Stick in nesting box???

[KoopinItReal]

Hi all-
This is my very first post & I am a chicken newbie. I have 4 BSL pullets about 6wks old & 1 RIR cockerel about 5-6wks old. I currently have them in a small coop we bought from TSC that has a small run area under it & then has 3 nesting boxes. I just moved them into it permanently about 5 nts ago & I enclose them in the coop/ nesting box part at night bc we have coyotes around our place.
Last night when I went out to tuck them in I found a stick- about 6in long & maybe 1/4in diameter in 1 of the nesting boxes : o Do chickens gather nesting material they like & add it ri their boxes. I already have pine shavings in there. If they are adding sticks could that mean they don’t feel I have enough nesting material in there?
Thanks!

 

[noregerts]

Welcome! Chickens don’t gather nest material but they do scratch around in the bedding. I’d guess it was in with the pine flakes and they uncovered it.

 

[DobieLover]

On an unrelated note... Your coop and run are way too small for 5 LF chickens.
You need 4 sq ft per bird in the coop and 10 sq ft MINIMUM per bird in the run.
Is this coop just temporary until you build something permanent?

 

[KoopinItReal]

On an unrelated note... Your coop and run are way too small for 5 LF chickens.
You need 4 sq ft per bird in the coop and 10 sq ft MINIMUM per bird in the run.
Is this coop just temporary until you build something permanent?

Yes it is an “interim” coop we are using as the coop on the property was left in bad shape by the previous owner & had no run. My hubs put a new roof on the coop, I did a lot of painting, & I started building the run, got all the posts set but then the hardware cloth I had ordered from Home Depot never came in & they eventually canceled the order |:-[ I reordered it from TSC & just got it yesterday so I am hoping to have the big coop ready for them in the next couple weeks. Also, I let them out of the interim coop a few times a day to run around & I also bring them chickweed & vetch to munch on. My hubs & I pick up the little coop & move it every other day so they aren’t walking around on nastiness.
Here is the coop we have been rehabbing & the start of the run...

 

[KoopinItReal]

Welcome! Chickens don’t gather nest material but they do scratch around in the bedding. I’d guess it was in with the pine flakes and they uncovered it.

Thank you! I guess the stick could have been in the shavings. I always scoop it out by hand, tho, so would think I would have noticed it.

 

[DobieLover]

Yes it is an “interim” coop we are using as the coop on the property was left in bad shape by the previous owner & had no run. My hubs put a new roof on the coop, I did a lot of painting, & I started building the run, got all the posts set but then the hardware cloth I had ordered from Home Depot never came in & they eventually canceled the order |:-[ I reordered it from TSC & just got it yesterday so I am hoping to have the big coop ready for them in the next couple weeks. Also, I let them out of the interim coop a few times a day to run around & I also bring them chickweed & vetch to munch on. My hubs & I pick up the little coop & move it every other day so they aren’t walking around on nastiness.
Here is the coop we have been rehabbing & the start of the run...

That looks like a great coop! Did you do the paint on the outside? Nice colors.
Got any pictures of the inside?

 

[KoopinItReal]

That looks like a great coop! Did you do the paint on the outside? Nice colors.
Got any pictures of the inside?

Thanks! It had already been painted mostly all gray, some of the trim had been painted but not all. I had some trim paint left from some areas on the house I had touched up so painted the rest of the trim to so the gray & white matches our house. The color of the door is a color I had used on some atv tires I turned into planters for our detached garage & is an accent color I am using in other areas as well- Vintage Teal. The color of the roof just happened bc we were at Lowes looking for roofing ideas & it was cheap & easy Lol! The original roof had been chunky wood shingles & was SO cute. Wish I could have kept it but unfortunately it was eaten thru by fungus & needed to be replaced. I kept some of the old shingles for some future projects. They have the perfect look w moss & lichen on them : )
Here is a shot of the original roof & what the whole thing looked like before we started...

 

[KoopinItReal]

That looks like a great coop! Did you do the paint on the outside? Nice colors.
Got any pictures of the inside?

Thanks! It had already been painted mostly all gray, some of the trim had been painted but not all. I had some trim paint left from some areas on the house I had touched up so painted the rest of the trim to so the gray & white matches our house. The color of the door is a color I had used on some atv tires I turned into planters for our detached garage & is an accent color I am using in other areas as well- Vintage Teal. The color of the roof just happened bc we were at Lowes looking for roofing ideas & it was cheap & easy Lol! The original roof had been chunky wood shingles & was SO cute. Wish I could have kept it but unfortunately it was eaten thru by fungus & needed to be replaced. I kept some of the old shingles for some future projects. They have the perfect look w moss & lichen on them : )
Here is a shot of the original roof...

That looks like a great coop! Did you do the paint on the outside? Nice colors.
Got any pictures of the inside?

oh & here are pics of the inside. It has 3 rooms sort of. One of the rooms in front we believe is where the previous owner housed her goat. There is a little door in that screened room that goes into the chicken room in back. The nesting boxes & floor are all just FULL of poop from the previous owner’s chickens so my next fun task is to clean all of that : (

 

[DobieLover]

Thanks! It had already been painted mostly all gray, some of the trim had been painted but not all. I had some trim paint left from some areas on the house I had touched up so painted the rest of the trim to so the gray & white matches our house. The color of the door is a color I had used on some atv tires I turned into planters for our detached garage & is an accent color I am using in other areas as well- Vintage Teal. The color of the roof just happened bc we were at Lowes looking for roofing ideas & it was cheap & easy Lol! The original roof had been chunky wood shingles & was SO cute. Wish I could have kept it but unfortunately it was eaten thru by fungus & needed to be replaced. I kept some of the old shingles for some future projects. They have the perfect look w moss & lichen on them : )
Here is a shot of the original roof...

oh & here are pics of the inside. It has 3 rooms sort of. One of the rooms in front we believe is where the previous owner housed her goat. There is a little door in that screened room that goes into the chicken room in back. The nesting boxes & floor are all just FULL of poop from the previous owner’s chickens so my next fun task is to clean all of that : (

Sweet deal!
You can remove the vast majority of those nest boxes too. All that old poop is great compost. Do you have a garden?

 

[KoopinItReal]

Sweet deal!
You can remove the vast majority of those nest boxes too. All that old poop is great compost. Do you have a garden?

I was planning on removing the ones along the side wall bc I know I have way too many for the numbers of hens I have. I did just build a compost bin recently bc I wanted to use my chicken poop/ pine shavings to create compost for my veggie garden & landscaping. The landscaping here had been neglected for a while also but I am gradually getting it tackled. I went from a .25 acre lot on a cul de sac in the burbs of Cincinnati to a 6acre property in GA so it’s more to manage than I’m used to. Has become my full-time job. And I had wanted chickens for a few years now so was excited to find a property with a coop!