Nesting box ideas?

[nao57]

My chickens all love the milk crates, and abandoned their nice wooden boxes when I set up milk crates, on the floor.
Very easy to take out and clean. I cut out part of one side, so there’s a lip to keep nesting material in. In one coop, I put one on top of the other, and they liked that. The crates are anchored to each other and to the wall. View attachment 3722359

Very cool. Yes. I like it. Milk crates are good for a lot of things.

 

[lagrange chicks]

The roll out nesting boxes I made work great, eggs are clean and never had a broken one. I used astro turf cut to size in the boxes, can be taken out and washed. The nesting boxes are mounted on the back of the coop with a large lid on the top and a small egg lid.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

OH interesting. So basically we can give you more information now that we have that information! XD

If you find the eggs have been moved; what you will want to look for is to see if this happens more than once. If its happened more than once then you can have the birds stealing each others eggs to sit on but not to eat. If the eggs are broken open but not being moved then it can be an egg eater. You solve the egg eater situation with putting hard golf balls out there to train them to not eat them. But losing eggs can be the mothers fighting over the eggs, of wanting to both be moms also. (No idea why but people do comment that they'd seen this. Sometimes you can get them to joint nest but that can get messy.)

Geese can fight over wanting to be egg mothers also, not just chickens. (Are they in mating season for both birds? Or broody already?)

You may need to check the yard, to see if the eggs are reaching a certain other second hiding place if they are being moved.

At some point, people sometimes have to separate geese from ducks and chickens. You might evaluate that also. But you can try the other steps first.

If the birds are only laying on areas near the ground but not above ground such as in the case of your drawer nest thing that's probably their instinct. Its hard to trick their instincts. Not sure if its even worth trying. Plus, they nest closer to the ground to cover the eggs with grass and stuff for insulation warmth anyway. So this could actually mean they have good nesting and broody instinct?

There has been a few odd instances of egg movings. I've found one broken just inside the door of the coop. The one just outside the nesting box only had a small crack on the bottom of it. But as they were deep drawers im not to sure it was the chickens unless one didnt make it to the nesting box. The geese are highly interested in eating eggs. We dont eat the eggs so its not a loss to us yet until I start selling. None of our girls are broody. All the birds are under a year old. None have gone broody. Some are molting and some just not laying.

No hidden nests the run isn't big enough to hide one Yesterday we set up the new nesting boxes however I think their to high for their liking and also moved in a dog igloo hoping the geese would like it but... The chickens have decided its their new nest box lol.

I don't know if our geese are breeding yet. I have a stronger bond with our geese as I'm their caretaker. Our male toulouse doesnt seem to put himself between me and our female with me. And so far no egg laying from the female. With them being less than a year I don't know if they'll lay this year but I heard most egg laying and mating are done between Feb-April.

Our plan since fall was for come spring to separate the geese into a separate run so they can be put up when my little sister is outside cause during fall the male did go after her.

Its helpful to know about the nesting closer to the ground. I just need to find the sweet spot of out of our geese reach but not to high. Once the geese are out of there we can definately have them on the ground easily lol Just not until things thaw.

I do hope that a few of our girls go broody this year. Just not right now.. They need to hold off for 2-3 months lol

 

[nao57]

There has been a few odd instances of egg movings. I've found one broken just inside the door of the coop. The one just outside the nesting box only had a small crack on the bottom of it. But as they were deep drawers im not to sure it was the chickens unless one didnt make it to the nesting box. The geese are highly interested in eating eggs. We dont eat the eggs so its not a loss to us yet until I start selling. None of our girls are broody. All the birds are under a year old. None have gone broody. Some are molting and some just not laying.

No hidden nests the run isn't big enough to hide one Yesterday we set up the new nesting boxes however I think their to high for their liking and also moved in a dog igloo hoping the geese would like it but... The chickens have decided its their new nest box lol.

I don't know if our geese are breeding yet. I have a stronger bond with our geese as I'm their caretaker. Our male toulouse doesnt seem to put himself between me and our female with me. And so far no egg laying from the female. With them being less than a year I don't know if they'll lay this year but I heard most egg laying and mating are done between Feb-April.

