When to open the nesting box?

[LauraSac]

I'm not sure the age of my two girls. I think they were 5-6 weeks when I got them, making them 12 - 13 weeks now. I don't think they're younger than that, but Janet, on the right may be a little older. When should I open the nesting box?

I don't think there's an issue of them using the nesting box to sleep in since they squish themselves together at one end of the roost and never seem to move, but wanted your advice.

I have some fake wooden eggs that I got at Easter to show them what the box is for. I know they won't be laying for a while, but didn't know if it mattered one way or the other if I gave them access to the box. They spend very little time in the coop, so they may not even notice. What do you think?

 

[Ocegra]

I think you could try it. I have chicks that don't even have all of their feathers (they have most of their feathers) and I give them access to a nest box and they use it. They only sleep in it , if even that. I think you should put one in your coop and see what they do.
Good luck

 

[Ridgerunner]

If they are already roosting on the roosts I suggest now is a great time to open the nests. Chickens normally like to roost on the highest things available, but sometimes they use the nest as a transition point and get in the habit of sleeping in there instead of moving on. Yours are past that point.

There is another reason, which it sounds like you won’t have a problem with since they are sleeping together instead of spread out. When they mature and go into pecking order issues it could possibly rear its head, but not likely. Sometimes a chicken is such a brute on the roosts as they are settling down for the night that a weaker chicken may look for a safer place than the roost to spend the night. That can be a nest. It is normally when I am integrating younger chickens with adults when I see that, but I have had chicks that are used to roosting on the roosts leave the roosts for the nests to get away from a bully. It happens often enough that I put up a separate roost lower than the main roosts and off to the side so those chicks have a safe place to go that is not a nest. I have 8 chicks using that roost right now as they transition from the floor to the roosts. They went right past the nests and a straight to that intermediate roost.

Sometimes pullets will just drop their first egg or two where they happen to be, on the roosts or just walking around the coop or run. It’s as if they don’t know what is going on. But once they gain control of the egg laying process, they look for a safe place to lay that egg. Once they do that, they are in the habit of laying an egg there. I want that first controlled lay to be in a nest, not in a corner of the coop. Most pullets get it right the first time and most pullets start looking for a safe nesting area about a week before they lay their first egg. What’s amazing is how many actually get it right the first time.

I think the best approach is to open the nests once they are in the habit of sleeping on the roosts. That way, if you have a problem, you can do something about it before you start getting poopy eggs.

 

[LauraSac]

Thanks! I still need to add curtains, but I'll open the boxes today.