Shortly after we integrated the new chicks into the flock, we had noticed some of the younger chickens were roosting in the edge of the nesting box. Although we had not seen any of them just hanging out in the nesting box there were signs (chicken poop). It is possible this would not develop into a bad habit, but I did want to break them of this before it became a problem.

So, last Saturday I decided to make some nesting box curtains for the coop. I dug through my big bag of various material and scraps. I toyed with using some black and white cow print material that was left over from one of my son’s Halloween costumes as a child. He is graduating college in a couple of weeks….if that tells you how long I’ve had it. But then I found this old pink and white material that was perfect.

The material is a bit faded in spots, but they are curtains for the coop so it is perfect. I honestly do not recall what this was left from (possibly a table cloth or old curtain). I was looking for material that would not ravel or fray bad. It already had the edges hemmed so it worked out nicely.

Then I just went out to the coop and measured the opening to the nesting box (we have one large nesting box without separators).

Next, I cut three panels all the same width 8 x 10 inches keeping the hemmed edge as the bottom of the panels. Then I simply stapled them to the frame above the nesting box with a staple gun. Viola, Nesting box curtains!

Jon thinks they are kind of funny and they are not fancy, but they should do the trick. The big gals should be starting to lay in a month or two. Once they start laying the curtains will also provide privacy for the hens while laying.

For more information on the uses of nesting box curtains, check out The Chicken Chick.