Our plan since fall was for come spring to separate the geese into a separate run so they can be put up when my little sister is outside cause during fall the male did go after her.

Its helpful to know about the nesting closer to the ground. I just need to find the sweet spot of out of our geese reach but not to high. Once the geese are out of there we can definately have them on the ground easily lol Just not until things thaw.

I do hope that a few of our girls go broody this year. Just not right now.. They need to hold off for 2-3 months lol

Wow Very cool. Wish I could see it.

Toulousse are very good geese also. They are noted for being easier to work with than other types of geese yet still having good traits in other areas.

I would still not let the birds eat the eggs even though you don't need them now. Because we're headed for tough times and its likely soon you may really need the eggs then. It can be hard to break the habits of egg eaters sometimes also; though most people are successful at it. You might not have to use golf balls though to break that; I'm curious if anyone has ever tried painting egg sized rocks to put in instead? Why spend money on golf balls when you don't need to you know, and most people have paint in their tool sheds.

On if or not if your geese are breeding... people say that you will find out when suddenly you wake up one day and they are more ornery than normal. That's the easiest way... supposedly.

I have to say that I don't have geese right now. But I'd like to have waterfowl again soon. It was a lot of fun. And what's also really fun is seeing nephews, kids, or grandkids reactions when they get to see waterfowl or chickens the first time, or just when they want to see and watch them.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Wow Very cool. Wish I could see it.

Toulousse are very good geese also. They are noted for being easier to work with than other types of geese yet still having good traits in other areas.

I would still not let the birds eat the eggs even though you don't need them now. Because we're headed for tough times and its likely soon you may really need the eggs then. It can be hard to break the habits of egg eaters sometimes also; though most people are successful at it. You might not have to use golf balls though to break that; I'm curious if anyone has ever tried painting egg sized rocks to put in instead? Why spend money on golf balls when you don't need to you know, and most people have paint in their tool sheds.

On if or not if your geese are breeding... people say that you will find out when suddenly you wake up one day and they are more ornery than normal. That's the easiest way... supposedly.

I have to say that I don't have geese right now. But I'd like to have waterfowl again soon. It was a lot of fun. And what's also really fun is seeing nephews, kids, or grandkids reactions when they get to see waterfowl or chickens the first time, or just when they want to see and watch them.

Our boy is a toulouse our female is a buff american.

I think its our geese eating the eggs. We put a dog igloo in the run hoping the geese would use it but instead the chickens have chosen it as the new nest box and so far no broken eggs and i havent seen the geese go in it. Our male will stick his head in and honk at the chickens but thats as far as he goes.

We have 9 almost a year old pullets/hens so I'm not to worried if we need to start using their eggs. The only thing that bugs me about the breakage/eating of eggs is that it was happening in the nestbox making it gross.

 

[Ellie76]

I use wooden crates with an osb board at an angle on top (see first picture).

If I didn't like the crates so much, I would lean some sticks against the wall - sort of teepee-pole style. I'd have to play with how to do it but when I leaned several 5'- 6' sticks against the wall for a different purpose, it took about two days before they were all laying under the sticks. I don't remember if I took a picture; I'll add it if I find one - I found one.

Cardboard boxes also work.

Hello I have my nest box (an old drawer) up off the floor about 1.5foot. Is there any danger of chicks falling out? Curious to know how high yours is off the floor?

 

[Annetti]

One cool nesting box idea is to repurpose an old wooden crate. Add a hinged lid for easy cleaning and a cozy interior with some straw or shredded paper. Paint it in a calming color to blend with the surroundings. Your feathery friends will love it

 

[Awaytome]

Most of my Bielefelders grew too big to comfortably use the nest boxes we built into the coop wall so I bought a couple of these Husky 55 gallon stackable storage bins and the girls immediately took to the bottom bin. I have them stacked like this, sitting on the floor of the coop. They were about $15 each at Home Depot.