How many nest boxes???

[cjdeere]

Hi everyone,
I'm building my first chicken house and I'm having trouble with how many nest boxes I need. I've heard that I should have one nest for every 5 chickens but I'm new at this and want to do this right the first time so I thought I'd ask thoughs who are in the know. I'm going to have about 25 - 30 chicks total. The coop I'm building is a 10' x 12'. Do you guys think that's an ok size? They will also have access to most of the goat pin to forage around and irritate my two Minni-Nubian girls. Anyway what do you all think about how many chickens per nest and my coop size? Thanks everyone, I've learned alot just by looking around the site.

Thanks,
CJ

 

[Mrs Chickenlady]

Welcome CJ

I'm most certainly not the expert here, but from my experience 1 nesting box to every 5 hens is plenty. My first coop had two boxes and 5 hens. To this day they've never used the one nesting box

4 sq feet per bird is the average, so 10 x 12 should be sufficient for 25. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress

 

[da-cajun-angla]

YUP 1 NEST PER 5

 

[TechEdFireman]

So I guess this nest box ( http://www.strombergschickens.com/images/egg/D10S_L.jpg ) that came with my Freecycle coop is over kill for 10 chickens?

 

[tink]

I have found that it doesn't matter how many boxes you have, they all argue about the same one. Mine almost stand in line to get in that one perfect box. Heaven forbid they might use one of the other 5!!!
Tink

 

[Cheryl]

I have 3 boxes for 5, but whatever box they choose to lay in on the given day, they all head to that one box. I actually had one blocked and they managed to squish themselves behind it! That was the first time I got 4 eggs in one day...they're new, they've only been at it for under 2 weeks!

 

[WriterofWords]

Quote:
Don't worry, you'll grow into it!!

 

[GwenFarms]

They do tend to like to lay in the same nest box. With that many chickens they will more than likely only use a couple of nest boxes. They usually go into the one that already has an egg in it and lay there. Thats why dummy eggs work to get your chickens to lay in a certain place. They aren't very smart and assume every egg is the last one they laid. For the fifty new chicks I have coming, the coop they are going in has eight nest boxes. I don't expect them to use all of them.

 

[GwenFarms]

Quote:
Don't worry, you'll grow into it!!

I agree, I can tell that 10 chickens won't be enough for you. You'll fill those boxes

 

[theOEGBman]

Quote:
I just got a 12 hole one just like that for $25 on craigslist and I only have 12 pullets in the pen right now. No worries though, I do intend to fill them up.

Luckily for me, they use 5-6 of the holes.