What is your 'chicken to nesting box ratio'?

[epeloquin]

I have six girls, three Rhodies and three Brd Rocks, two of each are laying. The Rhodies usually lay early to mid morning and the Rocks usually lay late morning to early afternoon. I have three nesting boxed but they are determined to use ONE! Saturday I saw one of the Rocks on the nest and the other one trying to wedge herself in behind the one nesting but she would not budge until she laid her egg. This morning I saw the exact same thing with the Rhodies. The one waiting kept going into the other nesting boxes but won't lay in them.

They are so funny!

 

[JodyJo]

I have 11 girls, (3 more almost to POL) I have 4 boxes, they use 2...I even see 2 hens in one box....they know its a safe place...!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Have a laying group of 14 hens. They will never, ever use more than two boxes. Their social structure rules bid them to build a clutch and follow the lead of the alpha hens.

More than two would be a waste of space for 6 hens. Oh, and laying together, as a shared experience, is absolutely the best, in their world. They talk, chat, and catch up. It's a girl thing, I guess.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

My first flock of 10 has 4 boxes and they use 2. I built the next building with 3 for 11 hens - they used 2. That was ok till 3 hens went broody and left the rest to lay eggs in the corner of the coop.

 

[Illia]

30-40 girls, some not yet laying, and I have about 9 nesting boxes.



You'll be surprised on how FEW nesting boxes you need.

Mine don't "chat" when sharing space though. They curse, growl, cuss, peck, and sit on each other's heads. If two of the same breed are sharing space, they will get along a little more though.

 

[ddmiddle7]

I have 7 hens and two boxes

 

[epeloquin]

Fred's Hens :

Have a laying group of 14 hens. They will never, ever use more than two boxes. Their social structure rules bid them to build a clutch and follow the lead of the alpha hens.

More than two would be a waste of space for 6 hens. Oh, and laying together, as a shared experience, is absolutely the best, in their world. They talk, chat, and catch up. It's a girl thing, I guess.

It's actually funny you mention the 'alpha' hen because she was our first to lay and the others have certainly followed her lead. As far as the 'girl thing'...so I guess I'm right, when all the ladies get together in my family I call it a 'hen session'!

 

[real_redhead]

Glad to see this thread, went to check for eggs this morning and had 2girls sharing a box! Was wondering of that was normal, hadn't seen it before. They didn't seem to mind.

 

[fshinggrl]

Quote:
Yep.. quite often they use the same nest at the same time! Here is my EE on the bottom and my SLW on top! Poor picture, but you get my drift!

 

[reneemellor]

I have a dozen girls laying and they all use one box. I have 4 boxes but everyone wants to use the same one. Hopefully my 20 BOs will use some of the other boxes when they start laying.