Homemade Chicken Laying Nest

Most chickens are accommodating creatures and not the least bit fussy about where they lay their eggs. Providing a nesting box for the flock doesn̵7;t always require tools or extensive labor. Depending on how many chickens you have you are only limited by your imagination and budget. It isn̵7;t necessary to have a box for every chicken since they are communal and will share a common nest.

  1. Nests From Found Items

    • A round plastic bowl, of a size comfortable enough for your chicken to get cozy in, will work as a nest box. If the bowl has a lid, glue it to the bottom of the bowl to keep it from tipping and to make the nest more secure.

      Buckets with lids, the kind kitty litter comes in, also work well as nests. Turn the bucket on its flat side. Take the lid off and cut it in half making sure there are no sharp or jagged edges. Put half of the lid you cut in two back on the bottom side of the bucket. The chickens will climb over the half lid into the bucket and arrange a place to lay.

      Supply the hens with nesting material, preferably straw, in both the bowl and bucket. Using a layer of newspaper under the straw will help when you clean out the nests.

      Old plastic milk crates, if you can find them, make an excellent nest and can be shared by two or three hens. Fill it almost to the top with straw or similar bedding. It is usually heavy enough to stay anchored on its own but if your hens are large you may want to nail it to a wall.

      For a larger flock, nests can be constructed from old dressers that have a divider between the drawers. You can either use the drawers, filled with straw, on the floor of the chicken coop or use the dresser when you remove the drawers. This makes an upright chicken nest but requires some carpenter work to divide the nests and make a stop so the eggs won̵7;t roll out. Don̵7;t use too tall a dresser. The hens won̵7;t like it and might fall and hurt themselves.

    Size of Nests and Cleaning

    • The size of your handmade nests will depend on the size of your breed of chickens. Bantams can get by with smaller accommodations than the big laying chickens. If a hen cannot get comfortable enough to spend the time it takes to lay then she probably won̵7;t use the nest. Clean the hen nest regularly and replace used straw with fresh straw. The eggs will stay cleaner.

      It isn̵7;t advisable to use wooden objects for nests unless you intend to throw them away after a period of time. Mites and other pests can bore into wood and live there until the host hen comes along thus infecting the hen.