Nesting Box Size?

[tish_matt]

We have 9 chickens, 3 Americanas, 3 rhode island reds, 3 barred rock. I finished the coop today in a portion of our already existing shed(6.5 ft wide x 6.5 length with 6 ft tall ceiling) is the coop. I installed 4 -1 ft square nesting boxes, but they look small to me, my thought was to take the middle out of the boxes so i would have 2 -2ft long by 1ft deep boxes. I feel like i have read that 9 chickens can have 2-6 nesting boxes, so we used some left over wood that was 1ft to build the nesting boxes. But after even more reading tonight it looks like maybe i should have gone with 4-18" square boxes, this would require additional funds which are low. But i dont want to skimp on money or have to fix the coop when the birds are living in it.

Should i make the 4- 18 inch nesting boxes or will 2- 2ftx 1ftx1ft boxes be ok for the chickens?

what do you thinkg?

 

[Shanda]

How about 3-16" boxes. Then you could work with what you have. If you find it isn't enough later, you can add another when you have more funds. Also, I first had issues with our chickens roosting on top of the boxes which is very yucky and messy to clean up, so we put a slanted edge at the top so they couldn't roost there. We still have issues with them sleeping/roosting inside the boxes, but I don't have the heart to kick them out until I make ample and equal roosting space for them. I was told to cover the fronts of the boxes at night, but I won't do that until I install another roost at the same height the present roost is. For now, I just clean the poop out every morning while it's "fresh".

 

[tish_matt]

Thanks, im thinking i will go with the 18 inch ones, these boxes are set into the framing of the coop, so adding more later might be an issue as i would have to take down chicken wire and move framing pieces around with the chickens in there.

thanks for advice, we will defently make slanted roof though.

the ladies go outside today for a quick adventure