when do you open nesting boxes

[bettermilk1969]

At what age should you put the nesting boxes in the coop? I've read that you should keep the nesting boxes blocked off tell they chicks mature. So since this the our first batch of chickens I thought I would wait tell then to install the boxes. Our chickens are now 3 months old (12 weeks Friday) I just want to know at what age to install the nesting boxes?

 

[estamets]

Great questions! I'll be reading the replies.

 

[iwiw60]

Well, it might seem like a silly answer, but for me? When I spot the first egg on the floor of the coop or run....the nest boxes are "open for business" !!!

 

[magdalene74]

ive still got a lot of reading to do on this site, that said, my immediate curiosity is up... sooooo, WHY do you have to block of the nesting boxes to young chicks?

 

[estamets]

ive still got a lot of reading to do on this site, that said, my immediate curiosity is up... sooooo, WHY do you have to block of the nesting boxes to young chicks?

They might start sleeping in them, and if they sleep in them they poop in them, and dirty nest boxes are bad news. Everyone recommends waiting until they habitually roost on their roosting poles before opening the nest boxes.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

ive still got a lot of reading to do on this site, that said, my immediate curiosity is up... sooooo, WHY do you have to block of the nesting boxes to young chicks?

If given access prior to being ready to lay, young birds learn to see the boxes not as nests, but more as a place to sleep. While this may not seem like a problem, consider how much waste birds expel while roosting etc (this is why "poop boards" have become so popular under roosts). Instead of a box to hop into, do their thing (lay their egg) and get out and back to life, the box has become just another place to lay around and poop. The cleaner your nest box, the less likely you are to have to wash your eggs - which keeps you from having to remove the "bloom" on the egg.

 

[iwiw60]

If given access prior to being ready to lay, young birds learn to see the boxes not as nests, but more as a place to sleep. While this may not seem like a problem, consider how much waste birds expel while roosting etc (this is why "poop boards" have become so popular under roosts). Instead of a box to hop into, do their thing (lay their egg) and get out and back to life, the box has become just another place to lay around and poop. The cleaner your nest box, the less likely you are to have to wash your eggs - which keeps you from having to remove the "bloom" on the egg.

Couldn't have said it better myself...absolutely correct...block those nesting boxes!

 

[kmollyhughes]

You'll see them practicing nests and squatting some time around or after 18 weeks. Once I saw their combs really come in, had squatting for a while, and there was a little nest on the top of a straw bale, I popped the nests in and added golf balls.

 

[1930Blue]

With my first batch I kept the nesting crates tipped closed until they were about 16-20 weeks.

 

[magdalene74]

OHHHHH! light dawns on marble head ;0) Thanks! Makes incredible sense now.