I have Black Jersey Giants and during my research on nest boxes I saw several articles that talked about larger chickens needing larger nest boxes.
I took a grow your farm class at the local extension office and brought up the topic. One of my classmates said she had Jersey Giants and all her hens large and small laid in the same small box.
One of my farm hands that was helping me build a new coop for the Giants didn't believe the larger hens would like a small nest box. Ours were built 12" X 12" X 12". They all liked and layed in the nest boxes.
The proof that size isn't that important is that we had a board split on one of our coop walls and the wall cavity was exposed. We have a two year old Jersey Giant hen decide she liked the wall cavity better than the nest box. The wall cavity is 6" X 24". I don't know how she turns around in there but she manages just fine. She always lays them as far back as she can get them and I need a stick to get them out.
12" X 12" X 12" is just fine and if space is a problem a little smaller won't deter them even if they are extra large chickens.
I took a grow your farm class at the local extension office and brought up the topic. One of my classmates said she had Jersey Giants and all her hens large and small laid in the same small box.
One of my farm hands that was helping me build a new coop for the Giants didn't believe the larger hens would like a small nest box. Ours were built 12" X 12" X 12". They all liked and layed in the nest boxes.
The proof that size isn't that important is that we had a board split on one of our coop walls and the wall cavity was exposed. We have a two year old Jersey Giant hen decide she liked the wall cavity better than the nest box. The wall cavity is 6" X 24". I don't know how she turns around in there but she manages just fine. She always lays them as far back as she can get them and I need a stick to get them out.
12" X 12" X 12" is just fine and if space is a problem a little smaller won't deter them even if they are extra large chickens.