Nesting Boxes: Community or Individual?

[WildflowerJLH]

We are building our coop, and I am trying to work out some of the design details. I would love to hear why you prefer one over the other. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[elmo]

I have individual nesting boxes, but the hens usually end up using the same one, anyway. Mine are plastic lidded bins, and today I got a Booda covered litterbox. I like plastic because it's easy to clean, and I like having moveable boxes because that gives me the flexibility to move them around as I move my flock around between their tractor and the various runs I have for them.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

My flock of 12 layers has 3 boxes, most of them use 1, a few use a 2nd one, and 2 of them use a completely different area...nobody uses the 3rd box at all.

 

[rubyrogue]

I have two big nestboxes. Some lay in one, some lay in the other and some lay under them. I dont know how they get under there because there is only like 4 inches but they do so.....

 

[wildorchid053]

i have communal but they tend to lay where ever they want.. some in it.. sometimes under it. sometimes in roosting area.. doesn't seem to matter

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I have both. My earlier tractors used individual nests and my later ones use community. I've come to prefer the community as it eliminates the "nest no one wants to use" problem.

.....Alan.

 

[CityChook]

me too - one community box here. I didn't have space for individual boxes, but they seem to like this long box just fine. Three girls can fit in comfortably, 4 if they squeeze. They still argue about and whine at the current layer to "hurry it up" though.

... edited for spelling...

 

[justtoni44]

Hi,

I give up trying to please them.............my husband made a really nice three nest box........
We also had an apple box on my garden bench..............you know what they use.so we added two more apple boxes next to the first..they are so happy.a few use the wood box he built......all in the middle nest.grrrrrrrrr
But at least they do not drop them outside

I think they like the cardboard boxes because they are deeper.....they can hide from view.

 

[City Gardener]

We had three hens crowded into ONE next box today (with four other boxes available, but never used). They were fussing and fighting with each other over it, too, so it wasn't as cute as it might have been.

 

[patandchickens]

For whatever it's worth, I currently have my two sussex pens "undivided" so it is just one big pen; one side has two individual nestboxes, the other side has a "doublewide" community nest box.

They lay about half their eggs in the community box, and the other half in the individual boxes.

From this I conclude that my sussexes, at least, do not really care

Pat