nesting box height?

[peepaw]

Can anyone tell me how high off the ground I should have my nesting boxes? I am new to this chicken raisin stuff. But me and my step-daughter are gonna make a run at it.

 

[blucoondawg]

It is up to you, we had a galvanized steel unit with 10 nests, it sat on the floor of the coop, the bottom 5 were pretty much floor level then the top 5 were right above, you want them lower than your roosts so the birds sleep on the roosts rather than the nests but you also will want them at a height where it is comfortable to collect eggs, floor level is sort of a pain unless you have an outside access then it isn't so bad if you have a raised coop

 

[peepaw]

Ok. Thank you.

 

[ruby66]

I made these the other day, they seem happy with them and it was free

 

[Fred's Hens]

I put nests just 6" off the ground. The pullets seem to take to them very well when they are low. I happen to also think it feeds into the chicken's natural tendency to be a ground layer. For certain, the nest should be lower than the roost. If they are as high as the roost or higher, the chicken will normally prefer to sleep in it, rather than lay eggs in it. What a mess that creates. Our pullets don't even see a nest until they are right at point of lay.

 

[CoolClucker]

I don't have an exact height for you, but would keep them off the floor to minimize possible soiling of nests. Personally I'm going to make mine at least 12 inches off the floor, perhaps even 24 inches. That will also keep me off my hands and knees when I collect eggs. I read that if you add a rail just below the nest entrance, it gives hens a place to land before entering, no closer than 8 inches from the edge of nest, and this keeps soiling down as well. Add a 4 inch lip in front to keep eggs and nest materials inside. I got that from Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens. Good luck!

 

[ozarkchicks]

as long as they are lower than the roosts it doesn't matter

 

[Chugosh]

I was just looking for this same thing. I got a coop without nesting boxes for free, but I wanted to build one and attach it on the outside to make it easier to get at the eggs (this thing is build for dinosaurs! The coop lid weighs at least twenty pounds.) So today I built the box, and according to my local chicken owners, It should do, but I was all ready to cut the side of the coop up high and attach it till I saw this. So, lower than the roost. Check.

How about this: so far it has a floor of 12X22 inches. Do I need to divide that into two nests? If so how much of a wall between is required?

I'll put my video of it with my other one about the coop and pen I got for free.

 

[blucoondawg]

I would divide it into 2 12x11 or whatever the distance is minus the thickness of the wall. I would make the wall the full height and depth of the nest unit so the birds can't see each other at all, also it helps to have the front partially enclosed with either a board covering part of the bottom opening or the front fully enclosed with holes cut in it for the birds to go through, the more privacy they have the more they will like the nests, it makes them feel as if they have a secure hidden place to put their egg.

 

[Chugosh]

Right on. I can do that a lot easier now than when it is all attached!