In October we moved and my husband converted a fairly new shed on the property to a goat house and a chicken coop. It is the nicest coop we have ever had for our chickens. He set everything up according to my directions so it is easy for me to care for the chickens. They have two feeders now instead of one, a new large pan for their snacks, containers hanging on the wall for oyster shell and other treats, a beautiful, large roost and two large community nest boxes. I thought we were good to go.
I decided to make 2 large community nest boxes instead of individual ones because I had noticed that my chickens, all 20 of them, only ever used the same 2 or 3 nest boxes out of the 6 we had in the old coop and some refused to use any of them at all and preferred to lay on the ground behind their feed can. So we set the new nest boxes under the roost and one is ground level and the other is about 15" off the ground. I figured this would suit everyone, the nest box layers as well as the ground layers.
Since we moved in, none of the chickens would use the nest boxes. I know they were upset by the move, so I wasn't too worried initially. We were finding eggs in the goats feeder, the run, the floor and on a shelf above the roost. Everywhere but in the nest boxes. Then they went through a molt and now it is cold outside, so when the eggs totally stopped, I didn't think much about it. However, they have been done molting for a while now and the days are starting to get a little longer and we have always had a few girls that would lay through the winter. Not as much as in the summer, but a few eggs a week. I got to wondering why no one was laying anything.
So last weekend,even though my husband made fun of me, I hung up curtains over the nest boxes and before I was even done hanging them, one of the girls went in and proceeded to lay an egg! Yesterday I got 5 eggs and I have been getting 3 a day since hanging the curtains. I just used some dark brown floral material I had laying around. I hadn't realized that the new coop is much lighter than their old coop and I guess they just wanted somewhere dark and private. This is great because hubby will be installing windows into the shed this spring and it will be even lighter in there once this is done.
So, problem solved. And as I suspected they would be, all the eggs are laid together in one or two spots, so the community nest boxes are perfect for them now that they have their privacy. One is low, one is up higher and has a perch in front of it, so everyone should have their needs met. What a simple solution!
I decided to make 2 large community nest boxes instead of individual ones because I had noticed that my chickens, all 20 of them, only ever used the same 2 or 3 nest boxes out of the 6 we had in the old coop and some refused to use any of them at all and preferred to lay on the ground behind their feed can. So we set the new nest boxes under the roost and one is ground level and the other is about 15" off the ground. I figured this would suit everyone, the nest box layers as well as the ground layers.
Since we moved in, none of the chickens would use the nest boxes. I know they were upset by the move, so I wasn't too worried initially. We were finding eggs in the goats feeder, the run, the floor and on a shelf above the roost. Everywhere but in the nest boxes. Then they went through a molt and now it is cold outside, so when the eggs totally stopped, I didn't think much about it. However, they have been done molting for a while now and the days are starting to get a little longer and we have always had a few girls that would lay through the winter. Not as much as in the summer, but a few eggs a week. I got to wondering why no one was laying anything.
So last weekend,even though my husband made fun of me, I hung up curtains over the nest boxes and before I was even done hanging them, one of the girls went in and proceeded to lay an egg! Yesterday I got 5 eggs and I have been getting 3 a day since hanging the curtains. I just used some dark brown floral material I had laying around. I hadn't realized that the new coop is much lighter than their old coop and I guess they just wanted somewhere dark and private. This is great because hubby will be installing windows into the shed this spring and it will be even lighter in there once this is done.
So, problem solved. And as I suspected they would be, all the eggs are laid together in one or two spots, so the community nest boxes are perfect for them now that they have their privacy. One is low, one is up higher and has a perch in front of it, so everyone should have their needs met. What a simple solution!
