Had a little chuckle over your 'Easter egg hunt". Had the same problem. They decided to lay in an old rabbit hutch that had been used for chicks. So I lay down sugar cane mulch for the bedding and it's now the preferred spot. Also a large pot planter with dirt and mulch is popular as is one of my potted lillys. Ah well! They also like an old shade cloth covering that has a nice indent in it like the one on top of your dry feed trailer. They all like to lay in the same spot if possible and will try to squeeze in together.
Chickens often make me scratch my head. All of our chickens are 100% free-range. So after not using these boxes for nearly 2 years, I started having an issue where the hens were eating their eggs. I reinstalled the Best Nest Boxes and fixed the problem overnight. And it worked for a few months. Now they are returning to the same behavior of laying in odd places. Ultimately I will probably end up pulling them again and reinstalling the traditional boxes. The hens seem to go through cycles throughout the year causing an Easter egg hunt that is much more complex than simple hours of daylight and temperature as folks would lead you to beleive. Thanks for watching. - Rick
I absolutely love my best nest box! I had to train my young pullets by zip, tying some fake eggs in the box, but they caught on right away, and the eggs are always clean. The chickens are very happy with a little screen but occasionally I will have a hen that will still peck an egg. But I have had chickens for 40 years and have lost many eggs two chickens eating their own eggs and this nest box prevents the majority of that it doesn’t stop it completely, but it prevents a lot of it. You just have to be patient in training your chickens, and once you do, it’s impossible to go back to a standard nest box.! I’ve had mine now for two years and just ordered another one for 30 more hens. I also free range my chickens, but I don’t turn them out until everybody’s done laying eggs. I think that’s a real key to any nest box usage otherwise chickens will naturally go out in the woods, or under bushes to lay their eggs.
Seems to me like those lower boxes are to close to the ground. My birds refuse to lay anything if the boxes are lower than 3 or 4 feet off the ground. I also use those tightly wound straw mats to replicate the straw feeling for them. Mine don't like the synthetic grass stuff either..
We are having the exact same issue. We still havent figured out where they lay, so out of 50 hens we get about 19 eggs a day on the floor in front of our nesting boxes, the rest are out in the woods or in the pasture somewhere.
Thank You! You clearly care about your chickens and understand chicken psychology. Best Nest Box's competitor Hen Gear has an interesting push thru back door that makes it possible to gather eggs in the front from the back, but doesn't offer a lot in the way of predator protection.
HENS NEED TO BE TRAINED TO LAY IN YOUR NESTING BOX. WHEN YOU FIRST START, PUT SOME HAY IN THE BOX. THIS WILL NOT ALLOW THE EGGS TO ROLL AWAY BUT IT IS ONLY TEMPORARY. When a hen lays an egg else where, pick up the hen and the egg and bring them both to the nesting. box. After a few weeks, you should be getting a lot of eggs from your nesting box. Once the hens have been trained to lay in your nesting box, remove the straw and let hen lay on the rolling surface. This has always worked well for me.
The ladies always need training when they begin laying so they know where the safe place to lay their eggs. Watch them and learn their behavior. The nesting boxes are fine.
Interesting comments, I can probably debunk most of them. # Attracted to the colour red? For pecking wounds on other chickens, yes, for laying, that I do not believe has been proven beyond doubt. Yes chickens have excellent colour vision. # They need privacy? Generally yes, but not necessarily. I have one who lays in the coop in a scratching pit, it is open to the entire coop (ie not a private little box). # They want straw bedding? Sort of. The deal with the straw is that it conforms to a nest shape (hollowed out) and yes they prefer this SHAPE to the flat roll away nest floor. # Is it training required? To a degree, yes, train them with fake eggs. However, chickens are highly individual, and also subject to changing their minds, and the same chicken can and will switch her previously favourite spot. I just had that recently. No reason, she just had a mind to switch boxes. My flock are limited free range, but yes, I have had them laying in their own designated places, even when previously trained to the nesting box. See "chickens change their minds". One suggestion below is to keep them in the coop longer, let them out later. This will reduce the random outside places, and likely confine most laying to the boxes. They don't have to be out all the time, but make sure there is plenty of other feed in the confined area. Having feeders near your nesting boxes encourages them back to the area as well. For the boxes, the lower ones in your set up are unnecessarily low. For a lower tier of boxes (and only one or two) have them at 1-2 foot (30-60cm) off the floor. They don't care about that height at all (as proven by laying on top of the trailer). Have most even higher, about 3 foot (90cm) off the floor, easier for collection, and again, most will not care, some will prefer it. For your particular set up, re-jig that back wall, abort the rear roll-away collection, and experiment with heights (and also consider walkways for the higher levels). Continue with straw bedding in your case. And block the nest boxes by late afternoon so no-one roosts in them overnight. It is all case-by-case basis. There is no real universal solution, but work with, and add some training, with your flock. It is sometimes about finding the balance (like limiting free range time).
