laying box question

[MaineMatt]

I have 7 Hens coming in today and I have a house with 2 laying boxes. Is 2 boxes enough for 7 hens? or should i build more?

 

[Angiebubs]

The recommendation is 1 nest box per 3-4 laying hens. However, I personally would add one more. Good luck!

 

[JanetS]

One more should do it. Our 4 chickens use the same box. We have more but.......chickens can be so silly.

 

[Hokum Coco]

You will find every flock is different.
My current flock works like this:
Eleven chickens 6 egg boxes they use 2.
When it comes to what two well that some times varies.

 

[MaineMatt]

So if i just keep my hen house with two laying boxes how will i know that its not enough. Will they just lay on the bottom of the pen?


Also while im posting. I just got them in the mail, I have them in a box with a light bulb, food and water. What temp should it be under the light bulb? Its like 93 under the bulb and 80 on the other side of the box. My dad raises broilers and some hens and said there is a equation that or something that you decrease the temp every so often? im not sure.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Angiebubs]

Nest boxes: They issues if there aren't enough is, you will see them trying to pile in on top of each other (this is pretty common no matter how many boxes you have) but you will see fights breaking out as they pull each other out of the box for access. Or you will find broken eggs in the boxes from them fighting and crushing them.

The temp at the height they are at should be 95 for the first week, 90 the second week and so on. Lowering by 5
degrees
per week. They need to be able to also get out from under/away from it in case they are too warm too. Watch and see how they are acting. They should make content peeping. If something is wrong they will start a loud distressed peeping. Also, if they are all huddled up under the heat lamp versus wings spread looking too warm. You can pick up a inexpensive thermometer to put in next to them/at the same height to make sure you are keeping the temperatures correct.

Is this your first time with chicks? If so, a couple other things to remember: You will want to make sure to feed them "chick started" food and not standard layer chicken feed as the layer feed contains calcium which chicks should not have. Make sure they have water available at all times and that they cant fall into the water and drown. You can make sure of this by dropping marbles into the waterer if its too large/deep. Also, make sure the floor they are on is not slippery. Pine shavings work wonderfully but if you don't have any on hand, you can scrunch up paper towels to make sure the floor isn't slippery. Slippery floors can cause spraddled legs.

 

[Esand75]

I have six hens that just started to lay. They seem to use two boxes, but I have three available. JanetS. said it well, "chickens can be silly".

 

[SharkmanDan]

My coop is built big, not commercial, and lots of mistakes I am having to correct. But, I have 16 layers, and 22 nesting boxes. Plans are, to have about 60 layers.

They use three of the nesting boxes. My one, very broody, Red Comet, uses one, by herself, and the rest share 2 boxes. Usually, the same two, but, occasionally, whoever lays first, will pick a different box, then all of the subsequent eggs appear in that box.

Speaking of the broody one. We have ZERO modern incubation tools. But, we have a very broody hen, who seems as though she never leaves the box. Obviously she does, because her eggs ARE being fertilized. Does anyone have experience, letting a broody hen, hatch an egg, the old fashioned way? I mean, they must be able to do it, as chickens have been hatching eggs, since the dawn of time. Incubators, probably weren't around, when the question, "Which came first, the chicken, or the egg?" was initially posed. Anyone, who has ever been to Kaua'i, knows that chickens can be pretty prolific, left to themselves. So, we're thinking about giving it a shot. Any suggestions? I don't have the money to buy incubators.

 

[Angiebubs]

My coop is built big, not commercial, and lots of mistakes I am having to correct. But, I have 16 layers, and 22 nesting boxes. Plans are, to have about 60 layers.

They use three of the nesting boxes. My one, very broody, Red Comet, uses one, by herself, and the rest share 2 boxes. Usually, the same two, but, occasionally, whoever lays first, will pick a different box, then all of the subsequent eggs appear in that box.

Speaking of the broody one. We have ZERO modern incubation tools. But, we have a very broody hen, who seems as though she never leaves the box. Obviously she does, because her eggs ARE being fertilized. Does anyone have experience, letting a broody hen, hatch an egg, the old fashioned way? I mean, they must be able to do it, as chickens have been hatching eggs, since the dawn of time. Incubators, probably weren't around, when the question, "Which came first, the chicken, or the egg?" was initially posed. Anyone, who has ever been to Kaua'i, knows that chickens can be pretty prolific, left to themselves. So, we're thinking about giving it a shot. Any suggestions? I don't have the money to buy incubators.

As a matter of fact LOL I currently have 13 chicks that were shipped to me as eggs and raised by 4 broody hens! It worked out very well-and from reading, you have better % of hatch rate with broody hens than with incubators. (I had 31 eggs shipped , had 17 hatch, and 13 survive. Part of the problem I had was a leaky coop-first time in 3 yrs but with the record breaking rain fall its not surprising.) However, if you only have the one broody hen who has never been a mother, I would have some sort of back up ready. Of my 23 hens, in the past 2 months I have had 8 broody. I put eggs under 5 (the other 3 are recently broody) and one of the moms (banty cochin) was an excellent broody however, as the chicks started hatching, she pushed the chicks aside and only sat on the eggs. Kind of like "WTH is that???!!!!"

 

[ECBW]

2 nests will be fine. They will want to lay in a clutch by instinct. You will see two birds in one nest while the other nest(s) is empty. Also, not every birds lays every day.

If your birds are still chicks (not laying), close the nests so they dont get into the habit of sleeping in the nests.