Topic of the Week - Nest boxes

[IdyllwildAcres]

On the topic of nest box bedding, which my hens tell me I fail miserably at (nothing I put in the boxes, stays in there, NOTHING), this looks nice and has great reviews, has anyone tried it?

https://www.amazon.com/Precision-Pet-Excelsior-Nesting-Pads/dp/B00CAVMIK2/?tag=backy-20

I have no nesting material in my nest box, just a dense carpet that the eggs can still roll out

Gary

 

[Mama Runner]

I don't have any Chickens but. My ducks enjoy old plastic milk crates on the ground turned onto there sides.

I used hay I cut from our field and put extra in the milk crates, and fluff it up and remove poop every day... Or husband does when I have to travel for work.

For the turkeys we use plastic tubs on there side and fill with hay.

I love BPH free plastic. It will not rust like metal and I can clean them well if they get .

All of mine are on the ground.

 

[Rick&chickTampa]

It took me a couple of days but I have read all 19 pages of this thread. It was well worth my time. I had no idea that my nesting boxes should be painted a dark color. It's a good thing I haven't totally finished my coop yet and have not put the lids on my exterior boxes. Although I truly hate to paint my wife (chick) loves to. I just can't wait to give her the good news.

 

[aart]

It took me a couple of days but I have read all 19 pages of this thread. It was well worth my time. I had no idea that my nesting boxes should be painted a dark color. It's a good thing I haven't totally finished my coop yet and have not put the lids on my exterior boxes. Although I truly hate to paint my wife (chick) loves to. I just can't wait to give her the good news.

Well, they don't have to be.....but Congrats and Welcome to BYC!

 

[Super_Girl]

On the topic of nest box bedding, which my hens tell me I fail miserably at (nothing I put in the boxes, stays in there, NOTHING), this looks nice and has great reviews, has anyone tried it?

https://www.amazon.com/Precision-Pet-Excelsior-Nesting-Pads/dp/B00CAVMIK2/?tag=backy-20

Just saw this, so I'm sorry if I'm late to the party! (Love this thread btw)

But yes! We just recently bought and tried this material. We have a converted shed for a coop and have three nesting boxes inside with a flap cover for access to the nests for cleaning and gathering. We had been using straw from our local feed store, but mom saw these pads on Amazon and wanted to try them, since we have a few new hens who like to poop while laying and these seemed easy to rinse and replace.

For three days after we changed out the nests, our 16 hens only gave 1-2 eggs a day. The material seems 'scratchy' to me, not soft at all... I wasn't sure if the nesting material made them quit laying... to be fair they are also molting. But we did change out all three boxes to a "new scary material" that no one had seen before... so idk.

As an experiment, yesterday we swapped one box back to hay, left one with the excelsior pad, and one with shavings and put a fake egg in each... now we wait!!

 

[Chickenlady802]

Your avatar looks like a Leghorn and they are flighty birds. I have Leghorns also. They lay in a milk crate filled with hay with a golf ball in it. They always lay in their milk crate nest box.

Do you cut the front of the milk crate down or just leave the box with the top open?

 

[Joey and dolly]

Someone gave me the metal type nesting boxes but my hens have not started laying yet. Do some of you put curtains up? Does anyone have a picture of this. Is it to make it more private so the chickens lay better? This is all new to me.

mine haven't started laying yet but I know they are close. we are re-building our nest boxes what are some recommendations. i really want to encourage laying?

 

[Silexian]

I prefer nest boxes that I can access from outside the coop. I have either rebuilt or built all of my nest boxes with hinged, swing down, drop floors. It makes cleaning the nest boxes a breeze. Since I feed small square bales of hay to some of my other livestock. I use the clean loose hay that accumulates on the barn floor. From the unloading, carrying and stacking of the hay bales in my nest boxes. Since I always have loose hay on hand. I change it out or replenish it. At least every couple of weeks. I like to place the nest boxes about 18 inches above the floor. In the darkest part of the coop. I will place some ceramic eggs in the nest boxes. If it is a entire flock of first time layers. I have been fortunate that roosting in the nest boxes has never been a problem. I separate broody hens to broody coops, instead of letting them remain with the main flock.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I've had all kinds of nesting boxes. I have elevated ones and ones on the floor. My hens regularly rotate which ones they prefer. If they can find a spot that's hard to reach, it gets more brownie points with them. I have both egg eaters and hens who like to roost in the nesting box, despite my efforts to discourage both. Here's some details on our setup -

Nest box construction -
We have 3 coops and a goat house. We have elevated metal nest boxes in the goat house. In the main coop, I have 10 nesting boxes which are built into the wall under the poop boards/roosts. They are 18" square and stacked 5 on 5 so 5 are on ground level and 5 are 18" off the ground. Usually chickens lay in the boxes off the ground but move to the ground boxes when they have chicks. In the duck coop, I use straw on the floor and they make a nest with it in the corner of the coop. And in my Silkie coop, I use Tidy Cat litter box containers that have been converted to nesting boxes.

Box materials -
Because I have egg eaters and box poopers in my main coop, I have to layer materials to ease in cleaning and to keep eggs clean. I put a small layer of sand in the bottom of the nesting box. This helps absorb moisture from poop, excess bloom, or broken eggs. On top of the sand, I lay down a feed bag that has been cut to the size of the nesting box. On top of that, I put a small layer of shavings, and then some straw. The shavings also help absorb moisture from poop and broken eggs. The straw provides padding and nest material. My chickens are very picky about wanting straw in the box. If there's no straw, they won't use it. The feed bag is there to allow me to easily pull out dirty shavings and straw. Makes cleaning fast and easy. Sometimes chickens will scratch and dig in the box which causes everything to shift which is why I have sand in the bottom. This probably sounds complicated but it's not really.

Clean eggs -
The key to this is to collect often. I TRY to collect once or twice a day. My nest box material is cleaned weekly.

 

[DobieClose]

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?
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I love it