# Is it possible to have too many nests?



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

Hey there,

I ordered a chicken-nest-"shelf" consisting of two times three nests, placed above each other. While I ordered it, I was under the false impression that more nests would mean more simultaneously egg-laying hens ;-) Apparently, that is not the case.
We're going to start with 8 hens and the maximum capacity of the coop is 14-15 hens. According to literature, for that many hens three nests would be sufficient.
I _could_ refund only the lower half, but that would mean I'd have to actually send it back ;-)

Are there reasons for or against an overabundance of nests?


----------



## ChickenMom24 (Feb 14, 2021)

I would just keep it. It isn’t going to hurt to have options. 

Not knowing a darn thing about chickens when I built my nesting boxes, I made four. Of course they all want to lay in the same darned spot! But they change sometimes and some hens will lay in different boxes, or if several want to lay at the same time they can.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It will give the hens more choices to obsess about and cram their bodies in to to lay their eggs. They are weird about that nest thing. You'll drive yourself nuts trying to figure it out.


----------



## ChickenBiscuts (May 28, 2021)

Can't have too many nests. You’ll probably have them all cram into one anyway.


----------



## imnukensc (Dec 5, 2020)

Agreed with all of the above. I often see 3 birds at one time crammed into the favorite nesting box.


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

Ok, that's nice, thanks  However, that leads to another problem: the nests come with these hanging "swinging doors" (how do you call them?) and those doors have a locking mechanism: once a hen entered, no other hen can enter (but the hen inside can leave anytime, of course). Will I deprive them of a favourite hobby? 🤣


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Well, that's a first. Locking privacy doors on nest boxes. You might be figuring how to remove those to keep peace in the coop.


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

robin416 said:


> Well, that's a first. Locking privacy doors on nest boxes. You might be figuring how to remove those to keep peace in the coop.


Hmmm... Well, we'll see, now I have the nests. When I first saw them I thought they're ingenious ;-)
There's an Austrian shop who made two tiny little videos to illustrate how the nests work: Legenest Europa (the videos are on the left, next to the picture – click on the "camera"-icons)
(However, this shop sells the nests at a very high price, I payed over a third less. The video production must've been quite costly )


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Hmm, maybe disable the pin? Although those metal doors could prove challenging if another hen wants in at the same time. 

So, how does that pin get reset so the nest can be used again?


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

The... phew, some special words needed, dunno even in German ;-) "The rectangular board on which the hen sits when inside the nest" is attached to some kind of seesaw-mechanism: when the hen enters, the front part of said "board" is raising. The pin on the door can flip inwards, but not outwards. So once the hen is inside, the door flips back and the pin (and hence the door) is blocked by the now raised "board"-front.
Was that understandable? 😅 Such things are complicated to explain...


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

And I'm the absolute worse at explaining things. No matter what language it's in.

It does make sense. It sounds like a pretty complicated mechanism.


----------



## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Chickens2022 said:


> The... phew, some special words needed, dunno even in German ;-) "The rectangular board on which the hen sits when inside the nest" is attached to some kind of seesaw-mechanism: when the hen enters, the front part of said "board" is raising. The pin on the door can flip inwards, but not outwards. So once the hen is inside, the door flips back and the pin (and hence the door) is blocked by the now raised "board"-front.
> Was that understandable? 😅 Such things are complicated to explain...


That is interesting, we haven't seen those nesting boxes here.


----------



## ChickenBiscuts (May 28, 2021)

Your birds might get frustrated, but that’s probably the worst that could happen. Don’t stress about it.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

ChickenBiscuts said:


> Your birds might get frustrated, but that’s probably the worst that could happen. Don’t stress about it.


And here's the rest of us stressing.


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

I'll take a few pictures once I set up the nests. When the chickens arrive, they will be roughly 18-20 weeks old. In theory, they should start laying eggs pretty soon. Let's see what they think about my nests ;-)


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

They're reaction will tell the tale.


----------

