Chicken House Plans – You Need Nesting Boxes Too!

You don’t want to forget this critical part of your chicken house plans.

Chicken house plans without nesting boxes design is like a day without sunshine. Well, sort of.

You need nesting boxes for several reasons, the first being its importance to the chickens themselves.The nesting box is the comfortable, safe area where the hen feels safe enough to relax in some shade and away from the light.
A good rule is one nesting box for every three and up to five hens. When a hen is ready to lay an egg, she will search for that quiet, private place something that is soothing and safe. The nesting box fills this purpose and gives the chickens that safe, comfortable place to lay eggs.

Nesting boxes are not only beneficial to the chickens, but they are helpful for those folks who are raising chickens as well. First, it keeps your chicken house organized where the eggs are produced in one area.Without a nesting box, a hen will search around and lay her egg wherever she sees fit.Then egg hunting becomes a reality rather than an Easter pasttime.Additionaly for the people raising chickens, having nesting boxes allows you to determine the freshness of eggs and simplifies egg collection.You can determine the freshness of certain eggs because of the order and time you collect your eggs from the nesting boxes.

Okay, So How Do You Build A Nesting Box?

Size is important to remember when making nesting boxes. They need to be small enough for the chicken to feel safe and comfortable.However, you cannot make them so small that you can’t clean them. A good sized nesting box is about one-foot square, but you can check with your local feed store or veterinarian for the breed of chickens that you are raising.
For more on the design of the nesting boxes, read the rest of the article here for complete chicken house plans.