Community nest box advice

[Chickenwing77]

I am looking for suggestions on building a community nest box for 12-15 hens. The nest will be inside access. Also how big should openings be for the hens?

If anyone has pictures and advice I would appreciate it . The coop is only 8x8 so i think this makes more sense than individual nest boxes. We previously had birds and they would all next in the same
1 or 2 boxes anyways. I have looked at a few older threads and most of those were outside access.

 

[Golden Brahma 64]

2 or 3 boxes is all you should need.
Each nest box should be should be approximately 10-12 inches square and about 18-inches deep.

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

From my experience, it doesn’t matter how many nesting boxes you build.....hens will have a favorite and only lay in one or 2 even if there is already a hen laying in it.....! Crazy gals!

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

And by the way....welcome to BYC! We are excited that u decided to join our FUNomenal Flock!

 

[Chickenwing77]

I'm looking to make one large box with a closing lid that all birds will share. Probably 3 ft x 1 ft.

 

[Golden Brahma 64]

I'm looking to make one large box with a closing lid that all birds will share. Probably 3 ft x 1 ft.

sounds perfect!

 

[jthornton]

I'm looking to make one large box with a closing lid that all birds will share. Probably 3 ft x 1 ft.

That will be a tad small in depth and height. Chickens stand up when they lay the egg so 14" high for standard birds gives them enough room.

I've had 5 RIR pullets (soon to be hens) in my Roll Out Nest Box Mk3.



JT

 

[leslielbk]

I'm going to do the same thing, only my coop is 19x4 (yeah, long and skinny). I have 18 pullets 16 weeks old so I have a little time yet. I'm going to have to make two 4' boxes or one long one may 8' since I have so many birds and most are heavy breeds -- they take up alot of room! They're already HUGE! I expanded the roosting pole as advised by a wonderful contributor here (thanks, jthornton!) but honest to God they're overflowing the darn thing. I'll have to lengthen that in a bit here, too. Thankfully I've got the space! I'm going to try the community box with rollout tray to collect clean eggs for sale. Of course these boxes are made for sale but expensive so I'll be "borrowing" the design to make my own.
I just wanted to chime in since the thread is new.