What should I be using for a nesting box? (I cant afford a proper one)

[HattieTheHen]

My chickens seem to lay where ever the feel like it and it is like an easter egg hunt trying to find their eggs! I cant afford to buy a proper one and have no time to make one. Suggestions?

 

[donrae]

I use rubbermaid tubs turned on their sides, and milk crates. You can use pretty much anything, but that doesn't mean your hen is going to lay there. Best way to get her to lay where you want is to confine her to the area, either all day or until she lays, and "bait" the desired spot with an egg, fake egg, golf ball, etc.

 

[TrueBlueKYGirl]

I built (what I thought) were nice nesting boxes, I was so proud of them. However, my girls do not use them! Don't stress over nesting boxes. As long as they have plenty of nesting material they will make their own where ever they see fit. Mine like to nest on a rubbermade shelf I have in the coop. Last week my son came in said "three of your girls aren't working." I knew they had to be hiding them somewhere. Sure enough, under the nesting boxes where I keep extra bales of straw they made a secret nest. btw my son said "my girls" because his hen lays white eggs and all mine lay brown and of course it was brown eggs missing.

 

[jtn42248]

My chickens seem to lay where ever the feel like it and it is like an easter egg hunt trying to find their eggs! I cant afford to buy a proper one and have no time to make one. Suggestions?

I have seen nesting boxes made from everything. Five gallon buckets laying on their side with bricks to keep them from rolling, put straw in and you have a nesting box. It really doesn't matter what they are so long as they give the hen a little privacy, have straw (and maybe a golf ball or fake egg), are lower than the roosts and a little off the floor. One box for every 5 hens though you may find that they all want to use the same nest.

 

[MrsBachbach]

I have nests boxes off the floor, but the hens seem to prefer the chicken wire hay holder. It just consists of a piece of chicken wire stretched between two studs and tacked to the wall on the bottom. Then we stuffed it with hay. I was using it to store the bit of hay I was using in the nest boxes, but then the hens took to jumping in it and laying there! I've seen two or three in there at a time, one on top of the other. So much for the nest boxes.

 

[getaclue]

I use plastic milk crates. Another good idea was the Rubbermaid type storage totes with part of one of the sides cut down, for them to get in easily, but enough left on the bottom for a decent amount of nesting material to be added.

 

[carsonwild]

I use a rectangle cat litter box. It works great and cost me
nothing as the wife has 3 cats.
All you need to do is cut the fling lid portion off and secure it to the wall or to there roost.
You can stack them or put them side by side either way.
War bam thank you mam and your all done.
I also agree about keeping them looked up till they lay where you won't them to.
It saves time finding the eggs and you don't end up with stinky egg bombs laying around or a critter problem.
Carson

 

[azygous]

I decided to recycle an old dog crate. I have a hen with crippled legs, and she's been bullied by the rest of the flock something awful because of it. So she's in a pen of her own during the day. She needed a nest box, so I took the door off the crate and stuck it in the pen with her. I filled a plastic basin with wood shavings for nesting material and I'm just waiting now for her and all the others to start laying again. It should work.

 

[jakeinater]

Flower pots! Large flower pots are great, so are old dog cages, small recycle bins etch, just make sure to but rocks at the bottom