Ideal size of a hen house

[Lookingforinfo]

I am looking at raising about 60+ Australorps, however I am not sure how large to make the hen house. How many nest boxes would be necessary? Any info would be a great help.

 

[Judy]

How much indoor space they need to be healthy and content depends on several other factors. What is your climate? If you live where there is heavy snowfall so that they would stay indoors a lot of days during winter, I would figure at least 10 sq ft per bird. If your climate is similar to mine, nearly subtropical, lots of outdoor shade and breeze are more critical than indoor space, and they could get by with 2-3 sq ft per bird indoors, maybe less. The more outdoor space they have, the less they are likely to stay in, especially if the outdoor space has bushes, trees, or structures for them to be on, under or in.

A rule of thumb often quoted here (where many flocks are small) is one nest for 4 hens -- although for 60, I would probably have 10 or 12 at most.

 

[Lookingforinfo]

Thank you for your reply. I was wondering though, if Australorps are prolific layers why would 10 to 12 nests be enough? My climate has mild summers and fairly cold, windy winters (one reason i picked Australorps is for their cold tolerance). The coop however does have trees for added shade and shelter.

 

[CGinJCMO]

The reason why you don't need more boxes...all 60 hens will not lay at the exact same time each day. Depending upon the specifics of your breed (don't have that kind so I haven't researched them), one hen will lay an egg every 25+ hours and eventually will skip a day.

Example: (for a perfect hen...I don't see it really working this way with my one EE layer, the only blue egg I can tell which hen it came from)
Say a hen lays an egg bright and early at 7am. (Day 1)
The next day she will lay an egg around 9am. (Day 2)
The next day around 11 am. (Day 3)
Then 1pm, (Day 4)
3pm (Day 5)
5pm. (Day 6)
Now we're at day 7; it'll be too late in the day to lay (7pm) and she'll wait until the next day to lay an egg.


Now for your 60 hens...not every hen will want to lay at the same time and not every hen will lay on a given day. Going on the 4 hens per box "rule", if you build 12 boxes, times it by 4, it equals 48. That's probably a good estimate of how many will lay each day.
I've heard of hens waiting for a favorite nest box and they'll take turns. Hopefully, all 60 girls won't like just ONE box. If you want, I've also read about community boxes, basically one long dark tunnel that allows for more hens in at one time. If you are that concerned, you might search for ideas on it.

CG

 

[Lookingforinfo]

Thank you! That is exactly what I was looking for. Do you know if a hen will lay an egg in a nest that already has an egg in it (i.e. the 5pm egg and I have not collected it yet) and will the older egg break if such is done?

 

[CGinJCMO]

Yes a hen will lay eggs in boxes with other eggs already there. Today in fact, my EE laid an egg in a different box than the one she's been laying for over a month. Her box, had no eggs in it but I left the plastic easter eggs that I was using to show my other pullets where to lay their eggs. She laid the egg with a plastic egg already in the box. "In the wild" chickens lay a clutch (several eggs in one nest). There are many stories here on BYC of hens choosing a box because of the fact that there are eggs already there.

It's possible that a clumsy hen could break an egg but if you have enough nesting material, hopefully it won't happen. Also, if you have roosts higher than the nest boxes they won't be using the nest boxes to sleep in causing a potential for egg breakage.

If you are still in the process of building your nest boxes, look into the kind that eggs roll out. I don't know if a communal nest box (if you were interested in that idea) and a rolling box can be incorporated into the same design, but it's worth a try.

CG

 

[debid]

Mine always lay where there is another egg if that option is available. I went on vacation for a weekend and when I returned, there were almost a dozen eggs in a single box and not one egg was broken. I've watched them with the dummy eggs and they'll move the eggs around before they lay.