Nesting boxes

[ckred213]

thanks

 

[Ridgerunner]

A minimum size of 12” x 12” will work but I went with 16” x 16” because that fit my stud spacing and that made the framing easy. I’m glad I did for a couple of reasons. It’s not that unusual for three hens to crowd into one box, even if there are empty nests available. With the smaller nests some literally wind up laying on top of another hen. I much prefer them to be a little lower down.

I let my broody hens hatch in the nests. The first baby chicks that hatch like to climb on top of Mama. If the nest is too small, the broody hen is sitting right next to the edge. The chick can totally miss the nest when it falls off. I found that out when a hen hatched in a bucket cat litter comes in. I had to toss several chicks backup with Mama after they fell out. I don’t have that problem with my bigger nests.

Definitely go with a good lip on the bottom. That’s a good suggestion. Hens like to scratch and rearrange a nest before they lay. If the lip is too low they can scratch out bedding, fake eggs, or real eggs a previous hen laid.

You’ll find that people use a whole lot of different things for nests and in all kinds of configurations. The chickens usually don’t care much about this, at least not as much as people. Good luck!

 

[TheEggCollecter]

A minimum size of 12” x 12” will work but I went with 16” x 16” because that fit may stud spacing and that made the framing easy. I’m glad I did for a couple of reasons. It’s not that unusual for three hens to crowd into one box, even if there are empty nests available. With the smaller nests some literally wind up laying on top of another hen. I much prefer them to be a little lower down.

I let my broody hens hatch in the nests. The first baby chicks that hatch like to climb on top of Mama. If the nest is too small, the broody hen is sitting right next to the edge. The chick can totally miss the nest when it falls off. I found that out when a hen hatched in a bucket cat litter comes in. I had to toss several chicks backup with Mama after they fell out. I don’t have that problem with my bigger nests.

Definitely go with a good lip on the bottom. That’s a good suggestion. Hens like to scratch and rearrange a nest before they lay. If the lip is too low they can scratch out bedding, fake eggs, or real eggs a previous hen laid.

You’ll find that people use a whole lot of different things for nests and in all kinds of configurations. The chickens usually don’t care much about this, at least not as much as people. Good luck!

 

[ckred213]

Thank you.

 

[DCortez]

They others got the abbreviations. Good point on the stud spacing!