How Many Chickens Can Share A Nesting Box?

I started keeping chickens a few months ago. I started with six, then added six more. I hope to get another half-dozen in a few weeks.

Before getting the hens, I had to make a place for them. An unused 6×10 dog pen seemed ideal. I put an old camping table that had become weather brittle along the far end and two old large dog houses on top of the table. I keep their feed in two round containers with screw lids in between and an extra bag of bedding material under the table. After adding their feed, the feeder goes under the table so the birds don’t poop in it at night while roosting.

I also bought some plastic egg crates (5), hung them up above the ground along one side, and stretched a PVC pipe longways in the pen for roosting. I covered the top of the pen with a tarp for shade and protection from flying nighttime predators.

Yesterday I had to completely redo the tarp, as there was no interior support, and rain made it sag uncontrollably. I had several lengths of PVC pipe from a leftover job. I cut six lengths, drilled zip tie holes in each end, and then connected those from the short side to the short side of the pen. Then I took Five lengths and did the same long ways. Where the poles intersected each other, I zip-tied them together. Then I repositioned the tarp over the top and zip tied at the grommets.

A tree grew into a side of the pen, and I wanted to leave it to help with shade. Unfortunately, I had to cut the tarp to go around the tree, and it may leak there when it rains, but maybe that will keep rain sagging from happening in other areas. If not, back to the drawing board!

I placed another PVC pole across the pen for roosting but didn’t secure it so I could move it around as necessary.

My only purchases besides bedding material and feed were for some zip ties, the tarp, the egg crates, a feeder, and a waterer. Oh, and the chickens!! Everything else was repurposed.

The feeder doesn’t seem big enough for 12 hens to fit around, as there’s always one that runs around the perimeter looking for a space to get in. So I would sometimes put a little feed on the ground for her. I recently started using a large terra cotta tray from an old planter which broke to give them feed mixed with whey or old goat milk. They love the change! Now I put some feed in it, too, so they don’t have to fight for a place at the “table.”

The chickens seem to love it in there. They’re free to roam during the day but come and go to lay their eggs or whatever else they do.

They only use one dog house for laying their eggs, though I have occasionally found an egg in the other one – possibly because the first was occupied! It’s like they wait their turn in line! It makes collecting the eggs relatively easy!! Of 12 chickens, I consistently get 10-11 eggs daily, 12 occasionally, and even 13 one day. Even an extra large double-yolked egg once!!

I love my chickens!!!

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