The nesting box is essential for you, the flock keeper, unless you enjoy searching the yard, outbuildings and under every bush or overhang for eggs!
In this article we cover the basics of nesting boxes including: best placement, recommended sizes, and how many you need for your flock.
We then present both, shop bought solutions, and also DIY plans with simple step-by-step instructions so you can build your own. We will show you the various types and explain their advantages and disadvantages.
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I keep 4 hens in a coop that has 3 nesting boxes in the back of the henhouse, and they all use the same one. What's weird is they'll use the furthest one from the door for a while, then for no reason that I can tell, they'll switch to the one nearest the door. They never use the middle one.
I use sand instead of straw or shavings because my newest hens, Jane and Anne, kick all the straw out as fast as I can put it in. I have no idea why, because the older ones never have done that.
The nesting material isn't there for their comfort, it's there to keep the eggs from breaking because what a lot of folks don't realize is that a hen doesn't lay while it's sitting on the nest, they lay from a standing or squatting position. The sand just gives it a little padding and the two newer hens don't kick it all out.
Was a time you could get slatted wooden produce boxes from the grocery store and use them for nests, as is, or knock them apart and rebuild to size.
ReplyDeleteWe have 13 hens and 7 laying boxes. We find eggs in only 2 or 3 boxes a day. Most often, the eggs are in the box farthest from the door. Next comes the box nearest to the door. Then it is another of the boxes. Sometimes, we will walk by the coop in the afternoon and one of the hens is pecking on the head of a sitting hen so that she can lay in that box, even though there are five or six boxes open (sometimes we have two or three hens laying simultaneously). Our egg production is ramping up for the summer season after the annual winter molting season. Yay.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting a dozen eggs every 4 days now, more than we can eat, so my neighbors are getting fresh eggs too.
DeleteLast winter my hens slowed down but kept laying, this year they quit completely.