Options for a place to lay

[willowandthyme]

We're having a new coop built for our 11 chickens but I was wondering about the "everyone wants one nesting box" issue. In our case its big feed buckets on their sides for now. In the new coop I'm wondering if a long shelf with a 3 inch lip full of straw would work and help alleviate the crowding? Seriously, one day 4 chickens had crowded into this one bucket and poor Annabelle was quite squashed on the bottom lol. Any thoughts?
Thanks!

 

[lazy gardener]

I'd opt for several options: several normal sized nests, and one community nest.

 

[emma p]

You will probably only need one nesting box for every three or four chickens. They like them to be like 12 by 12. But larger is always better!

Good luck!

 

[Wyandottes7]

I'd provide one nest box for every 4 hens (in your case, that would probably be 3 nest boxes- but it wouldn't hurt to have a couple more, just in case you get some more birds someday!).