Do nest boxes have to be totally separate?

[ChitownHV]

I'm building a two-nest box and wonder if the divider has to completely separate the two sections, of if the partition can be half the height of the box.

 

[Chickassan]

I think half height would work fine, they don't really care or at least my girls don't.

 

[rIrs roost]

I'm building a two-nest box and wonder if the divider has to completely separate the two sections, of if the partition can be half the height of the box.

that will be fine. I don't even have dividers in some of mine

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

There is no one right answer to this....a lot will depend on the hen which will be trial and error, but it should work fine. Many folks have community boxes with no dividers

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The only thing that will matter is if you want your hens to hatch their own eggs, in witch case a completely covered stand alone nest is the way to go. That way after dark you can closeup the box, then pick up hen, nest, eggs, and all then move the whole ball of wax to the location where you want the hen to incubate.

 

[AllynTal]

As Ol' Grey Mare said, it depends on the hens. I have hens that are quite happy to pile two or three at a time in a nest box and have a group lay, and I have other hens that squawk and vigorously peck at any other hen that even looks at her while she's in the box and then growls if the interloper even thinks about using an adjacent box. You'll find out what they prefer once they start laying.

Go ahead and make the divider half-height. If it ends up being a problem, you can add a piece of cardboard or something similar to close off the space.