I use the best nest boxes and wouldn't ever go back to any other best box. These hens need trained. Most birds will lay their eggs before noon in the winter and before 2 or 3 in the summer. Put the curtains back on the boxes and do not allow the birds to go out until most have finished laying for the day. Do this for a few weeks until they learn where to lay. Then the door can be opened earlier and the birds who are going to lay will stay close by and use the boxes.
Even my goats are not free range all day if they were out all day they break out of the paddocks my baby goats are always inside for the first month for protection against coyotes
They have to many options I bet you can change that up a little if you start letting them out at about 12:00 most will lay in the morning then let them free range the rest of the day. I bet you could curve them to lay in the nest boxes they are neat but they are over priced imo.
You know - that is a really great idea. Thanks for stopping by and watching. I may change the time on the automatic opening and give that a try. - Rick
We had a chicken or two that was eating eggs. I did some research and decided we should give roll away nest boxes a try. I spent a fair amount of time and currency buying wood and building roll away nest boxes. (We have free range chickens too.) We have several chickens that lay their eggs outside: they lay in our shop that has hay in it, in leaves behind my car, and even in the dirt of planter boxes. About half of the chickens that lay eggs in the hen house lay them on the floor. They have two corners they've chosen. One is under the nests and the other is under the roosts. I agree. It seemed like a really good idea but it isn't working for us either. We've even locked the hens in the house and run area for a week or more trying to reprogram them. As soon as we let them back out the ones that lay their eggs outside started up again. To finish it off, if the eggs stack up in the corner the chicken eating the eggs can still reach them and so we still occasionally have broken eggs.
you know how they would dip the chicks beak in their water so they know where is the water right... anything first thing you do is take the hen and hold her down in the box for couple sec/min.. then just let her go..
Thank you for doing this!! We have free range chickens as well and we were looking for roll out egg options. Don’t think we will spend the money on them.
Hi Bud, When we first installed the Best Nest Boxes, they were installed with the factory nesting pads and the and the red curtains when the hens were about 8 weeks old. Since we are true free range operation (no confinement fences at all) with lots of areas to lay outside of the coop - we noticed egg clutches all over the place - despite having our shiny new nest boxes. Our ratio was about 1:2 (for every one egg in the box - there were outside the box). So I began testing hypotheses and assumptions built into the Best Nest Box. Assumption #1 - Because the curtain is red - the hen will be attracted to it. I removed the curtain off 2 boxes and left the curtains on the remaining 4 boxes. My egg production increased in the boxes without curtains but remained the same in the curtained boxes. I then removed two more curtains - so now only two of them had curtains and I observed the same phenomena. My conclusion - in my flock application where they can lay wherever they want - they did not prefer boxes with the curtain - so I removed all of them - but was still not happy with the egg laying results. I was still getting a lot of eggs outside of the Best Nest Box - so I continued to test different configurations. Assumption #2 - The hens will prefer the factory plastic testing pad. I went through the same experimental process regarding the factory plastic nesting pads. I removed the factory pad from two of them and replaced it with straw bedding - while the other 4 remained with the plastic nesting pad. Egg production again spikes in the boxes with straw versus the factory plastic nesting pad. I then expanded the straw to two more boxes (4 with straw and 2 with plastic nesting pads) and the birds again began to lay more in the straw while the one with plastic was unchanged. My conclusion after all of this was that in my particular free range application - the hens did not prefer the Best Nest Boxes - they preferred no curtain and straw bedding over the curtains and plastic bedding mat. I did not take removing these boxes lightly as they are now really expensive dust collectors in my barn. I will be using them in my breeding coops that I plan to build in the fall. In that application, the hens will be confined and the Best Nest Box will be the optimal place for them to lay eggs since there will not be any other options. We have replaced the Best Nest Boxes in our layer coop with standard wooden nest boxes and now our in nest production versus out of the nest production is about 9:1 - which is exponentially better than with the Best Nest Box. I hoped this adequately explains my rationale in response to your question. Thanks for visiting the farm! - Rick
We also have free range chooks but they start eating their eggs and brooding them it got me no choice but to buy a roll away nest. At the beginning they wouldn’t lay now they do. It’s tricky to have chooks they have all sorts of personality, the old crew and new crew chooks don’t get along and it’s troublesome 😑
