Nest box for silkie (?)

[joebryant]

I have three nest boxes in my new coop, but my ten chicks are not old enough to lay yet, so I have the fronts covered. I have a one-year-old silkie who has begun laying again after her having been broody. She has laid two eggs in the last two days (just found them on the floor today in the pinestraw in a back corner).
Will the silkie use one of the nests that are up two feet if I open them? It seems like I read somewhere that they wouldn't. If not, what kind of nest should I make for her, and where should I put it. Thanks!

 

[goldensunriseranch]

I use nestboxes that I originally bought for my rabbits, now that I am slowing down with the rabbit litters the boxes work perfectly for my silkies. These are wooden with a wire mesh bottom, I fill it with soft hay. And I leave them on ground level. They don't seem to notice the boxes if I put them up any higher than right on the ground, their crests seem to keep them from noticing much above them. So I just set them right on their shavings.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Thanks! I have a brown milk carton. If I were to fill it with fresh pine straw and stick it back in the corner where she laid the first two, do you think that she would climb into the milk carton to lay? Do you think maybe I should just continue to let her make her own nest on the pine-straw-covered floor?

 

[goldensunriseranch]

Maybe if you kind of make a little ramp with some shavings she'll find her way easier over the edge? Mine only has a front lip of about 4 or 5 inches. And then you could put some dummy eggs or a couple of her's in there to try and tempt her in. If you want her to set on the nest and hatch chicks the trick is making the nestbox just enough to keep the eggs in one spot but also shallow enough that the tiny chicks can get in and out when the time comes. Or just take the nestbox back out after the chicks are mobile. I would think if you collect every day and are taking the eggs then just on the floor is ok, but if you want to leave the eggs and have her set if they are just on the floor or just in a depression in the shavings they scatter around too easy.