Keeping Chickens at Home - Building a Nest Box.
Chickens must have somewhere dark and snug to lay their eggs.
To build a nest box for your chickens is very simple. Build a box with wood, roughly 12"x12"x20"high, with a sloping roof to stop the chickens trying to roost on it and then forget to put a front and a back on it. Instead, put a piece of wood about 3" high on the bottom. With the front open, the chicken can easily pop in and out and with the back open, you can easily get at the eggs.
Check out the picture of one I made earlier in true Blue Peter fashion as a guide. Make sure the nest box is always placed lower than the perches in the house as chickens will always try to roost on the highest point in their house. Place the nesting box at the back of the house, so you can easily collect the eggs when you open the back of the chicken house in the morning.
Put some fresh straw in it and you're ready to go.
Keeping Chickens at Home
4 comments:
Thank you. I'll be doing this on my vacation!
Can you email and tell me what to do in the winter time. You can go to my site and see my hen area. I live in Arizona in the States. It doesn't get any colder than 40 degrees. Is this a problem? Is there something I have to do to warm them?
myamazing5@yahoo.com
Nothing special to do jenny. Just keep the coop and nest area dry and clean. The only thing to watch out for in winter is their water freezing up (Chickens have been known to die of dehydration in Winter because of this!). Remember less light in winter also means less eggs, so don't worry if egg production falls. It is normal. Pete :-)
Thank you so much!
Got a new place this week with great rent as long as I take care of the garden and chickens. Been gardening for over 20 years, but the chickens are new. I figured if I'm taking care of chickens there should be a way they don't step on their eggs. I want those eggs, LOL.
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