Great review! I’ve seen a handful of reviews on these from folks who got them free and always wondered if they were as good as the paid product placements touted. - Alex
Thanks!!! We have started a series called Eggsperiments where we test claims related to keeping chickens. We are in the middle one right now looking at the impact using fake eggs in nest to get chickens to lay where you want them to. Next month, I am going to start another Eggsperiment by removing two of the traditional boxes and replacing them with 2 Best Nest Boxes. So it will be a side by side comparison. Then measure the egg productivity over the course of the month. I think the Best Nest Box is a good product - but only in certain application where they are not confined to any particular space. Thanks for stopping by the farm!! - Rick
Bro, you don't get it. On the rollaway nesting boxes it is that only place to lay is the nest box. You have to train your chickens, not your chickens training you
Just because you have a fenced area does not mean they are not free ranged, I have my hens in the orchard and keep them in a temporary fenced area of 2000 sqft and move them every few days, they all lay in my nest boxes ( same as yours) no straw ( kinda defeats the purpose of a roll away if the eggs can’t roll away) They are not allowed to roam my shop or certain areas, they work to keep the weeds down under the trees and are fed fermented food once in the morning
Man if u would've just stood still and thought about what u wanted to say, that 10mins vid where u lost your train of thought 12 times wouldve been 2 mins. U can tell youre thinking, walking, and talking. Take it one at a time. 👍
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Best nest boxes work great ur giving ur hens to many options were to lay eggs
Had a little chuckle over your 'Easter egg hunt". Had the same problem. They decided to lay in an old rabbit hutch that had been used for chicks. So I lay down sugar cane mulch for the bedding and it's now the preferred spot. Also a large pot planter with dirt and mulch is popular as is one of my potted lillys. Ah well! They also like an old shade cloth covering that has a nice indent in it like the one on top of your dry feed trailer. They all like to lay in the same spot if possible and will try to squeeze in together.
Chickens often make me scratch my head. All of our chickens are 100% free-range. So after not using these boxes for nearly 2 years, I started having an issue where the hens were eating their eggs. I reinstalled the Best Nest Boxes and fixed the problem overnight. And it worked for a few months. Now they are returning to the same behavior of laying in odd places. Ultimately I will probably end up pulling them again and reinstalling the traditional boxes. The hens seem to go through cycles throughout the year causing an Easter egg hunt that is much more complex than simple hours of daylight and temperature as folks would lead you to beleive. Thanks for watching. - Rick
I absolutely love my best nest box! I had to train my young pullets by zip, tying some fake eggs in the box, but they caught on right away, and the eggs are always clean. The chickens are very happy with a little screen but occasionally I will have a hen that will still peck an egg. But I have had chickens for 40 years and have lost many eggs two chickens eating their own eggs and this nest box prevents the majority of that it doesn’t stop it completely, but it prevents a lot of it. You just have to be patient in training your chickens, and once you do, it’s impossible to go back to a standard nest box.! I’ve had mine now for two years and just ordered another one for 30 more hens. I also free range my chickens, but I don’t turn them out until everybody’s done laying eggs. I think that’s a real key to any nest box usage otherwise chickens will naturally go out in the woods, or under bushes to lay their eggs.
That’s a good point let the hens out after laying that’s. After 2pm
Great experiment!
I like trying different things to see what works best in our climate and with our equipment. Thanks for stopping by and watching. - Rick
Seems to me like those lower boxes are to close to the ground. My birds refuse to lay anything if the boxes are lower than 3 or 4 feet off the ground. I also use those tightly wound straw mats to replicate the straw feeling for them. Mine don't like the synthetic grass stuff either..
We are having the exact same issue. We still havent figured out where they lay, so out of 50 hens we get about 19 eggs a day on the floor in front of our nesting boxes, the rest are out in the woods or in the pasture somewhere.
Thank You! You clearly care about your chickens and understand chicken psychology. Best Nest Box's competitor Hen Gear has an interesting push thru back door that makes it possible to gather eggs in the front from the back, but doesn't offer a lot in the way of predator protection.
Helpful video! Beautiful farm!
Thank you! Thanks for visiting the farm!
HENS NEED TO BE TRAINED TO LAY IN YOUR NESTING BOX. WHEN YOU FIRST START, PUT SOME HAY IN THE BOX. THIS WILL NOT ALLOW THE EGGS TO ROLL AWAY BUT IT IS ONLY TEMPORARY. When a hen lays an egg else where, pick up the hen and the egg and bring them both to the nesting. box. After a few weeks, you should be getting a lot of eggs from your nesting box. Once the hens have been trained to lay in your nesting box, remove the straw and let hen lay on the rolling surface. This has always worked well for me.
