ago my mom bought a great house with 4 huge bedrooms, but the owner/builder before her had put floor to ceiling built in bookcases, desks (for office/homework), and random shelves in every room. She & my stepdad had to basically demo most of the house to get rid of the shoddy work & free up its actual square footage potential! Some great things could be even greater had they been done correctly the first go-round! LoL!

 

[Folly's place]

It's also possible that your birds like the spot that's been there all along, and maybe because it's highest? Don't give up yet!
If the boxes were all on one level, you could add a roost bar across in front of them, and slightly lower, as a spot for the birds to walk along and choose their best box.
Mine mostly use certain boxes too, usually the boxes against the end walls of the coop. Mine are about two feet off the floor, no ramp, so there's more floor space. We don't have Silkies, who couldn't fly up there.
Mary

 

[Baumshell28]

Ok, here are my ADHD thoughts on paper:
•I will leave the original 2x4, nest box, chicken ramp exactly where it is.

•To the left of the old box, I will use an upside down salvaged shelf; add dividers, a low front lip to hold nesting materials, and a small overhead “ceiling” that matches original box. •Under these new boxes (drawing shows 3; I’ll probably only do 2, like I did with the actual materials mock up) I’ll attach some type of brace(s) to support a perch that will run the length of the new boxes to give them access to any of the new boxes.
•Finally, I will install a chicken ramp up to the perch and/or boxes. Most likely all the way to the left to create the LEAST amount of wasted coop space.
Does that make sense to anyone? Or is this vision solely in my own head??
**Below is what will become the new old boxes! The back won’t be open, it’ll be affixed to the plywood already hung on that wall. The box divider will be nailed or screwed in. There will be a small overhead ceiling like the original box. And the front lip will be cut to fit & then attached**
Once that is on the wall, I will make & fit the box perch, it’s braces and probably a ramp matching the original box’s ramp