One nest box enough?

[my first peepers]

Hi all. I have 5 pullets, 3 at 23 weeks, 2 at 16 weeks. So far only one of the older girls is laying. Right now I have only one nest box and I plan to add another in their secure run in the spring. Their indoor coop space is small so I don't want to use up more than necessary (they have an enclosed run, an outdoor run and they free range a lot). Will they share one nest box or will it cause problems?

 

[Tuffoldhen]

My answer is yes, they aren't all going to lay at the same time of the day anyway. Sometimes I have 3 waiting turns in one nest to lay, one right after the other. I would make another next Spring tho, two will be plenty for you.

 

[derby]

My 6 all lay in the same box anyway.

Derby

 

[my first peepers]

Thanks for your quick replies!

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

Yep they will all lay in one but I would suggest getting another in the run like you said. It would make it less of a possibility of getting eggs cracked with all the hens using one nesting box

 

[All about the EGG]

We have 5 sex linlk and one box. In August when they first started laying they would be growling at each other, two in the box at once, and one singing at the top of her lungs...at 6 am. Now I check and there are 3-4 eggs in the box, and the other one comes about 10 am. No more fussing. What happened??? They worked it out (I guess). The only time I get a cracked egg is when a pointed end is dropped first, and there are not enough shavings.

 

[redoak]

I'd build at least 2. Just made one extra long and put a divider in the middle and you have 2 nest boxes. You never know when you might get more chickens and easier to make 2 nest boxes at once then one and one.

 

[Chirpy]

The general rule of thumb is one nest box for every four chickens.

But, as stated above numerous times... chickens don't read the books and you could have five nest boxes and all of them lay in the same one.

If you can add one more I would do so, but if you really can't or don't want to you will probably be fine with just the one.