Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

He is actually going to replace the chicks and do things differently. I couldn't ask for much more than that. If they don't make it this time I'll know better but he offered me a refund as a second option. Good guy. Just needs some better experience.

 

[kaitG]

Hey y'all, my husband and I are constructing our coop. We have less space here in Kansas and have opted for a more compact moveable coop. We only have 6 chicks. Our road block right now is that I want the laying boxes to be bigger so that the girls have room to enter, turn around however they like to lay their eggs. I would also like the sides of the boxes to extend up for privacy.
I have read that you only need one box per 2 hens.
My husband wants to fit 4 boxes along each side 11 inches apart with 2x4s so the walls aren't very high but are thick.
Any experience with hens refusing to lay in a smaller space?
Am I crazy and this is perfectly fine for a laying box? Any thoughts would be helpful! Thanks!!

 

[HEChicken]

kaitG, with 6 hens, I would only put in one nesting box. If you put in multiple, they'll only use one anyway. They like to lay where their eggs will be "safe" and a nest that already has eggs in it, has already been determined to be safe. They will literally queue up to lay their egg if that one nest box is occupied, and will get sometimes get a bit testy while waiting, trying to hurry the hen along. If you make the box bigger, several will squeeze in to lay at once. My nest boxes are 12x12 and I've seen 3 full size hens in at the same time, half sitting on top of one another. They seem to work it out.

 

[turboscooby07]

here is our brooding coop. I was basically free

and some piglets

 

[kaitG]

kaitG, with 6 hens, I would only put in one nesting box.  If you put in multiple, they'll only use one anyway.  They like to lay where their eggs will be "safe" and a nest that already has eggs in it, has already been determined to be safe.  They will literally queue up to lay their egg if that one nest box is occupied, and will get sometimes get a bit testy while waiting, trying to hurry the hen along.  If you make the box bigger, several will squeeze in to lay at once.  My nest boxes are 12x12 and I've seen 3 full size hens in at the same time, half sitting on top of one another.  They seem to work it out.

That's good to know, when we were in Iowa with our larger flock we had 10 layers and 12 boxes. They used them at random and never shared, so with that experience I wasn't sure! Thank you for your advice! We settled on 4 boxes so they should have plenty room!

 

[chicken danz]

Hey y'all, my husband and I are constructing our coop. We have less space here in Kansas and have opted for a more compact moveable coop. We only have 6 chicks. Our road block right now is that I want the laying boxes to be bigger so that the girls have room to enter, turn around however they like to lay their eggs. I would also like the sides of the boxes to extend up for privacy.
I have read that you only need one box per 2 hens.
My husband wants to fit 4 boxes along each side 11 inches apart with 2x4s so the walls aren't very high but are thick.
Any experience with hens refusing to lay in a smaller space?
Am I crazy and this is perfectly fine for a laying box? Any thoughts would be helpful! Thanks!!

My boxes are 12 X 12 but I have some big birds. I think you are personally wise to put in a few extra nesting boxes cause everyone always seems to end up getting more birds than they have to begin with. Of course then the coop can get crowded. If they have room to roam and forage they will do great. In my hen house. I have a bank of nest boxes with 10 nests. I usually have 4 that are often used and the others get used when someone goes broody in the popular nests.

here is our brooding coop. I was basically free



and some piglets

I like free. Now go get some Oops paint and it will last a long time. Or better yet. Many landfills have a place they keep hazardous materials until they can be disposed of. There is often lots of cans of paint which really aren't dangerous. Once they are dry they pose no threat. Often times you can take as much of that kind of thing you want at no cost at all.

I had a really busy day today again. Sold a couple birds and got some more eggs I'm custom hatching. A little extra money on the side. However for biosecurity I am only custom hatching eggs in an incubator I'm not putting my own in until they are done.
A while back I had taken some eggs one of my free range layers was sitting on and given them to a person to hatch in their incubator. I put some blue gold brahma eggs under her instead. I was out putting more hay in the nest boxes today and she had 4 babies in there and still sitting. I love it. I had to do nothing to get those hatched. I hope she hatches a few more and will safely raise them.
I had more geese arrive at their destinations all in good shape today. Sigh of relief!!
One more shipment is sitting in a sorting center 19 miles from the final destination. Grrrrr. Hope they will still be okay in the morning when the truck moves them.

 

[kaitG]

...

My boxes are 12 X 12 but I have some big birds. I think you are personally wise to put in a few extra nesting boxes cause everyone always seems to end up getting more birds than they have to begin with. Of course then the coop can get crowded. If they have room to roam and forage they will do great.  In my hen house. I have a bank of nest boxes with 10 nests. I usually have 4 that are often used and the others get used when someone goes broody in the popular nests.


Right! I'd love to have more but sadly I think we're at our max amount for now! The coop will mainly be for laying and sleeping, they have space under the coop that will be fenced in but will be let out to roam the yard during the day.

 

[turboscooby07]

@chicken danz I was planning on just clear coating the outside with some ppg paint from work. It is semi truck clear and will last a million miles. It would be done already but we had to start a new flock in there. They will be moving into a retrofitted tack house soon. Once they are big enough that a hawk wont carry them off, we free range and we live six miles past the middle of nowhere.

 

[chicken danz]

@chicken danz I was planning on just clear coating the outside with some ppg paint from work. It is semi truck clear and will last a million miles. It would be done already but we had to start a new flock in there. They will be moving into a retrofitted tack house soon. Once they are big enough that a hawk wont carry them off, we free range and we live six miles past the middle of nowhere.

That works. Great idea on the paint. By the way we did okay on the truck. It was beyond totalled, but settled without it being totalled and have found most of the parts we need to fix it. Have money for a new windshield and a paint job. It's working out okay. Other than not having it available to use at the moment.
We cut up all the wood and had the bigger pieces all picked up for firewood. Give it away for free and it disappears. We still have a huge load that needs burnt when the weather permits. I got to use a chain saw for a couple of hours. I normally only use one for little things so this was kind of fun. I'm old but I still like playing with new toys.

 

[JiltdRoyalty]

@chicken danz you not old, your experienced!