At what age do you put the nest box in the hen house? My chicks are 8 wks old. My husband built a nest box and read that you should put the box on the hen house floor so the pullets get used to it, then attach it to the wall later. We did that and they perch on top of it. They have a roost also.
I've read that you shouldn't put it in too early or they will get used to sleeping in/on it too much and not necessarily use it for the intended purpose. My oldest birds are 18wks and I just put their box in this week.
I don't know what breeds of chickens you have but my Red Sex Links started laying at 15 weeks. I didn't even have there nesting box in the pen yet. I put it in the day I found eggs. They have been using it ever since. Good luck, the first egg is so exciting.
we put ours in when we put the house togather, but put a borad over it then i put the food bins on top, so couldnt go on it. they just new when i reached in there, they were getting food.
then when it was time for laying eggs, i took it off, and put bedding in there and a couple golf balls.
I don't know my chicks are 12 weeks and I put my nest boxes in, they don't seem to know what they are for and don't bother with them much...do you think it's okay for me to leave them in there?
It's best not to give the girls access to the next boxes until they are close to laying age. The reason is that if they have them to use before that they tend to think they can sleep in them and then, once they start laying eggs, you get poopy eggs. Yuk! (I know this from personal experience.)
If someone already has nest boxes built but their chickens are young, cover the boxes until later. With the exception of Sex-links, most chickens don't start to lay eggs until they are about 20 weeks old. So, give them access to the nest boxes when they are about 18 weeks old. If the breed you have doesn't start to lay until 23 weeks old, then give them access at 21 weeks. Make sense? Do some research on the breeds you all have and then provide nest boxes according to which breed will likely (chickens don't read the books so they may lay sooner or later than 'normal' for their breed.
) lay first.
Also - it's critical to remember to keep the nest boxes lower than the roosts! They will tend to roost on whatever is higher... make sure it's where you want them to be sleeping.
If you don't want them sitting/pooping on top of the nest boxes, put a slanted board on top so they can't sit there.
