I have twelve larger breed girls buckets or boxes

[jctree2540]

I have 5 glw four buff orps and three buff Brahmas originally wanted to use buckets for there nest but now I'm wondering if they will be to small.what do you guys think?

 

[Chookchicken]

What is the size of the birds? Hens don’t mind having somewhere small and slightly cramped to lay they’re eggs.

 

[aart]

I have 5 glw four buff orps and three buff Brahmas originally wanted to use buckets for there nest but now I'm wondering if they will be to small.what do you guys think?

Many use buckets successfully, I think they are too small, especially once you get a good amount of bedding in there.
Did you know a bird stands up when the egg emerges?
I like to give them more space....14 x 14 x 16" works well here.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I also looked at bucket nests and feel they are to small.

Boxes of the sizes @aart listed are a much better size.

 

[Chuckie chicken]

For reference, I have Rhode island reds, and built 12"x12" boxes with open tops. Although there are 3 boxes, two hens will often be in the same box while the other two are empty. 6 of the 8 routinely lay in one box and (so far) nobody's broken an egg yet.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This is the only photo I have where I used a bucket as a nest for full sized fowl hens. They are a mix the size of Sussex or Delaware. The bucket was a cat litter bucket with top measurements of 7-1/2" x 11-1/2". I set it at an angle, probably 35 to 40 degrees, so I could get litter in it without it spilling out. That lip helped too.

It worked fine as far as hens laying in it. But it did not work well when I let this hen hatch in it. The first chicks to hatch sometimes like to crawl up on Mama's back while waiting on the later chicks to hatch. In this nest Mama was sitting too close to the side so when the chick fell off of her it missed the nest and fell to the floor. Four different times I had to pick a chick up off of the coop floor and put it back in the nest with Mama. Most of those times were probably the same chick. I retired that nest and built another 16" cube nest to go into that area.

If you look through these you can see many of the innovative things people have done to make nests. Some of those involve the use of buckets mounted in different ways.


Nest boxes

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/41108/show-us-your-nest-boxes-ingenous-design-post-it-here/220

Nest Boxes

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/4...-your-creative-nesting-boxes/80#post_12395882

 

[Coops Dad]

I use the half milk crates with one side cut down to half height. They work great. I went to a local dairy and asked if they had any damaged ones and ended up with half a dozen that had a crack on one side or another. Since I was going to cut them down for ease of entry anyway, they were perfect. I also have a 6-nest nesting box, galvanized steel, commercially made. I get a few eggs out of them but the milk crates are the ones that the hens stand in line for.

 

[Reggan]

I have BB's and my boxes are13x13 with an 18in ceiling, the boxes are a tight fit for some of the bigger gals, but it's fairly rare I have broken eggs (they have some big clumsy feet) so I think they're good. I do think 12x12 with a shorter ceiling would be too small for the larger of my BB's. Though I will say it surprises me how small they can make themselves... my rooster, "Big Boy" sometimes likes to check the nesting boxes and crams his big butt into them, lol.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Many use buckets successfully, I think they are too small, especially once you get a good amount of bedding in there.
Did you know a bird stands up when the egg emerges?
I like to give them more space....14 x 14 x 16" works well here.

X2