Nesting Box Question

[smchick]

Sorry if this is a dumb question. I have chickens for about a year now and they rarely ever use the nesting box and I tried various ways for them to use it but they always prefer to lay on the floor of the coop. Do I need a nesting box?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Nesting boxes provide convenience to you, the keeper, in that the eggs are in one easy to gather from place and *generally* cleaner as chickens *generally* avoid pooping where they nest (there are exceptions - such as young not yet laying birds who may try to sleep in the nest boxes and will poop throughout the night -- this is why most keepers will nip that habit in the bud and engage in roost training). If you are not bothered by gathering your eggs from the coop floor, it isn't necessarily a problem that needs fixing.
That said, if you would prefer that they use the nest boxes we can help you to retrain your birds. The first step is to show us your coop and nest boxes so we can see where they are laying now and identify potential issues with the setup that make that more attractive than the boxes. For example, this is common in the prefab coops as they are designed and built in ways that work against the natural behaviors and instincts of the birds they are sold to house (this shows in nest box usesage and roosting most commonly).

 

[debid]

Give them a box that is attractive to them and convenient for you and everyone wins. But photos are step 1, cannot begin to guess at the problem without seeing.

 

[thecatumbrella]

To add to what was said, I've found the magical nest box ingredients are 1) privacy, 2) shavings on the bottom, 3) a ring of straw around the perimeter for them to shape to their liking, and 4) fake wooden craft eggs.

 

[FernwoodHollow]

Sorry if this is a dumb question. I have chickens for about a year now and they rarely ever use the nesting box and I tried various ways for them to use it but they always prefer to lay on the floor of the coop. Do I need a nesting box?

Have you tried fake wooden eggs? I bought some multicolored fake wooden eggs and put them in the nest boxes so my chickens could see oh there's eggs in there that's where I'm supposed to lay and that fixed some it for me in the past! But also sometimes if they're laying somewhere else it's because they find that other place more suitable so maybe you need more bedding or more privacy Etc in your nesting boxes

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

Agreed that it'll be easier to answer or give advice with more details/pictures of your setup.

Nesting boxes are for your convenience, mostly

But, when birds start laying eggs on the floor/ground, there ends up being more risk of eggs getting accidentally broken as they're unprotected. Which makes it really easy for egg eating to start. So that would be why nest boxes (that they'll use) are good to have.