When to introduce nesting boxes to chickens

[MerkySky]

Hi,
This is my first year raising laying chickens. I have a good size movable coop built with a fenced in run area for them in the day. My question is my chickens are about 10 weeks old. My coop is almost finished just need to add the nesting boxes. My question is they have been in this new coop now for about a week. I have not had time to build the nesting boxes. I read that most chickens take 3-4 months before they lay eggs not sure if that is correct. I have Giant Jersey Black, red leg horns, and Bantam I do not know which breed of Bantams. So do I need to have the boxes built right away? or can I wait till we get closer to their laying time?
This is the coop it is tall as I am 5'10" and wanted to be able to get in the coop to gather eggs with out being bent over. The unpainted door you see at the end is to allow me to get in and herd them back inside at night. Then the door they go into shuts up nice and tight. The outside run is 14' long by 4'wide. Anyway if I can wait to build the nesting boxes that is good, however if I should do it now I can.


This is part of the inside of the coop they are sleeping on the hay on the floor right now I still have a heat lamp in there as the nights still get a little cold. Is it ok they are sleeping on the floor? I put clean straw in every night. I should add they are now on laying feed and I give crushed oyster shells for them also the oyster shells do not look so crushed so I put some in a baggy and use a rolling pin to mash them a bit more.. I got the crushed feed not pellets.
Please feel free to correct me on anything I might be doing wrong or need to add. They have fresh water and feed every day.
Thanks for your time.
MerkySky

 

[Keltara]

Different breeds of chicken begin to lay at different times. You do want to have your nest boxes ready for that time so the sooner the better. When you make your nest boxes, be sure that you make them lower than your roosting poles. If you don't, they will sleep and poop in them (they poop a lot during the night), as they choose the highest point available to sleep. I have mine at floor level in my raised coop. I also used kitty litter boxes for my nest boxes. They work great and if they ever need to be cleaned, it will be just a matter of spraying them out. I've never had a problem of poop in the nest boxes yet though. Check out my coop, and you'll see what I mean.

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Kelly

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Our Country Chronicles

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[MerkySky]

Thank you for replying. So can I do levels of nest boxes like one on the floor then one above it? I have 8 chickens in my coop now We are going to build one more large coop and one smaller one as I just got 8 more chicks HS laying chicken and barred rock chickens. And right now I do not have a perching stick in the coop so they are always on the floor. Should I get a perching stick in soon?. Your coop looks very nice. The coop in my photos holds 8 chickens right now but they are not full grown yet.
MerkySky

 

[Keltara]

For 8 chickens, 3 to 4 nest boxes would be plenty. You can stack them if you want, but make sure their roosting poles are higher than both levels. And by all means, put a roosting pole in your coop now. They are more than big enough to enjoy the benefits of roosting at night.

 

[MerkySky]

Great Ok I will get on the rooting pole in today or by tomorrow . I had no no idea chicken would share nesting boxes, I thought that they would have to have each their own.
Thanks for the info.

 

[Keltara]

It is not unusual for ALL of the chickens to use ONE nest box. Silly girls!!