Nests necessary?

[kannm]

We are new to chickens. Right now our chickens have a large area and live with our goats. Our goat hut is pretty big and is filled with 5" of straw all over the bottom. The chickens sleep in a big bunch in the hut along with the goats (there is room for everyone).

The question is, do the chickens need to have nest boxes and roosting areas?

 

[brooster]

Well, unles you want to search for eggs on the ground, then yes, they can go without roosts, but would use them if you gave them some.

 

[kannm]

Thank you! That makes sense. I was just worried that we were not giving our chickens built up nests. They made their own nests in the goat hut.

 

[gritsar]

Without nests you're likely to have more broken dirty eggs. Lots of things can be turned into a simple nest. I use plastic storage bins that I bought @ walmart for a couple bucks each. If the structure is tall enough you could mount them high up and they wouldn't take up valuable floor space that way.

 

[Delta2 23]

Well they will be much more comfortable with roosts, it's how they sleep naturally- perched in a tree.

as for nests, chickens like a little nesting space to lay their eggs so if you don't provide some for them they will make their own! My chickens have made their own nests in my garden out of leaves. they're really cute

i guess in your case they'd make their nests in the straw. They like somewhere sheltered from everywhere else so you might like to put something in a corner.