Chickens can be quite specific in choosing where to lay their eggs. Being that chickens prefer to lay their eggs away from other chickens they will often go in search of a place to be alone.

Tall grass, corners of yards, hay bales, and corners of chicken coops are some of the most common places that chickens will go to lay eggs. This is why it is very important to provide your chickens with a designated nesting area.

Nesting boxes can help prevent eggs being dirtied, stepped on by other chickens, being broken, crushed and even eaten. The boxes will also minimize the time spent searching for eggs around your yard.

Nesting boxes do not have to be anything super elaborate, although there are a few elements that should be accounted for to make them more appealing to chickens than a dark corner of their coop.

Nesting boxes should always be placed in dry, protected places. The boxes should also be made to have slanted roofs. This will help prevent other chickens from roosting above the nests and defecating onto the nests and eggs.

Nesting boxes in a chicken coop should be filled with about 2 – 3 inches worth of nesting material such as straw, or dry wood shavings. This will let your chickens shape their nests the way they like them, also preventing the eggs from getting smashed and dirty in the bottom of the nesting boxes. Chickens will be more attracted to the nesting boxes if the straw, or wood shavings are nice and fluffy.

To maximize privacy, nesting boxes should be placed away from the main area of the coop. You can make your nesting boxes to either sit inside the coop on the floor, or attach them to the wall about 2 inches off the ground.

They can also be made to hang off the back, or front of the coop with the main floor space of the coop open to allow chickens to roam around. Make sure you have enough nesting boxes for your chickens. This is about one box to every 4, or 5 chickens and will ensure your chickens are comfortable.

A recommended size to build your nesting area is 1′x1′x1′. If you are not quite a handyman there are other possible choices other than building wooden nesting boxes that will work just as well. A 5 gallon pail that is turned on its side can work fine.

Just make sure the pail is attached to a coop wall, or braced down to prevent it from rolling around and damaging the eggs. A milk crate makes a great nesting box when turned on its side and filled with nesting materials.

A normal plastic storage bins turned over on their sides may also be used. These simple solutions are very easy to clean and maintain. If you are desperately in need, cardboard boxes may be used, but never as a permanent solution unless you plan to change them very frequently. Making your chickens as comfortable as possible in their nesting boxes will make for happy chickens and more fresh eggs.

DIY Chicken Coop Construction Plan

Looking for a a simple and easy to follow chicken coop construction plans? If you are, check out the How To Build a Chicken Coop in 3 Days by Travis Sago.

The guide comes with step by step instructions which will teach you to, well, build a chicken coop in 3 days. Click on the link below and see how you can benefit from Sago’s blueprint.

==> Click here to visit Travis Sago’s web site now!

Chicken nest in places that is private and away from other chicken. In fact, they are pretty choosy about where they lay their eggs.

Sometimes chicken choose the corner of the yard or the coop to nest. Eggs laid on the ground in the absence of a proper nesting area can lead to eggs getting damaged, broken, dirtied, or even eaten.

The daily activity of egg hunting will take considerably less amount of time if there is a specific nesting area. Nesting boxes form good nests. They need not be complicated and elaborate.

However, some basic points are to be kept in mind when using such boxes for nesting. They should be attractive enough to draw the fowl inside when it wants to lay eggs. They need to be simple and appealing enough. They can be place in a dry and protected area for the best results.

It is also necessary that they should have an inclined top to prevent other chicken from roosting on the top and dirtying it with their wastes. The nesting boxes need to be filled up with nesting material such as straw. They should ideally spread into a layer of about 2 to 3 inches thick. This gives room to the chicken to fashion it according to their choice.

It also prevents the eggs from getting damaged. Ideally, for better results, they should be placed in a more private area of the coop. They can be either kept on the floor, or better still, can be made to hang about 2 feet above the ground either in the front or back of the coop wall. Thus ground space would not be occupied and the other chicken will have enough space left to loiter around.

An ideal size for the nesting box is a 1 foot cube. Well, if you cannot make such boxes for your fowl, do not worry, there are other alternatives. A 5 gallon bucket on its side is just as good and serves the purpose. However, make sure that it does not roll every time the chicken enters it! Strap it to the walls or brace it in the required manner.

Another household object that serves the purpose is a milk crate turned on its sides. Make sure to fill the bucket or crate with proper nesting material. Then they will be just as good as any other nesting box.

These alternative nesting areas can be maintained with ease and need to be cleaned frequently. Another solution is to turn Rubbermaid storage bins onto their sides. Using these bins is also advantageous because they allow themselves to be easily cleaned and maintained without any hassles.

Well, if you need a nesting box immediately and you are at your wit’s end and desperate, and do not have a choice, a cardboard box should suffice. Be cautioned, their use is not a permanent solution. The disadvantage with using cardboard boxes as nesting areas for chicken is that they have to be changed and replaced time and again.

DIY Chicken Coop Construction Plan

Looking for a a simple and easy to follow chicken coop construction plans? If you are, check out the How To Build a Chicken Coop in 3 Days by Travis Sago.

The guide comes with step by step instructions which will teach you to, well, build a chicken coop in 3 days. Click on the link below and see how you can benefit from Sago’s blueprint.

==> Click here to visit Travis Sago’s web site now!

In my last blog post, I wrote about a video on how to make a DIY chicken nesting box. It’s a very basic chicken nesting for your backyard chicken coops but it gets the job done.

After the post, I got a feedback from one of my blog reader, Charles from the United States. He sent me couple of pictures of how he used a couple of old fiberglass containers to make a chicken nesting.

I think that’s a very creative way of using whatever resources we have to make the nesting area for the bantams. I don’t think the hen would mind though. As long as she has a dry space for her to brood the eggs, she’ll be very happy.