Topic of the Week - Nest boxes

[Then I Will]

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?

 

[combatfuzzball]

I just built mine for my coop. I used hollow core sliding doors cut to make exterior and dividers of plywood I also made roof out of plywood with hinge. The entire thing is made of salvage items. I have 1 hen laying in it now. Evidence of the others testing it out but they may not be laying yet

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

You know how teenaged girls are at the onset of puberty? That's how young pullets are. Frustrating, moody, scattered, and just plain mean at times. It's a wonder either survives to adulthood.

Ugh... I have two sweet daughters, they will be fine it will be easy.......

Gary

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

I can't offer a reason, but I have questions. Lol. How big are your boxes? I guess they take turns, and they don't bother each other's eggs? We are still building our coop and our nesting box is about 24w and 12d and 15h. It is attached to the exterior but with the way the framing of the coop is, the width of opening to the nesting box is about 20 in wide. So I'm in a quandary about dividing the box. Do you think I can leave it as one big box? We will have 6 hens. Thanks for your thoughts!

Mine is 40" wide no dividers, two openings. We shall see this is my first flock, 7 pullets 15 weeks old in a couple days. Also I made a roll out box, no bedding just dense carpet. Shh... they don't know bedding is an option....

Gary

 

[Outdoorlover]

Hubby just built mine out of re purposed wood and plywood

 

[NorthTexasWink]

My old hen houses all had communal nest boxes. Really converted feed mangers. When I built new coops I used individual nest boxes in some, but went back to communal ones after seeing all the hens used just two or three out of all of them on the same wall. Still haven't decided what I'll do now, 20-odd years later. I'm leaning more to a big communal one again.

 

[andreanar]

I just do this! LOL. Seems to work fine. Ill add a few more when these pullets get closer to laying.

 

[aart]

Seems to work fine. Ill add a few more when these pullets get closer to laying.

Do you have other layers?
Are the bins tied together and/or to the wall for stability?

 

[andreanar]

Do you have other layers?
Are the bins tied together and/or to the wall for stability?

None are laying right now. 2 look like they are reddening up and one started squatting, so I just stuck those 2 nest boxes in the coop. Someone is going in them, I see the bedding scratched up and see feathers in there, no poop tho!
The bins are not tied together, they have little legs that fit into holes of the one it is stacked on. They aren't tied to the wall either. They don't seem to move.
My old flock used to only like to lay in the bottom bins, Of course they all fought over the same bin!

 

[jeria]

Have a question. Working on building and the nest boxes will be last. Lots of comments about easy cleaning. Do the nest boxes get very dirty? Of course in the case a broken egg but besides that? I am planning on just an exterior painted wood floor in my coop but I do have some leftover foam backed flooring I could put in the nest boxes that could be just popped in there so they are easily removable.