What size for nesting boxes ?

[Quaicken108]

Wow these nesting boxes are really cool!

 

[Quaicken108]

Herr are our redesigned boxes:

View attachment 2139235

two larger boxes for the larger breeds like BJG: approx 16” wide. The upper boxes (with perch tail on other side) are very popular and are approx 10-11” wide and about 12”tall. The bottom boxes are less popular bc they are less private. I plan to add curtains or some wood to make the entrance on the other side a bit more private.

I love your nesting boxes and I looked at your chicken in the top middle and was really worried for that egg. (1 hoping infertile, 2 hoping safe).

 

[Acre4Me]

I like boxes on the bigger side so they can turn around easily. My flock are all standard sized birds, boxes are 14.5" cubed.

we need the big onesfor the big breeds. But most of our regular size chickens seem to love the narrow (but tall) ones. They will sometimes be stacked 2 high!! Silly girls. The favorites before were kitty litter buckets on their side -marrow but tall.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Here are a couple of old threads that show what some people have used for nests. Some people will tell you that they need this or that, but if you look at what people use it's pretty obvious that that is just personal preference.

Nest boxes

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/41108/show-us-your-nest-boxes-ingenous-design-post-it-here/220

Nest Boxes

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/4...-your-creative-nesting-boxes/80#post_12395882

What size in general do you give for nesting ?

For full sized hens the general recommendation is 12" x 12" x 12" high if you have a top. Consider that a general guideline for people that need a guideline, not an absolute law. I've had hens use a cat litter bucket that was 7-1/2" x 11-1/2" with an open top. It worked fine for laying but was too small for a broody to hatch in as I found out. I've seen them hide nests in some strange places, some quite small.

Can you stack them like two high?

If you look through those photos you'll see plenty that are three or four high.

Will six nesting boxes be enough ?

A general recommendation is one nest for every four hens. That's for the 12" x 12" nests. Larger nests can handle more hens. I made my nests 16" x 16" because that was my stud spacing so framing was easy. I'm OK with five hens per nest with those. Some people use a special design community nest box 24" x 48" that are supposed to handle 24 hens for laying. I would not want to use one of those for a broody hen but should be OK for laying.

Even if you make them larger I'd still go with a minimum of 3 nests for 10 hens. That gives you some flexibility if a hen goes broody or something else happens.