Nest Box Paint color for privacy

[jimla]

I painted the coop inside with gloss white for brightness and ease of cleanup and the same with the external attached nest boxes. Should I have painted the boxes a darker color for more privacy? Black maybe. The boxes will be attached soon so I can paint again if needed.

 

[fireguy56]

Hi, Really? Painting for privacy! You don't have to paint them at all....they'll nest in them no matter what color they are. Good luck with what ya decide. Mine are bare wood and they don't seem to even care. But the eggs are there.
erik

 

[aggie9296]

Quote:
x2.

 

[jimla]

I painted for ease of cleanup on a very rough coop surface not privacy. When the inside of the boxes were painted they seemed almost too bright and I wondered if the brightness would impact their laying having read here that they like their privacy

 

[al6517]

Quote:
X10 privacy is not something a chicken even knows, so other than ease of clean up there isn't much sense to it. Privacy is another human emotion people think chickens automaticly inherit when the become a pet. So really no need to do any of that, except if you want to for yourself but certainly not for the hen.

 

[fireguy56]

Quote:
Jimla, Wasn't trying to be smart a**, just thought it funny at the time I read it. Because if ya go up and read your first post, first question. You do mention whether the bright white will affect "their Privacy" not for ease of cleanup. Anyway...no biggie as far as color, however some folks put burlap across the front of their boxes cut in strips, etc.. I had a problem with some of my girls roosting on the edge of boxes on the 1" x 4" I installed to keep shavings in. So, I cut some 1/4" Luan in the shape of a vee and installed that to discourage them from hanging out on the edge of boxes and pooping in them. It worked and also gives them some privacy. Here is what it looks like. Hey, good luck with what ya decide to do.
erik

They don't seem to like trying to balance on the thin edge of the angled plywood, so they gave up on roosting there. Worked great. I need to patent the idea!

 

[Daisy8s]

Quote:
You seriously do! When I had chickens roosting in my nest boxes I posted on here for help and the only suggestion I got was to block off their next boxes completely till they learned new habits. I did this since all the birds were pre-laying age except I miscalculated, left the nest boxes blocked too long, and later discovered they'd begun laying elsewhere while free ranging--a habit I cannot break one of them from.

Love the angled plywood idea--that's my next project!

As to chicken privacy. Sure, sure, chickens don't have human emotions, but c'mon, haven't you ever opened the nest box to find a hen inside doing her thing and gotten this look from her as if you've just walked in on someone in the privvy?

 

[Dvmoe]

Quote:

Jimla, Wasn't trying to be smart a**, just thought it funny at the time I read it. Because if ya go up and read your first post, first question. You do mention whether the bright white will affect "their Privacy" not for ease of cleanup. Anyway...no biggie as far as color, however some folks put burlap across the front of their boxes cut in strips, etc.. I had a problem with some of my girls roosting on the edge of boxes on the 1" x 4" I installed to keep shavings in. So, I cut some 1/4" Luan in the shape of a vee and installed that to discourage them from hanging out on the edge of boxes and pooping in them. It worked and also gives them some privacy. Here is what it looks like. Hey, good luck with what ya decide to do.
erik

They don't seem to like trying to balance on the thin edge of the angled plywood, so they gave up on roosting there. Worked great. I need to patent the idea!

I still have a wide board walk. My chickens don't try to roost on it because my roosting pole is higher that my board walk.

 

[Dvmoe]

I went to gather my eggs this morning and found two eggs on the ground. Did the hens lay them in the ground because they got tired of waiting for the other hens to come out or did the kick them out of the nest? Seems like they would have broken off they did that. My hens just started laying about a week ago. I have 9 hens and get six eggs a day. So only 6 hens are laying right now.