Nesting boxes below roosts?

[MichenerFarm]

My nesting boxes are high & my roosting poles are even higher- some are up 6ft. Because of the poop issue you will not want your nesting boxes directly below the roosts. Mine are on opposite ends of the coop. Post a pic when you can- hope this helps.

 

[fiddlebanshee]

es yes...NOT actually below the roost cuz that may be bad as well with all the poo falling on them.

Not necessarily. I have my nesting boxes with a poopshelf on top of them and then the roosts. I don't have chickens yet, my peeps are due to arrive on 9/22, but I don't see why this setup wouldn't work. The location under the poopshelf gives them a dark place and privacy where they can do their thing.​

 

[BellevueOmlet]

What is the advantage of having the nesting boxes 18 inches off of the ground. I have a raised coop so the ground floor is not actually the ground and my nesting boxes are 8 inches up. They have never used them for anything but laying eggs. Is the 18-22 inches only if the coop is at ground level?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Other than the roosting issue, the height of the nesting boxes does not matter that much. Some people have them on the ground and some have them much higher. They all work though the chickens may get used to one situation and ignore new ones you add. Though when I added a new one, they all wanted to lay in it instead of the old ones. Trendy chickens that wanted the latest model, I guess.

A few things to consider. If you put them on the floor, they are more likely to scratch stuff in there from the coop floor. That may mean dirty eggs. Lots of people do it that way though and don't have that problem.

If you raise them just a bit but not enough, the area under the nests is a great place for Mommy Mouse to raise her babies. If the chickens can get to them, that won't happen. If you don't raise them enough, (considering the top of you bedding, not the bare floor) they will quite likely scratch the bedding and pile it up under the nests, blocking access underneath. Mne scratch a lot more around the feeder than under the nests.

If you have a bad back, you may not want to bend over and get the eggs out of a nest on the floor. Make them convenient for you. The chickens work for you, not the other way around. At least around here they do.

If you do put the nests directly under the roosts with a droppings board on top, make sure you can access the nests without your hair hitting the poopy roosts or the droppings board.

And don't forget the "roost on the highest thing" issue.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Is the 18-22 inches only if the coop is at ground level?

That is just what all the info I seen says...mine all use the nest boxes too and having them lower I think would work too

They say not to have them up high (because of the roosting problems) but I would thing that even 8 inches off the ground would be fine as well.​

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

If you raise them just a bit but not enough, the area under the nests is a great place for Mommy Mouse to raise her babies.

Never thought of this...good point!​

 

[bgates1970]

Quote:
If they roost in the nesting boxes, your boxes will be full of POOP

BINGO! This is why i'm building a new coop with more room. The poop in the nest boxes sucks big time. Always scrubbing eggs!

 

[fireguy56]

Hi, You can put your nest boxes uner the roosts as long as you have some type of a poop board set up between roosts and nest boxes. We went with a removable tray system for catching poop. It is easy to clean by simply removing each tray and scraping into a tote to transfer out to the compost pile . Also, our nest boxes don't protrude into the coop space, they are built into the wall for outside access to eggs. Hope this helps. Photo below

 

[julnjake]

Quote:

 

[sab]

Here's my arrangement with the birds sleeping tonight. The nest boxes are on the floor under the poop shelf. As you can see, Duck-Duck likes to sleep in them. Ducks poop big poop. But I am finding that she doesn't do that in the sleeping area. Duck-Duck also lays her egg in 1 of these nests every AM. The other 3 chickens that are of laying age will lay in the same nest. Why they have to all use the same nest, I don't know. There's 1 for each of them. But they choose to follow Duck-Duck. Even when I remove the duck egg early, the others seem to know which nest she laid in that AM. The coop has sand in it on linoleum and the nest area has straw. The ladies decided to pull all the straw out so there is a thin layer of straw all over the floor. Then they pulled what they wanted back into the nests. This winter I will likely put pine shavings in the nest area. But knock on wood - they stay clean - no poop. But now that poop board is a different matter altogether....