Placement of the nest box?

[clairekwood]

Hello,

I'm new here and it is my first time raising chickens on my own and I love to research and I also am a bit of an obsessive chicken momma - I'm sure many of you can identify

Well I'm all into making their own organic feed, fermenting it, giving them sprouts and plenty of good produce scraps. I've got three Ameracauna hens that are about 4 months old now and will start laying soon. They have a big open coop and I have a roosting bar set up for them (a ~3ft tall saw horse) but they prefer to cozy up in the back corner as that is the only place that I find their poop. They can definitely fly but they seem happier on the ground, they hardly spend any time on the shorter roost in the run. So now I'm making plans to build them a nest box and I am wondering if I should just put it where they already like to sleep, or should I put it somewhere else? On the ground or lofted up?

I'm sure they'd be happy wherever I placed it, ha, but I would love any insight or advice. Also if special tips for building a nest box that may vary from the basic design are welcome. Thank you cheepers!

 

[gggeek]

Hello,

I'm new here and it is my first time raising chickens on my own and I love to research and I also am a bit of an obsessive chicken momma - I'm sure many of you can identify

Well I'm all into making their own organic feed, fermenting it, giving them sprouts and plenty of good produce scraps. I've got three Ameracauna hens that are about 4 months old now and will start laying soon. They have a big open coop and I have a roosting bar set up for them (a ~3ft tall saw horse) but they prefer to cozy up in the back corner as that is the only place that I find their poop. They can definitely fly but they seem happier on the ground, they hardly spend any time on the shorter roost in the run. So now I'm making plans to build them a nest box and I am wondering if I should just put it where they already like to sleep, or should I put it somewhere else? On the ground or lofted up?

I'm sure they'd be happy wherever I placed it, ha, but I would love any insight or advice. Also if special tips for building a nest box that may vary from the basic design are welcome. Thank you cheepers!

Chickens poop a lot when they are sleeping on their roost, so you don't want them tempted to roost on or above your nest boxes. Also make sure it is set lower than the roosts for your birds as chickens will roost at the highest point in the coop they can. If the nest boxes are the highest point that is where they will want to roost.

 

[thomasboyle]

If your nesting boxes are for egg laying, then you don't want them sleeping in them. Usually, chickens will sleep on the highest roost possible, so you want your nesting boxes lower than their sleeping roosts. I have all of my sleeping roosts at 30" off the ground, and the nesting boxes are 18" off the ground. If you make the boxes too low, you may have problems getting the eggs.

 

[aart]

Ditto on the above posts^^^

At 4 months I would think they'd be roosting.
Can you post a pic of your roost?
Maybe someone can make a suggestions to make them more enticing.