Getting the Right Chicken Nesting Boxes For Your Flock
If you are planning to keep chickens in your back yard with an eye to having your own supply of fresh eggs every day then you are going to need to make sure that you build enough chicken nesting boxes inside your hen house to accommodate all of your laying hens.
Having enough nesting boxes is not the only important part of the package as you must also make sure that the ones you build are going to be large enough to accommodate your hens.
More people than ever are looking at ways to cut down on their grocery bills and become more self sufficient including having their own gardens and raising their own flock of chickens for both meat and eggs.
However if you plan to raise your own chickens and want to get a fair supply of eggs on a regular basis you need to make sure that you build the right size coop or hen houses and that the chicken nesting boxes inside the coop are the right size.
If you make the chicken nesting boxes too large the hens are not as likely to lay eggs.
In essence what you are looking for is a box that is just large enough for the hen to sit in if you are going to build one box for each hen.
You can also build boxes that have room for multiple hens, but if you decide to go this route you should make sure that you have at least one box for every three laying hens you plan to have in your flock.
Placement of your nesting boxes is very important and can affect the size of the boxes you plan to build into your hen house.
Before you can decide what size and how many nesting boxes you are going to have you should have the dimensions of your hen house either drawn out or if you already have a hen house measured so that you know what you have to work with.
You should plan to put the boxes either at ground level or as close to the floor of the hen house as possible as this will make the hens more likely to use them.
Finally you may want to think carefully about the material you are planning to make your chicken nesting boxes from.
Hens, like any other bird are not the cleanest of animals and you are going to have to clean the nesting boxes on a regular basis.
Many people settle for wooden boxes as they are easy to construct and can be swept out, however over time the wood will become saturated with fecal waste and need to be replaced.
One alternative is to install pre-made plastic nesting boxes that are easily cleaned so that your chickens can be kept clean and supplying you with eggs on a frequent basis.
Having enough nesting boxes is not the only important part of the package as you must also make sure that the ones you build are going to be large enough to accommodate your hens.
More people than ever are looking at ways to cut down on their grocery bills and become more self sufficient including having their own gardens and raising their own flock of chickens for both meat and eggs.
However if you plan to raise your own chickens and want to get a fair supply of eggs on a regular basis you need to make sure that you build the right size coop or hen houses and that the chicken nesting boxes inside the coop are the right size.
If you make the chicken nesting boxes too large the hens are not as likely to lay eggs.
In essence what you are looking for is a box that is just large enough for the hen to sit in if you are going to build one box for each hen.
You can also build boxes that have room for multiple hens, but if you decide to go this route you should make sure that you have at least one box for every three laying hens you plan to have in your flock.
Placement of your nesting boxes is very important and can affect the size of the boxes you plan to build into your hen house.
Before you can decide what size and how many nesting boxes you are going to have you should have the dimensions of your hen house either drawn out or if you already have a hen house measured so that you know what you have to work with.
You should plan to put the boxes either at ground level or as close to the floor of the hen house as possible as this will make the hens more likely to use them.
Finally you may want to think carefully about the material you are planning to make your chicken nesting boxes from.
Hens, like any other bird are not the cleanest of animals and you are going to have to clean the nesting boxes on a regular basis.
Many people settle for wooden boxes as they are easy to construct and can be swept out, however over time the wood will become saturated with fecal waste and need to be replaced.
One alternative is to install pre-made plastic nesting boxes that are easily cleaned so that your chickens can be kept clean and supplying you with eggs on a frequent basis.