Topic of the Week - Nest boxes

[Lazy Farmer]

I believe there's now a process to break them down to be used in roads, but few have actual adopted it.

I meant the rubber that disappeared from the tire tread..

 

[Arizona Bob]

I keep things simple. At first, my 3 hens all laid in the same nesting box (farthest from the sunrise), which is part of the kit I purchased (Pawhut 72") even though there are 2 boxes side-by-side! I only use folded up newspapers to line the boxes. I used to add shredded paper to make things fluffy, but the RI Reds started to eat the paper. As soon as they lay, they leave the box. I had a Barred Rock who started off by laying in a paper-lined milk crate! I remove the paper daily unless it's clean. I have dried lavender and bay leaves under and on the paper as well. No one ever slept in a box - always roosting in the main area. When one of the hens went broody, everyone was still laying in the same box, so there were 2 hens in a small area at the same time with 2 eggs - both unfertilized. I felt bad for the broody one, so I got a fertilized egg from a local farm. As soon as she started sitting on it, the other 2 began laying in the other box closest to the sunrise. Now they ALL lay in that box (mom started laying today, 10.5 weeks after the egg hatched. The mom and pullet still sleep in the other box. I haven't had the heart to force them to sleep standing in the main "room". I am sure now that Dora is laying again and the pullet is growing so big, they will return to roosting in due time.

 

[WildCHILD400]

I have three nesting boxes and I use dried pine needles twigs, and wood shavings for nesting box liners. I live by woods so free pine needles! My boxes are in the coop which is off the ground but the inside of the coop is all one level. My hens do sleep in them tho. I have little boxes with low sides that fit perfectly in their boxes so I just replace the boxes with new needles every so often and throw the old ones out

 

[Molpet]

Trillions of tires in the world. When they wear out, where did all that slowly but surely tire tread material go?
Hmmmmmmmm?

used to work at a college w/a dammed up creek. they checked for contaminants.. the biggest was tire residue , then farm field chem

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

My neighbours used an old dresser with small drawers.

 

[kingchickies]

This is our nest area. We have 6 buckets like this on both sides of the door. 17 pullets of which 7 use the nests. I'm finding eggs under this area, outside, in different places. 5 of the ones using the nests have been laying about a month, in the last week i went from 5 layers to 11. The ones laying in the buckets laid their first egg in them. And have used them the whole time, some of the ones laying now don't even try to get in them. I'm wondering if they need time or if I should redo the whole thing.... ugh

 

[TheLongRun]

Hello there,

I have my nesting boxes on the floor...
(Due to hatching... So x2 what @BYCforlife said!)

I use straw most of the time, but when hatching I prefer pine shavings...
Etc. Not cedar!

To encourage broody hens? I would like to start using fresh lavender,
I hear it helps the aroma attract hens. And so eggs don't go bad I use golf balls.

The golf balls are bought specially to attract broody hens,
and discourage egg eaters.

I just started curtains for the nesting box too!
Hoping that works! I think that actually attracted a hen to brood!

This is a great topic for the week,
I can't wait to stick around and see others thoughts!

-The Angry Hen

I love the idea of lavender (!)... and curtains... Very good. Would the hens prefer DEEPER boxes, to add to the feeling of cosiness and safety?

And something else... Someone wrote on another thread about the vertical barrier at the front of the box, with the box on the floor. During the last days of brooding he made it higher so the first hatching chicks couldn't run out. The mother would possibly follow and while protecting the chick, leave the rest of the eggs to go cold. On day, say, twenty-three, he would remove the barrier. The hen and all hatched chicks could go out in the separate coop and back in, with no risk to the eggs. With a deeper box the starter and water could also be at the front of the box...

 

[TheLongRun]

Hey all,
I came here looking for ideas on nest box bedding. Back home in Alabama I had access to pine straw on my parent's property. No long-leaf pines here in Pennsylvania- unfortunately.

(I will be roost proofing the top of the hutch/nesting box and likely removing the bottles- so nobody need comment on what needs to be done about that. It's still a WIP)
But Here are my nesting boxes. I will be adding lips- painted dark green- to each box, along with a bar midway up for the hens to fly onto before stepping into the boxes.
I never had aggressive hens scratching too much pine straw out of the boxes back home because the pine straw always made a nice circle- and the bare plywood was always showing in the well in the center.
Eventually, I added cut squares of egg crate foam underneath the pinestraw to make a soft landing for eggs, among old place-mats/tea towels Mom had thrown out of the kitchen.

Now I'm looking for a new nest box bedding idea. I could possibly use the same shavings I use as floor litter. But I still want a changeable liner underneath that will soften the egg landing.
Any ideas?
View attachment 1075329

OMG! Those are Ritz-Carlton-with-room-service nest boxes! Wow! Big kudos from here. Verry elegant!

 

[TheLongRun]

I believe there's now a process to break them down to be used in roads, but few have actual adopted it.

Yeah, they freeze-dry them, by that process separating the metal from the rubber. In America 98% of the material of scrap cars is recycled. The well known tyre mountains from the 70s-80s are slowly moving through recycling plants and will be gone in the near future.

 

[aart]

View attachment 1100918
This is our nest area. We have 6 buckets like this on both sides of the door. 17 pullets of which 7 use the nests. I'm finding eggs under this area, outside, in different places. 5 of the ones using the nests have been laying about a month, in the last week i went from 5 layers to 11. The ones laying in the buckets laid their first egg in them. And have used them the whole time, some of the ones laying now don't even try to get in them. I'm wondering if they need time or if I should redo the whole thing.... ugh

Buckets can be too small for some birds, hard to turn around in.
The HC fronts would make it hard to injurious to get into the nests.
The lower nests have no perch in front, making it very difficult to get into nest.
Wonders if the uppers are used more than the lowers?
Just a few things I see that might be causing problems.
New layers can take up to a month or so for things to smooth out.