Chickens prefer Home Depot to Lowe's (buckets as nesting boxes)?

[smudge]

We've been using buckets as nesting boxes, and so far the orange Home Depot bucket seems to be a winner. As in 5 eggs in one box, while the blue Lowe's bucket is empty. I've tried changing the buckets' positions, doesn't matter. (Yes, I know most use white, but I figure since I'm not using it for food and it is HDPE, that it's probably okay.)

Should I further this experiment by replacing the Lowe's bucket with a Home Depot "Let's Do It" bucket to see if it's just the color. (Besides, I like the idea of having that on a nesting box gives me giggles.)

 

[Messipaw]

Lolol. Try it and see. I'm curious too.

 

[smudge]

Well, I switched the Lowe's bucket for a new Home Depot "Let's Do It" bucket this morning.

Got home from the kid's dance class to find 3 eggs in the "Let's Do It" bucket. Someone's in the other bucket, so I can't really check that one yet. (We've 6 total.) Clearly more data is needed, before making any conclusions.

This could make for an interesting addition to Home Depot's "Let's Do It" marketing campaign.

 

[sbhkma]

Very funny experiment! Keep us informed as to the final vote tally

 

[SSAcres]

I'm glad we're not the only ones doing this type of experiment. We don't use buckets but milk crates, the good solid AE type and some are AE. We have a very large 2 room coop w/ 26 birds. The smaller room in front is their "bedroom"/"laying room" and the large room is their "kitchen"/"den"/"laying room". We opened up the larger room when we added 16 chicks to the mix of the established 9 older pullet flock. With 25 layers we figured we probably needed to add more nesting crates so we did.

In the smaller room we have a yellow, brown and red box, all lined up on the same wall in a row and away from roosts. They all have the same amount of bedding material (shredded paper) and golf balls. The only thing different is color. We've found that the yellow one is NOT a favorite and only gets used if the other two are occupied and they can't wait. Very rarely is there more than 2 eggs in that box, if any at all. Prior to the yellow, brown, red order, the red and brown were switched. It seemed as though the middle red box was used most of all, but we didn't know if it was the color or the placement being in the middle. So before putting them to bed one night I switched the red and brown boxes. (The larger back room has a double wide black box, a regular yet taller brown box and a yellow box all along the same wall and under windows.)

It's been a couple weeks since I switched the red and brown boxes. It's been a bit inconclusive I think. Some days the brown is used more and others it's the red one. And in the back room, the middle taller brown one is used most. Only found an egg twice in the double wide black and once in the yellow. One things for sure, they really don't care for yellow for whatever reason. If it was the red color that they liked, we were going to paint all of the boxes red, but now we're not sure.

Any opinions on this?

Signed, crazy chicken lady psychologist

 

[sezjasper]

When using milk crates, do you lay them on their side, or stand them upright so the hens have to jump in?

 

[SSAcres]

When using milk crates, do you lay them on their side, or stand them upright so the hens have to jump in?

They stand upright and have no trouble jumping right on the sides and hopping in. We use sand as a base in our coop. It's about 2" thick under the boxes. I squish them down in it real good and solid and then I usually put some up against their bases so they don't fall over when they jump on their sides. So far so good.

 

[sezjasper]

Thanks,good tip. I'm going to try it!

 

[SSAcres]

Ur welcome. Good luck. As a side note, putting them upright keeps paper, balls n eggs contained. I also like being able to see the eggs easily before I gather them. I will post a pic later. My phone's not cooperating.

 

[SSAcres]

This was taken prior to switching. The center red one was occupied by an older bigger pullet so these girls decided to share the brown one despite the yellow one being open. These are 5 month old pullets. BA and BJG. They both laid about the same time.