How many nesting boxes are suitable for this amount of birds?

[nuthatched]

I find 2 hens in one nesting box all the time even there's 2 open, or one screaming for the current hen to hurry up even though there's 3 open. I had 4 boxes for 15 hens, now I have 8 hens and they still squish into one.
It boils down to the fact that chickens are straight up chocolate covered nuts .

 

[Pollito Pelon]

30 nest boxes?!?!?! Not for me I have 8 and they only ever lay in 4 of them. I mean if you have only like 3 or four chickens than you would be able to accomplish a nest for each.

It depends on the hen.
Where I live most people raise game and they have a rooster and a hen per cage with a nesting box inside for the hen to lay.
Those hens are very aggressive and will force hens out of their nesting boxes if there isn't enough when they free range and even force broody hens out.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yeah, we noticed that and wondered why they never slept on the roosting bars so we blocked off the shelves and now they start to sleep there a little more, however they still prefer to sleep on top of the nesting boxes

Put a sloped cover on top of the nest boxes, so they can't sit up there. I built mine with a 45 degree slope on top but you can simply use a piece of scrap plywood or maybe even heavy cardboard, set at 45 degrees or more.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I personally don't see the problem with them sleeping on top of the nests as long as the nests are covered. It keeps them from sleeping and pooping in the nests and you have an automatic droppings board. But to each their own.

I made my nests 16" x 16" x 16". It is pretty common to find three hens laying in the same one at the same time when the rest of the nests are empty. There are plenty of posts and photos on here where one hen was laying on top of another in a smaller nest, literally stacked one on top of another. Most of my hens are OK with sharing a nest. I did have one hen that was a nest hog, she took three hours to lay her egg and would not share with another hen. One time I saw an older hen grab a pullet laying on a nest by the head and jerk her off the nest so the older hen could lay there. Each chicken is an individual and each flock has it's own dynamics. That's a big part that makes chicken TV better than anything on cable, antenna, or satellite.

My number of layers, pullets and hens, varies, sometimes hits 16 or 17. A broody may be in one nest but occasionally another hen will lay with her in her nest. Four nests work for me. Before the pullets start laying I may get seven eggs a day. I keep a fake egg in every nest. I typically get four eggs in one nest, two in another, and a single egg in a third. Which nest gets how many eggs is sort of constant for a while, maybe a week or two, but then they'll switch so a different nest gets more eggs. To me the only thing consistent with chickens is that they are inconsistent. You never know hat they'll do next.

@demonic I don't know what size your nests are, I think a larger nest can handle more hens. But even if your nests are pretty small three nests should be plenty for ten hens.

 

[Crazyabouthens]

Usually it’s 1 nest box per 3-4 hens…I have 20 hens (a few of them don’t lay anymore) I have 4 nest boxes and they manage fine with that. Sometimes they usually own 3 of them… They can be real fussy with picking where to lay. Usually they like to lay where another hen has laid. Hope this helps. Good luck with your chickens!

 

[drp123]

I currently have 3 hens and 3 nesting boxes. 1 is recovering from worms and still isn’t laying yet and the other 2 lay in seperate nesting boxes. However, I have 10 ISA brown chicks still in the brooder who are around 6 weeks (I know it’s time for them to start going out but I’m postponing it for a week when I come back from vacation so I can monitor them when outside) and I’m going to give away or eat 3 of those chicks so I’m going to have 10 hens total. ( my 3 current hens + 7 isa browns ) but we are wondering how many nesting boxes we need to have… because isa browns lay everyday and If I have 7 I’m going to need over 7 nesting boxes. I was thinking of just adding 3 more nesting boxes so in total I would have 6 because my current hens are easter eggers and usually lay every other day. Is 6 nesting boxes enough?

I would suggest 1 nest box for each 2 laying hens. Consider the breed size of hen also. Larger breeds need more boxes.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I have 5 boxes for 11 hens, they prefer to use only 3 of the boxes, & use the other two as a toilet. Literally, & it's annoying. Trying to break that habit.

 

[Kellow1]

I have 8 hens that lay daily but currently they lay in 2 nest instead of the 5 I have it depends on hen and of course if the rooster shows them where to lay eggs

However it's ideal to have one for each

It may be ideal but it will never happen that the hens will use more than 3!

 

[Mtnboomer]

I have 14 nesting boxes for 8-18 hens (varies based upon butcher dates). Of the 14, 1 has food and 1 has water leaving 12 for laying. They usually only use at most 4 different boxes a day. So in theory, i only need 4 and the rest would be better used as open floor space.
However, i keep track of the location of every egg laid, And there are shifts in location from the right 7 to the left 7 boxes and it seems to coincide with temperature. In general, the 7 boxes facing the sun in winter are preferred vs those in the shade.
So you can get by with less.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

And today, for the first time ever, i found all seven nest boxes in the first hen house in use, plus one of the four in the second house. Busy morning for my girls. Maybe they knew a storm was coming?