# Chickens: best size for nest boxes?



## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

What do you feel is the 'best' size for a nest box? 

I have been using milk-crates. Some on the floor, some mounted at 1' high, others at 2' high.

Some hens will lay eggs in the crates, some will not.

I want to encourage brooding and hatching, but few of our hens have gone broody. It was suggested that maybe if I used different sized nest boxes instead of milk-crates that would make a difference.

We have had: Araucana, Australorp, Bantam, Cochin, Orpington, Polish, RIRs,
Rock, and Wyandotte.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> What do you feel is the 'best' size for a nest box?


2-4" larger in each direction than the hens, with a high lip on the front


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

a nest box should be just big enough to let the hens get in turn around and lay an egg, normally 12x12x12 is great, sometimes a little larger for larger breeds up to 18x18x18 works, all should have a fairly good sized lip on the front to hold all the bedding and eggs in, you dont want HUGE or OPEN nest boxes, you want them to be snug and dark as possible, i use walmart wood storage cubes, the kind that is for night stands or shues i think, they are three single cubes tall, 12x12x12 easy to assimble and attach to the wall, put a lip and your done, 

not all of your breeds will go broody and you cant make a hen go broody, if she wants to she will regardless of what your nest boxes look like,


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

You can try adding some golf balls or fake eggs to encourage brooding.
Many birds won't start until there are several eggs.

I think the Bantams are most likely to start first, and may be the only ones that do at all


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

Bearfootfarm said:


> 2-4" larger in each direction than the hens, with a high lip on the front


With a high lip, I would be concerned for the chicks getting in and out.





KSALguy said:


> a nest box should be just big enough to let the hens get in turn around and lay an egg, normally 12x12x12 is great, sometimes a little larger for larger breeds up to 18x18x18 works, all should have a fairly good sized lip on the front to hold all the bedding and eggs in, you dont want HUGE or OPEN nest boxes,


What I have been using are 12"X12"X12".





> ... you want them to be snug and dark as possible,


I have a half-dozen folding dog crates made of steel mesh, 2'X4' and 30" tall. I was thinking of wrapped them with tarp so they make a dark cave and placing nest boxes inside them.





> ... i use walmart wood storage cubes, the kind that is for night stands or shues i think, they are three single cubes tall, 12x12x12 easy to assimble and attach to the wall, put a lip and your done,
> 
> not all of your breeds will go broody and you cant make a hen go broody, if she wants to she will regardless of what your nest boxes look like,


I will look around, thanks.

Every year we have hens that go broody for a week, then they stop.





Bearfootfarm said:


> You can try adding some golf balls or fake eggs to encourage brooding.
> Many birds won't start until there are several eggs.
> 
> I think the Bantams are most likely to start first, and may be the only ones that do at all


We have been using golf balls, and also wooden eggs.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> With a high lip, I would be concerned for the chicks getting in and out.


"High" as in high enough to keep some bedding and small chicks inside
The adults can get in some tight spots as long as they have room to turn around inside


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

if they set for a week and give up regurally and multiple birds there may be something else going on, what breed are they, how old are they, are they being left alone? not being pesterd by people or animals? are they exposed to the elements?


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## Hairsheep (Aug 13, 2012)

Chickens like a quiet, dark, out of the way place generally to brood eggs, however mine would lay their eggs in buckets(5gallon) just fine.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> I would be concerned for the chicks getting in and out.


Unless you have them on the floor, chicks can't get back *in* anyway.
Any that get out will likely die if some remain in the nest.

Unless you can section off an area for the hen and chicks, you'd be better off to put them in a brooder until they are fully feathered.

If you don't, it's highly likely the other birds will peck them to death


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## JLMissouri (Dec 12, 2012)

I use four gallon buckets that are cut in half on the front. I have not used these long enough to find out how well they will work for broody hens, but the chickens like them much more than the cat litter box plastic pans I was using before. I have not had any eggs on the ground for months now.


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## spud (Feb 3, 2007)

Small boxes work well in warmer climates but my girls in the dead of winter like to huddle together in the nesting boxes. Therefore, for me, I would make mine double the size of normal so they can stay warmer during the night. My 2 cents. jeff


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

KSALguy said:


> if they set for a week and give up regurally and multiple birds there may be something else going on, what breed are they, how old are they, are they being left alone? not being pesterd by people or animals? are they exposed to the elements?


We have tried: Araucana, Australorp, Bantam, Cochin, Orpington, Polish, RIRs,
Rock, and Wyandotte.

We have had layers who have been in their first year, second year and third year.

We have had free-ranging hens, and hens that we have kept in their coops. I have eight coops that I winter-over roughly a dozen in each.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

Hairsheep said:


> Chickens like a quiet, dark, out of the way place generally to brood eggs, however mine would lay their eggs in buckets(5gallon) just fine.


When free-ranging our hens often like to lay under a log, or in a shallow burrow underneath weeds. In their coops they lay on the ground, or in the 12X12X12 milk crates. They pretty much lay anywhere.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

Bearfootfarm said:


> Unless you have them on the floor, chicks can't get back *in* anyway. Any that get out will likely die if some remain in the nest.


Makes sense.





> ... Unless you can section off an area for the hen and chicks, you'd be better off to put them in a brooder until they are fully feathered.
> 
> If you don't, it's highly likely the other birds will peck them to death


We live fairly rural, and have been here since 2005. So far we have not experienced a month without loss of electrical power. Rural electric is nothing if not unreliable. 

We have been using electric incubators and brooders, but the constant losses of Municipal Utility causes loss of chicks. Every year.

