When should I allow them to access the nesting boxes?

[cmom]

I agree. I wouldn't open the next boxes up before 16 weeks. Sometimes as juveniles they will try to sleep in the nest boxes and when the sleep in them they usually poop in them and when they start laying you can get poopy eggs. My birds were sleeping in the nest boxes. I put milk crates in the nest boxes. It's no fun when they get used to sleeping in the nest boxes and then you reach in and get poopy eggs. This happened to me in the beginning. I thought it was cute. I finally got tired of cleaning the poopy eggs and the poop out of the nest boxes...

 

[JusticeFamilyFarm]

Quote:
So it's ok if the eggs sit out all day? I was picturing myself out there at 7 am waiting for eggs to pop out so I could spirit them away to the fridge before they start going bad.

The eggs will be perfectly fine in the coop. If it's convienent to gather several times a day you might find your eggs are cleaners. Eggs that are unwashed do not have to be refrigerated. I use a Scotch-Brite pad to wipe of dirty eggs but never wash them. They will keep several weeks at room temperature as long as they are unwashed.

I had no idea! I thought you were supposed to wash them. So, do they keep just as long in the fridge if they had been washed? Or are you not supposed to wash them even if they are to be refrigerated? Wow... I learn something new every day here on BYC.

 

[annaraven]

Don't wash your eggs or they won't last as long, even in the fridge. They have a natural coating of something called "bloom" that keeps the bacteria out, I believe. I rinse mine just before using, just in case I get a piece of shell in the pan or something.