nest box

[douglasvarner]

I have a new rollaway nest box, when do I introduce it to my chicken,they are 8 weeks old

 

[PachecoPeeps]

I have a new rollaway nest box, when do I introduce it to my chicken,they are 8 weeks old

Most pullets start laying around 18-24 weeks but some will be sooner and others later it just depends on the breed.

I would probably put it out around 15 weeks. If you don’t have other hens to teach them you may want to invest in fake eggs for the boxes so they can figure out what they are supposed to do in there.
Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[douglasvarner]

thanks for the info

 

[douglasvarner]

this is my first year with chickens, I hatched 32 black austrslorps of 39 in my incubator on may 5th only 1 died. I build a 8x6 coop and a 16x8 run. yesterday was the girls first day in the run and I have two german shepherds that's aggravating them. just wanted to know the best way to stop this.

 

[CannedMonster]

An 8’ x 6’ coop is not nearly big enough for 32 birds if you plan on keeping all of them.
You want a minimum of 4 square feet per bird in the coop and 10 square feet per bird in the run.
So your space is better suited for 10-12 adult LF chickens.
You’ll need another coop if you keep them all.

 

[snow5164]

You’ll have to teach your dogs to not scare the chickens , if they’re barking at them get them to sit ..and stop.

Agreed your coop is really too small ...better get your ad ready to sell some

 

[douglasvarner]

I gave 15 roosters away yesterday and I think I have 3 more, that will leave me with 13 hens once I get rid of the three. as for my dogs scaring the chickens what do you think about an electric wire.

 

[douglasvarner]

I don't think the electric wire is a good idea, don't want to hurt my dogs, they were there first. They are good about obeying, I think i'll just keep training them not to aggravate the chicken. I'm open for suggestions.

 

[ronott1]

The Dogs should not be out with the hens without supervision. You might need to build a fence to keep them apart.

Congratulations on the hatch!

You can put the nest box in at any time. 13 hens will need more than one though, Unless there are multiple nests in it?

 

[douglasvarner]

The chicken are in a run made of cattle panels covered with one inch chicken wire. the dogs run around the run.