We have been loading incubators with our eggs each year, and we have been buying day-old chicks on-line each year. Though due to our many predator issues, our flock size is not consistent.

Each year we try various things to try and get our hens to produce poultry for us, instead of being so dependent on unreliable Municipal Utility.

We have no problem getting hens to lay, as I have explained before. Our hens lay. We want our hens to be broody, and to stay broody for long enough to raise chicks.

I thank each of you who have addressed this topic with experience of hatching chicks.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

spud said:


> Small boxes work well in warmer climates but my girls in the dead of winter like to huddle together in the nesting boxes. Therefore, for me, I would make mine double the size of normal so they can stay warmer during the night. My 2 cents. jeff


As they are huddling in your boxes, how are they at producing chicks?


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## secuono (Sep 28, 2011)

I use large, plastic cat crates for nests. I have them right under the rafters where they roost, so 6ft off the ground. 
Dark and quiet is more important than being 'too big'. 
Try putting one directly on the ground.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

secuono said:


> I use large, plastic cat crates for nests. I have them right under the rafters where they roost, so 6ft off the ground.
> Dark and quiet is more important than being 'too big'.
> Try putting one directly on the ground.


I can see that for helping the chicks after they hatch.

But does putting them on the ground help hens to be broody, and to stay broody long enough to hatch a clutch?


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## LittleRedHen (Apr 26, 2006)

My birds (no matter what year/what flock) didn't really take to the milk crates very well. And dont worry about a lip for chicks, they can jump fine  I like a lip as it keeps the hay in better


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## LittleRedHen (Apr 26, 2006)

ET1 SS said:


> I can see that for helping the chicks after they hatch.
> 
> But does putting them on the ground help hens to be broody, and to stay broody long enough to hatch a clutch?


I find the best chance of getting a broody is to have a nice dark very private place. If hens keep pestering her it increases her chance of jumping boxes.


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## LittleRedHen (Apr 26, 2006)

spud said:


> Small boxes work well in warmer climates but my girls in the dead of winter like to huddle together in the nesting boxes. Therefore, for me, I would make mine double the size of normal so they can stay warmer during the night. My 2 cents. jeff


You are too nice. I kick mine out! aint no one sleeping in nesting boxes in the winter cause I don't want them to make the nest all dirty


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> We have tried: Araucana, Australorp, Bantam, Cochin, Orpington, Polish, RIRs,
> Rock, and Wyandotte.


There's a fellow near me who raises and sells a lot of birds.

He keeps a few breeds of Bantams to do the hatching for the other breeds when he runs out of incubator room

He told me Bantams will sit on most anything


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

get you some game hens, give them a nice secure coop with nice dark nest boxes of your chooseing, and they will brood round after round for you, i keep several just for this reason, they are fierce protective mothers, once one goes broody just put what ever eggs you want to hatch under her and let her go for it, in the right nest they can cover 15 eggs or so easy,


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## spud (Feb 3, 2007)

ET1 SS said:


> As they are huddling in your boxes, how are they at producing chicks?



Sorry I wasn't clear. My girls just lay eggs and are not broody. They typically only stay in nesting boxes (egg laying boxes) when it gets cold, like less than 15-20 degrees I think. It's funny when I check them when I get off work late and see all of them (three hens and a rooster) piled in two nesting boxes to preserve warm. I never give them a light in winter or extra heat so I guess they are doing just what there instincts are telling them what to do.


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## spud (Feb 3, 2007)

LittleRedHen said:


> You are too nice. I kick mine out! aint no one sleeping in nesting boxes in the winter cause I don't want them to make the nest all dirty



This past year I starting using paper from my shredder in their nesting boxes and my eggs have never been cleaner. I just take the loose paper and move it around in their box and it sticks to their poop and keeps a nice and dry top layer.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

spud said:


> Sorry I wasn't clear. My girls just lay eggs and are not broody. They typically only stay in nesting boxes (egg laying boxes) when it gets cold, like less than 15-20 degrees I think. It's funny when I check them when I get off work late and see all of them (three hens and a rooster) piled in two nesting boxes to preserve warm. I never give them a light in winter or extra heat so I guess they are doing just what there instincts are telling them what to do.


So you do not know how your nest boxes work for nesting.

Thanks

I am trying to find out what size nest boxes work best for encouraging the hen instincts to nest [brooding and raising chicks].

Obviously hens lay eggs [ovulate]. That is biologic. 

There are feed variations that will effect ovulating, like estrogen content which is helped by using soybean in the feed mix. Other wise hens will lay as often as ovulation happens. Which has no bearing on there being a nest box or not.


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## spud (Feb 3, 2007)

I want to encourage brooding and hatching, but few of our hens have gone broody. It was suggested that maybe if I used different sized nest boxes instead of milk-crates that would make a difference.

I can't believe how dumb I was on this post. :hammer: Sorry for not addressing this issue, I was just thinking of nesting as a laying box and what worked for me. 

So, let me tell ya I do know about broody chickens and nesting boxes. For me, the box size has never made a difference. Either my hens were broody or not, and typically, some breeds were good sitters and others weren't no matter hard I wanted them to be. 

Also, I always wanted to separate my broody hens from the bunch so that she wouldn't get additional eggs and be bothered. 

My cochins were good sitters for me and there are my other varieties that will help fill that bill. I heard muscovy ducks are awesome too. Maybe a neighbor has bird that you can trade or buy. Sorry for being such a dimwit, it comes easy.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

I try different things each year, trying to get my hens to be broody. Somehow I have to get away from buying chicks.

So if the nestbox size makes no difference; I think I will go with these dog crates wrapped to form dark caves for them.

Thank you


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