Natural material nesting boxes

[BorealRanch]

I made a miniature log cabin out of 4-5 inch limbs for 3 walls and a piece of 1x12, a foot long for a roof. It was for a broody, I moved her and the eggs to the little cabin full of straw on the run floor and she hatched and reared 10 babies in there.

Do you have any pictures?

 

[BorealRanch]

Thanks... good read yes but if I don't atleast try to get something set up our free ranging turkeys who are used to having access to
Over 100 acres if they want (and they have been known to roam to the farthest reaches of our property) then I'll have to pen them up...which isn't something I want to do... already had a chicken hatch a clutch in the woods a few weeks ago and just lost a litter of rabbit kitts last night to the cold so I'm going to try what I can.

 

[BorealRanch]

Ah, I see. It might work, but got my doubts.
Why not take what they are building/choosing in the woods and bring it into the coop and arrange it on the floor?
Are they getting under something out in the woods?
Pay attention to the size and height of where they are laying and try to emulate it.
Interesting concept, let us know how it works out.

It's all frozen now... they are essentially nesting in brush piles currently

 

[aart]

Are they roosting in a coop?
Do you have a run too?
Not sure a 'natural nest' will be enough to entice them to lay there with so many other options.
Are ducks and turkeys even laying this time of year?

 

[EggWalrus]

Do you have any pictures?

Sorry, I don't have any pics of it.
If you ever played with Lincoln Logs as a kid, it looked sorta like that. I ran them thru a table saw with a fence and straightened the top and bottom sides, then notched the ends. After going they the table saw they were about 2-3 inches thick. I nailed them as I stacked them so the chickens couldn't knock it apart if they started raising hell. I was bored and needed something to do, but it was a lot of time and effort for a nest box. The hens would use it occasionally, but mostly used the other plywood boxes.

 

[BorealRanch]

Are they roosting in a coop?
Do you have a run too?
Not sure a 'natural nest' will be enough to entice them to lay there with so many other options.
Are ducks and turkeys even laying this time of year?

They have our 20ft×30ft steel building. There are lots of areas to roost available but they stay on the ground. Then we just open the man door about 2 feet and everyone comes and goes as they please. We have no fence/run/cage, they have full access to whatever they want. Which is great in the summer, not so great when it's cold.... I don't KNOW that they are actually laying because I can't always find where they are nesting... they have been breeding like crazy and at any given time of the day one or both of the hens will go missing to return a short while later (within an hour). I've found them off twice now and they are building nests... to lay in I don't KNOW but would assume

 

[BorealRanch]

Bellow are pics of: where I've found a hen nesting, existing "nesting box" (bookshelf on the ground), then what I've done in the interim until I can get something better built... only get about 20 mins of working in before someone takes a tantrum so it's taking some time lol

 

[aart]

You may have to keep them confined to get them in the habit of laying where you want them to....works with chickens but I know not much at all about ducks and turkeys.
Might want to post separately about them in the Duck and Turkey forums.

 

[BorealRanch]

Tomorrow the turkeys stay inside until I find 2 eggs... found this beauty frozen into the snow this morning

 

[BorealRanch]

So! Locked the turkeys and ducks up for a couple of days and got a couple of BEAUTIFUL turkey eggs... not I the nests though... and now that they are out again they haven't layed indoors but on the plus side my chickens seem to love the natural cover! Egg production has been through the roof since it went in! (Not sure if production is up or they are just using the nests more so I can find the eggs better ) 12 eggs/day from 16 hens isn't too bad I don't think!