Chicken bald back

[emmalou]

Hi all. I am wondering whether I should paint my individual nest boxes for my chickens? I am currently refurbing the run and house and the boxes I am using are old wine crates and some old vegetable crates made of thin wood. They were a little big but have cut them down to size and are perfect now. I will be putting them onto shelves in the house but was wondering if this may help protect them a little? If yes, should I use a an outdoor paint or varnish? Thanks.

[sjp]

painting will make cleaning them easier water based wood stain will do or if you've got some silk emulsion knocking around that'll work it's what I painted the inside of my main coop with advantage is it drys quick and the smell doesn't linger the other wooden ones I used some garden shades stuff I'd got left over from a job

[emmalou]

Cool thanks. I have some left over chicken coop paint so will use that. Do the chickens tend to poop in the boxes much? I was going to use some woodchip in the bottom then just a lay of hay. I presume chicken poop won't cause too many problems with the bottom of the boxes? The wine boxes should be fine but the wood of the veg boxes is quite thin wood.

[Grandmashazzie]

My lot certainly poop in the nest boxes,at night as a few sleep in the boxes. I have a bit of Lino in each. It helps to insulate in winter and is easy to power wash. I have wood shavings on top.

[Lewis]

Do the chickens tend to poop in the boxes much? I was going to use some woodchip in the bottom then just a lay of hay.

They don't usually poo in the nest boxes if they're positioned right, make sure perches are higher than nest boxes and they should roost on those.

 

Wood shavings or a hemp based bedding like Aubiose may be better because hay can harbour spores which are bad for their respiratory tract.

[emmalou]

Great, so if I maybe put the nest boxes on the floor of the coop as the house is off the floor of the run anyway, then put the poles higher than the nest boxes? I was going to put the nest boxes in one section and the roost bars in the other. Should I put roost bars in the nest area too? The house is in two sections atm and was going to open it up into one and use the nest boxes in one half.