Preparing your nesting boxes
As the days get shorter and colder, winter is not far away. The chooks are moulting and have stopped laying, now is an excellent time to give the nest boxes a good clean as they won’t be in use.
Remove all nesting material, clean and disinfect, and then replace it with new nesting material. This is also an excellent time to dust the nest boxes to kill any unwanted lice/mites - dust the boxes before putting in the nesting material. I like to use straw or grass hay in the nest boxes for my nesting material, but you could use wood shavings.
Nest boxes should be placed just off the ground in the hen house in a shaded area, not in direct sunlight; they like their privacy. Perches should always be higher than the nest boxes as this encourages the hens to use the perches and not the nest box.
It is recommended that you have one nest box for five hens, but I like to have two. It just leaves their options open, and nobody is left waiting.
For every additional five hens, add one nest box. I use a false egg in the nest box to encourage the hens to lay. It is also effective in stopping egg eating.
Roll away nest boxes
Roll away nest boxes have a slight slope on the box’s floor.
When the chook has laid an egg and left the nest, the egg rolls to the front into an enclosed area that the chooks can’t access.
You can buy roll away nest boxes, or if you want a cheaper option, you can buy the plastic insert to convert your existing nest box. You can also build your own as there are many plans online.
The advantages of the rollaway system are cleaner eggs, no egg-eating, less broody chooks, reduced external parasites, and easy cleaning. Also, you won’t need to get extra bedding as this restricts the eggs from rolling down.
Trap nests
The name says it all: the hen enters the nest and triggers the door to shut behind it.
Using trap nest boxes, you can identify which chook laid which egg - this is a handy tool in breeding as you can select your best chooks.
It is also valuable for identifying poor layers.
You must check trap nest boxes regularly. There are many different types of trap nest plans available online.
