Please give me a reason or two why.....

[speckledhen]

You dont want them laying in a corner or anywhere on the floor because they are more likely to get in poop or be pooped on. That's one really good reason, I think.

 

[ChickPeas]

That's a very good reason! Fortunately mine have begun to lay under a shelf where they can't get pooped on.

If the eggs were in danger of getting eaten by a predator, squished or pooped on, we'd do something else right away. For now, laying on the ground seems to work, but I think it would be best to get them up higher. Why wait for something to go wrong, KWIM?

Thanks for all the replies...

 

[digitS']

You can have a good floor-level nest box, Liz. Jungle fowl are the ancestor of all our domestic chickens - they nest on the ground.

If your nest boxes are high, you run the risk of the birds roosting in the boxes. Or, laying on the floor, anyway

Steve

 

[luckychic]

I don't have the right kind of room in my coop to have the nest box High, but not as high as my roost, so I have a box that used to be a deep kitchen drawer that works well. It gives them the definition needed to know that "Hey this is a safe place for me and my eggs" and a little privacy. I also use a different ground covering for the box.

Since it is in my coop, and on the floor it is in an area which the roost is not over so it helps to keep the poop out of the box. I think they like to have their eggs in an area that is clean.

Cynthia

 

[speckledhen]

I should have been clearer. I just meant the nests should be off the ground, not actually high up. I have several floor level nests, but they are actual nests, not just a corner of the coop. If you put sides under that shelf and enclose it, you'll have an actual nestbox where they are already laying. I also like to put a front on mine so the eggs and straw/shavings are not pulled into the floor of the coop in traffic pattern areas.