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The 3-foot rule for nesting boxes I mocked for forever? It's real
I always thought people obsessing over nest box height were being dramatic, until a hawk spooked my flock last week and my barred rock refused to lay for 5 days straight. Read a study from Cornell that said chickens need to feel a clear escape path under roosts, and sure enough, moving the box lower fixed it overnight. Anyone else have a 'dumb' rule that turned out to be backed by actual research?
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ivan_perez4d ago
Did you ever wonder why old timers always said to keep the roost higher than the nest box? I read somewhere that it goes back to how chickens act in the wild, they want to sleep up high but lay eggs somewhere low and hidden so they can bolt if something comes in. That Cornell study sounds like it just proved what country folks figured out by watching their birds for a hundred years. I had the same thing happen with my australorp after a stray dog scared everybody, she quit laying for a week until I dropped the boxes down a foot. Funny how the "dumb" rules usually have a real reason behind them once you dig in a little.
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