Nest boxes....single divided or community...

[Hopefulloflove]

Ok, so I've been researching and I am wondering what sort of nest boxes to use. I have 20 birds, and I do sort of like the idea of community boxes, but not sure if it's the best idea...what are the pros and cons please...

 

[hensofhallora]

I have found that the individual boxes are better because you tend to get less eggs in the one spot. less eggs together means less breakages. I have tried the communal boxes and they tend to cause more fighting too. For 20 hens I would have at least 5 boxes. they will probably pick their favourite 2 and just use those anyway

 

[BellevueOmlet]

I also like seperated boxes. Many will still use the same one but it works out better.

 

[Omran]

I tried both and I agree individual boxes are much better

 

[7L Farm]

Here's mine easy to build & they seem to love them.LOL!!

 

[wava1vaughn]

Hi from Ga. I've tried both and had different results than the others. All my chickens want the same spot. so I have one big box and you have as many as 3-4 laying on top of each other trying to lay. It seems to work for them . Never had a broken egg.

 

[babyrnlc]

Quote:
That's me. I have 9 of laying age. I had 6 nest boxes in the old coop. They all used 1. Now I have only 4. They still all use one. They wait in line for that box!

 

[Sjisty]

I have single boxes in one coop and communal boxes in another. I have very large hens and they seem to have trouble getting into the smaller boxes. The down side to the larger boxes is if I don't go out at least five times a day to collect eggs, somebody sees all those lovely eggs in one place and switches like magic into broody mode!

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

I have 3 hen houses, one large one divided in half. in 2 of them I have about 9 each and have one lg. nesting area. it works fine, they don't break them and all is well. The others with the divided nest are always fighting over the nesting box, sometimes they have 2-3 trying to lay in one box at the same time and sometimes will break the eggs because they are just that, single nesting boxes. if I had it do all over again, I would rip out the single nesting boxes and make it one large one with maybe 1-2 single ones on the side if some truly preferred it.

 

[sjmarshall87]

Someone has actually suggested to me to use the hooded cat litter pans.. Spending the same (if not less) to purchase those AND they break down for easy cleaning. They are plastic so germs wont be an issue