Community nest box or dividers?

[flyin-lowe]

I am preparing to build external nest box(s) for my coop. I am curious if the majority of you use dividers or just have a large box. The only one I have seen in person is a neighbors and he just has a large box off his coop that is 4 foot long and 12 inches deep. He says they have always used it fine.

I am planning on starting with about 8 hens in my 6x8 coop.
Any pros and cons to dividers v one large box?

 

[lovemy6hens]

Ours prefer the privacy of a single covered nest box. However, it's extremely hot here during the summer so they transition to an open communal nest when it starts to get warm outside
EDIT: We have 11 and they refuse to use more than 2 covered nest boxes.

 

[Ridgerunner]

One disadvantage I can think of to a community nest is if you want a hen to go broody in there and hatch chicks it could get messy during hatch.

Occasionally I get a hen that wants to lay somewhere other than my nests. I made a couple of my nests so I can lock a hen in there, which has come in handy for different things. One of those is when I catch her on her other nest to lay an egg, I lock her in the nest I want her to use until she lays her egg. Once is usually all I have to do this to retrain her to use a nest though I’ve had to do a few hens twice.

Another way I use those lockable nests is when I see a hen in there laying, I can lock her in and remove any other eggs that might already be there. That way I can tell which hen is laying which egg. That comes in really handy when I’m evaluating pullets to see which I want to add to my laying/breeding flock and which go to the freezer.

I like my lockable nests and I let my broody hens hatch and raise chicks with the flock. For those reasons I prefer individual nests. But I think you should do what is most convenient for you and how you manage your chickens. I think people care about this a lot more than the chickens do.

 

[flyin-lowe]

Thanks for the info, sounds like I will be putting dividers in. It won't really cost any more as I have materials around.

 

[speedy2020]

I would make a community nest box with removable divider.