Nest box madness

[secuono]

Ok, has anyone tried various kinds of nest boxes, different locations and all sorts of bedding all at once and still gotten just one favorite box?

I'm hoping to try it with our new coop and hope it works.
Buckets, boxes, crates. No lip, tall lip, curved lip around the sides, with and w/o top lip. Lined on right side & left side, stacked 2 high & 3 high. Straw, grass hay, wood shavings, fine shavings, different mix combos of them.

What do you guys think?

 

[CoyoteMagic]

What about a community box that is bigger than a regular box. I've used a small blue plastic barrel with both ends cut off. Girls climbed in from either side and laid their eggs somewhere near the middle (you could reach the middle easily from either side) was better than them fighting over a single box

 

[secuono]

Hm, but I have some that have been pushing out eggs so they can have the bucket all for themselves. Would that help this kind of greediness?

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Mine have one large community box, room for three to lay at once. No more egg eating, easier to collect them too.

 

[WallTenters]

It seems like different breeds like different things. My Dominiques hated the community nestbox - they LOVE the black round (bigger than a 5gal bucket) cut down "nest boxes".. On the other hand, my friend's Americaunas like to hide under something, the orpingtons like the classic nest box, etc etc

Silly birds! They can't make anything simple!

 

[kestrel42]

So far I plan to have an external community box big enough for three to lay side by side. I'll see how that goes and sub divide later if I have to. I like the idea of the community box, but I guess the results will be in the function.

 

[pat1297]

I have a big banana cardboard box that 2 can sit in. It has pinestraw and they love it, but prefer to go solo when in it. I have 6 hens and they share with no problem.