If the ratio for the nesting boxes are 1 for every 5-8 hens where do they all sleep. I know in our coup that we have five hens and a rooster and at night If u go in there that the hens are in the boxes. ( but we have 13 of them). Thats how we are going off how many we should have??
They should sleep on roosts if you have them, if they sleep in the nest boxes, they tend to poop in em
This is an interesting factoid....... I thought you needed as many boxes as you have hens....... Must do further research on this.
Chickens usually sleep at the highest point they can reach in the coop. So most of us add a roost that sits higher than the nest boxes.
I believe the math is 4 chickens to a nest box I built 4 in my coop and only have 8 birds going on 7 cause one so far is turning out to be a boy..
Nesting box to chicken ratios are kind of funny. If you provide more boxes they still only use one. We have a coop that could hold eight chickens so have two nesting boxes attached. They all lay in one, sometimes all lay in the other. On the rare occasion a hen is taking far to long and the next in line just can't wait. It like having two bathrooms, you really only need the one excepting for emergencies and convenience.
