Raising Chickens - How to Provide and Maintain Nesting Boxes
Many people breed chicken for two reasons: meat production and egg production.
No matter you are breeding chicken for pleasure or for business; you will need nesting boxes if you are breeding them for egg production.
Nesting boxes are the small boxes added to the chicken coop in order to provide a place for the chicken to lay their eggs.
There are several features that should be provided in the nesting boxes and these features guarantee that you will receive clean and sound eggs that are not cracked or shafted.
When you apply these features and conditions to the nesting boxes in your chicken coop, you will see an immediate improvement in the egg production and the health of your hens.
The first thing you should care about is the amount of the nesting boxes to the number of chickens.
Every two to 4 chickens should have one nesting box so; the mean ration for the number of nesting boxes to the hens is 1: 3.
This ratio guarantees that every hen gets its own place to lay its eggs.
After determining the number of the nesting boxes you need, you should settle down to a specific layout for these nests.
Nests should be arranged in rows above each other this will facilitate egg collection.
Take one side of the coop and start building the nests for your hens above each other.
Go for the individual nests that can only be occupied with one chicken at a time as this will minimize the egg cracking and egg fowling.
It is a very good idea to make a door in the back of the nests to facilitate egg collection.
Collecting eggs through this door will decrease the times you need to enter the coop and that will decrease the disturbance of your hens.
Collecting eggs from the outside is much better solution especially if you have large number of hens in one coop.
Make the opening of the nesting box smaller than the dimensions of the nesting box itself.
Also make the height of the nesting box very low and that will prevent the hen from moving inside the box.
Doing this will prevent the movement of the hen inside the box and prevent kicking the eggs and breaking them.
Each nest should have a lip to prevent the bedding of the nest to be spilled out.
The lip is very important to keep the coop very clean and keep all the bedding inside the nest all the time.
It is also very important to fix a rooster line in front of the nests to give the hen a place to climb to the nest or to stand out before jumping to the ground.
When you finish building the nests, you need to fill them with bedding in order to be ready to receive the hens for laying eggs inside them.
It is very important to keep this bedding clean and change them periodically because the hen will tend to lay outside if the nesting box is not clean enough or the bedding is damp.
There are two choices for bedding, straw and wood shavings.
Wood shavings are better than straw because they provide an extra dry media for the hen to lay its eggs inside.
In the mean time, it provides a good support to the eggs and fervent them from cracking.
Make sure that you change that bedding periodically and check them for dampness.
Changing the bedding and cleaning the nest from inside will help preserving the health of your hens.
Hens always use their beaks to pick the wood or any object around them, this may cause the splitting of some wood chips and that may hurt the chicken.
Always check your nesting houses every month and see if there are any splinted wood.
Breading hens in your back yard will provide you with adequate amount of eggs all over the year but, you need to maintain the health of your hens in order to keep them laying eggs on constant basis.
Investing in good quality nesting boxes will help promoting the welfare of your birds so, do not go for the cheapest material in the market but, make sure that you get the best materials that you can afford.
No matter you are breeding chicken for pleasure or for business; you will need nesting boxes if you are breeding them for egg production.
Nesting boxes are the small boxes added to the chicken coop in order to provide a place for the chicken to lay their eggs.
There are several features that should be provided in the nesting boxes and these features guarantee that you will receive clean and sound eggs that are not cracked or shafted.
When you apply these features and conditions to the nesting boxes in your chicken coop, you will see an immediate improvement in the egg production and the health of your hens.
The first thing you should care about is the amount of the nesting boxes to the number of chickens.
Every two to 4 chickens should have one nesting box so; the mean ration for the number of nesting boxes to the hens is 1: 3.
This ratio guarantees that every hen gets its own place to lay its eggs.
After determining the number of the nesting boxes you need, you should settle down to a specific layout for these nests.
Nests should be arranged in rows above each other this will facilitate egg collection.
Take one side of the coop and start building the nests for your hens above each other.
Go for the individual nests that can only be occupied with one chicken at a time as this will minimize the egg cracking and egg fowling.
It is a very good idea to make a door in the back of the nests to facilitate egg collection.
Collecting eggs through this door will decrease the times you need to enter the coop and that will decrease the disturbance of your hens.
Collecting eggs from the outside is much better solution especially if you have large number of hens in one coop.
Make the opening of the nesting box smaller than the dimensions of the nesting box itself.
Also make the height of the nesting box very low and that will prevent the hen from moving inside the box.
Doing this will prevent the movement of the hen inside the box and prevent kicking the eggs and breaking them.
Each nest should have a lip to prevent the bedding of the nest to be spilled out.
The lip is very important to keep the coop very clean and keep all the bedding inside the nest all the time.
It is also very important to fix a rooster line in front of the nests to give the hen a place to climb to the nest or to stand out before jumping to the ground.
When you finish building the nests, you need to fill them with bedding in order to be ready to receive the hens for laying eggs inside them.
It is very important to keep this bedding clean and change them periodically because the hen will tend to lay outside if the nesting box is not clean enough or the bedding is damp.
There are two choices for bedding, straw and wood shavings.
Wood shavings are better than straw because they provide an extra dry media for the hen to lay its eggs inside.
In the mean time, it provides a good support to the eggs and fervent them from cracking.
Make sure that you change that bedding periodically and check them for dampness.
Changing the bedding and cleaning the nest from inside will help preserving the health of your hens.
Hens always use their beaks to pick the wood or any object around them, this may cause the splitting of some wood chips and that may hurt the chicken.
Always check your nesting houses every month and see if there are any splinted wood.
Breading hens in your back yard will provide you with adequate amount of eggs all over the year but, you need to maintain the health of your hens in order to keep them laying eggs on constant basis.
Investing in good quality nesting boxes will help promoting the welfare of your birds so, do not go for the cheapest material in the market but, make sure that you get the best materials that you can afford.