Thank you for stopping by and watching!! Appreciate the tips and tricks. - Rick
The ladies always need training when they begin laying so they know where the safe place to lay their eggs. Watch them and learn their behavior. The nesting boxes are fine.
Also, once the coop is locked up just to train, them be sure to add RED flap covers on the nesting boxes because they’re drawn to red.
Thanks
Good video. Good information thanks
Thank you sir.
Interesting comments, I can probably debunk most of them.
# Attracted to the colour red? For pecking wounds on other chickens, yes, for laying, that I do not believe has been proven beyond doubt. Yes chickens have excellent colour vision.
# They need privacy? Generally yes, but not necessarily. I have one who lays in the coop in a scratching pit, it is open to the entire coop (ie not a private little box).
# They want straw bedding? Sort of. The deal with the straw is that it conforms to a nest shape (hollowed out) and yes they prefer this SHAPE to the flat roll away nest floor.
# Is it training required? To a degree, yes, train them with fake eggs. However, chickens are highly individual, and also subject to changing their minds, and the same chicken can and will switch her previously favourite spot. I just had that recently. No reason, she just had a mind to switch boxes.
My flock are limited free range, but yes, I have had them laying in their own designated places, even when previously trained to the nesting box. See "chickens change their minds".
One suggestion below is to keep them in the coop longer, let them out later. This will reduce the random outside places, and likely confine most laying to the boxes. They don't have to be out all the time, but make sure there is plenty of other feed in the confined area. Having feeders near your nesting boxes encourages them back to the area as well.
For the boxes, the lower ones in your set up are unnecessarily low. For a lower tier of boxes (and only one or two) have them at 1-2 foot (30-60cm) off the floor. They don't care about that height at all (as proven by laying on top of the trailer). Have most even higher, about 3 foot (90cm) off the floor, easier for collection, and again, most will not care, some will prefer it. For your particular set up, re-jig that back wall, abort the rear roll-away collection, and experiment with heights (and also consider walkways for the higher levels). Continue with straw bedding in your case. And block the nest boxes by late afternoon so no-one roosts in them overnight.
It is all case-by-case basis. There is no real universal solution, but work with, and add some training, with your flock. It is sometimes about finding the balance (like limiting free range time).
I use the best nest boxes and wouldn't ever go back to any other best box. These hens need trained. Most birds will lay their eggs before noon in the winter and before 2 or 3 in the summer. Put the curtains back on the boxes and do not allow the birds to go out until most have finished laying for the day. Do this for a few weeks until they learn where to lay. Then the door can be opened earlier and the birds who are going to lay will stay close by and use the boxes.
Even my goats are not free range all day if they were out all day they break out of the paddocks my baby goats are always inside for the first month for protection against coyotes
They have to many options I bet you can change that up a little if you start letting them out at about 12:00 most will lay in the morning then let them free range the rest of the day. I bet you could curve them to lay in the nest boxes they are neat but they are over priced imo.
You know - that is a really great idea. Thanks for stopping by and watching. I may change the time on the automatic opening and give that a try. - Rick
Keep locked inside building for a few days take straw out dont give them option of straw.take straw out see if still lay in same box without it.
good idea
We had a chicken or two that was eating eggs. I did some research and decided we should give roll away nest boxes a try. I spent a fair amount of time and currency buying wood and building roll away nest boxes. (We have free range chickens too.) We have several chickens that lay their eggs outside: they lay in our shop that has hay in it, in leaves behind my car, and even in the dirt of planter boxes. About half of the chickens that lay eggs in the hen house lay them on the floor. They have two corners they've chosen. One is under the nests and the other is under the roosts.
I agree. It seemed like a really good idea but it isn't working for us either. We've even locked the hens in the house and run area for a week or more trying to reprogram them. As soon as we let them back out the ones that lay their eggs outside started up again. To finish it off, if the eggs stack up in the corner the chicken eating the eggs can still reach them and so we still occasionally have broken eggs.
Thanks for stopping by and watching. You are describing our exact experience. - Rick
you know how they would dip the chicks beak in their water so they know where is the water right... anything first thing you do is take the hen and hold her down in the box for couple sec/min.. then just let her go..
Thank you for doing this!! We have free range chickens as well and we were looking for roll out egg options. Don’t think we will spend the money on them.
Wow, you have a big outfit there, how many acres do you have?
We have 20 acres and about 100 chickens or so. Not exactly sure how many. Thanks for visiting the farm.
So how do you collect your eggs laid all over the farm
Since removing this box, and putting soft hay in the standard boxes, our problem with stray eggs has dramatically reduced. - Rick
Thanks@@TheLaLaFarm for prompt response. Pl make a video for those who want to start a new pasture raised layer chicken farm from scratch.
how come the curtains were removed from the nest boxes?
Hi Bud,
When we first installed the Best Nest Boxes, they were installed with the factory nesting pads and the and the red curtains when the hens were about 8 weeks old. Since we are true free range operation (no confinement fences at all) with lots of areas to lay outside of the coop - we noticed egg clutches all over the place - despite having our shiny new nest boxes. Our ratio was about 1:2 (for every one egg in the box - there were outside the box). So I began testing hypotheses and assumptions built into the Best Nest Box. Assumption #1 - Because the curtain is red - the hen will be attracted to it. I removed the curtain off 2 boxes and left the curtains on the remaining 4 boxes. My egg production increased in the boxes without curtains but remained the same in the curtained boxes. I then removed two more curtains - so now only two of them had curtains and I observed the same phenomena. My conclusion - in my flock application where they can lay wherever they want - they did not prefer boxes with the curtain - so I removed all of them - but was still not happy with the egg laying results. I was still getting a lot of eggs outside of the Best Nest Box - so I continued to test different configurations. Assumption #2 - The hens will prefer the factory plastic testing pad. I went through the same experimental process regarding the factory plastic nesting pads. I removed the factory pad from two of them and replaced it with straw bedding - while the other 4 remained with the plastic nesting pad. Egg production again spikes in the boxes with straw versus the factory plastic nesting pad. I then expanded the straw to two more boxes (4 with straw and 2 with plastic nesting pads) and the birds again began to lay more in the straw while the one with plastic was unchanged. My conclusion after all of this was that in my particular free range application - the hens did not prefer the Best Nest Boxes - they preferred no curtain and straw bedding over the curtains and plastic bedding mat. I did not take removing these boxes lightly as they are now really expensive dust collectors in my barn. I will be using them in my breeding coops that I plan to build in the fall. In that application, the hens will be confined and the Best Nest Box will be the optimal place for them to lay eggs since there will not be any other options. We have replaced the Best Nest Boxes in our layer coop with standard wooden nest boxes and now our in nest production versus out of the nest production is about 9:1 - which is exponentially better than with the Best Nest Box. I hoped this adequately explains my rationale in response to your question. Thanks for visiting the farm!
- Rick
We also have free range chooks but they start eating their eggs and brooding them it got me no choice but to buy a roll away nest. At the beginning they wouldn’t lay now they do. It’s tricky to have chooks they have all sorts of personality, the old crew and new crew chooks don’t get along and it’s troublesome 😑
Works best with a curtain... prefer darker
Thanks for visiting and watching. Appreciate the tip. - Rick
Where is plastic red door
U have straw on the ground that’s why they lay on the ground
Great review! I’ve seen a handful of reviews on these from folks who got them free and always wondered if they were as good as the paid product placements touted. - Alex
Thanks!!! We have started a series called Eggsperiments where we test claims related to keeping chickens. We are in the middle one right now looking at the impact using fake eggs in nest to get chickens to lay where you want them to. Next month, I am going to start another Eggsperiment by removing two of the traditional boxes and replacing them with 2 Best Nest Boxes. So it will be a side by side comparison. Then measure the egg productivity over the course of the month. I think the Best Nest Box is a good product - but only in certain application where they are not confined to any particular space. Thanks for stopping by the farm!! - Rick
You should be clean box from grass..don’t put grass on ground if you want best project
This is great info my chickens will start laying soon...
The best of luck to you and your chickens.
-Little Rick
@@TheLaLaFarm thank you
Bro, you don't get it. On the rollaway nesting boxes it is that only place to lay is the nest box. You have to train your chickens, not your chickens training you
"Bro" - Thanks for your input. Glad these worked out for you! Happy training.
Just because you have a fenced area does not mean they are not free ranged, I have my hens in the orchard and keep them in a temporary fenced area of 2000 sqft and move them every few days, they all lay in my nest boxes ( same as yours) no straw ( kinda defeats the purpose of a roll away if the eggs can’t roll away) They are not allowed to roam my shop or certain areas, they work to keep the weeds down under the trees and are fed fermented food once in the morning
Thanks for stopping by and watching. - Rick
Oh no straw eggs will not roll as easily it’s just a pain
Cool lala farm ... Come visit my farmhouse
I will check you out - stay in touch!!
You are defeating the purpose by putting straw in them!
I understand that - thanks for watching. - Rick
Man if u would've just stood still and thought about what u wanted to say, that 10mins vid where u lost your train of thought 12 times wouldve been 2 mins. U can tell youre thinking, walking, and talking. Take it one at a time. 👍
Thanks for stopping by and watching. - Rick