6 Benefits of Using Nesting Box Curtains in Your Coop

Installing curtains in your chicken coop's nesting boxes provides a variety of advantages for your flock's health, happiness, and productivity. From increased privacy to retaining heat, curtains optimize your nesting area. Read on as we explore six compelling reasons you should be using nesting box curtains.

As backyard chicken keeping grows in popularity, new poultry parents soon discover the numerous dilemmas involved with egg laying. Issues like broody hens, egg eating, and chickens laying on the coop floor quickly arise. While retraining your flock takes time and effort, properly outfitting your coop also plays a pivotal role.

Benefit 1: Increased Privacy and Reduced Stress

Chickens startle easily during egg laying due to their vulnerable, head-down position. Sudden noises or flockmates approaching cause stress, often with messy consequences. Even in calm conditions, the lack of privacy in open nesting boxes causes some chickens discomfort.

Nesting box curtains create a secluded, sheltered environment that hens crave for oviposition. Your chickens can settle in undisturbed when shielded from sights and sounds. With fewer disruptions, chickens display more relaxed pre-laying behavior. Research shows lower stress levels result in optimal egg production over the long term.

Choosing Suitable Fabrics for Privacy

When installing curtains for privacy, medium-weight fabrics work best. Materials like cotton, canvas, felt, and poly-cotton blends block sights without making an enclosed, dark space.

Additionally, these fabrics deter roosting on top of nests but still allow adequate airflow into the boxes.

Benefit 2: Discouraging Broody Behavior

While occasional broodiness is natural, excessive brooding wreaks havoc in backyard flocks. Not only do broody hens stop laying, but they also become highly territorial and aggressive.

Frustratingly, seeing another hen brooding often triggers contagious broody behavior. It sparks a possessive instinct in other hens who abandon their own nests to invade the broody nest.

Nesting box curtains break this cycle by preventing broodies from witnessing each other's behavior. With no other broodies on display, the sight trigger is removed. Curtains give each hen privacy to focus on her own laying habits rather than obsessing over nest ownership.

Tips for Deterring Broodiness

If broodiness persists beyond 3-5 days, take action to break the cycle:

• Remove the broody from the flock and place in a wire-bottom coop or cage without nest access.
• Use ice packs under the hen to encourage leaving the nest when she returns to the flock.
• Block nestbox access for 1-2 weeks until the hormone surge passes.

Benefit 3: Deterring Egg Eating

Egg eating starts innocently enough - a hen spies a cracked egg oozing tempting yolk. But soon, the sight of any egg triggers the bad habit. Before you know it, your hens are breaking open and gobbling full eggs as soon as they're laid.

Installing nesting box curtains thwarts this vicious cycle at its root. With curtains drawn, nests become an out-of-sight oasis safe from poaching by hungry flockmates. Minimizing visibility minimizes temptation and stops egg eating in its tracks.

Quick Hack to Curb Egg Eating

If you notice chickens developing egg eating habits, take swift preventative action by:

• Removing and discarding cracked eggs immediately
• Collecting eggs early and often before chickens target them
• Feeding extra protein rations to curb hunger-fueled egg eating

Better still, hanging nesting box curtains makes eggs a hidden treasure - easing stress on both you and your feathered ladies!

Benefit 4: Stopping Vent Pecking

A grim threat facing laying hens is getting their swollen, reddened vents targeted by pen mates. This aggressive "vent pecking" causes immense stress, carries infection risk, and in the worst cases can be fatal.

The dangling curtains used in nest boxes provide a very effective barrier against vent pecking. When a hen enters the nest to lay her egg, the curtains conceal her backside from view. Peck-happy flockmates can't see the vent to attack.

By eliminating visibility of the vent region, curtains offer tremendous protection especially in confined spaces prone to boredom-based antagonism.

7 Tips to Prevent Vent Pecking

While curtains help enormously, you can further deter vent pecking by:

• Removing and separating injured/victim hens immediately
• Applying hen saddle protectors if weak/low-ranking hens are targeted
• Using plastic pinless peepers over aggressors' eyes
• Increasing space, enrichment tools and foraging incentives
• Culling unrelentingly aggressive vent peckers

Benefit 5: Retaining Nest Box Heat

Maintaining a warm nesting box temperature is essential for egg viability and broody comfort. However, fluctuating winter temperatures can chill eggs, resulting in embryo death or frozen egg contents.

Here's where nesting box curtains shine. The insulating fabric traps radiant heat from broody bodies, creating a warmer microclimate. Temperatures stay in the ideal 90-100degF range, protecting developing chicks.

The enclosed curtains also prevent drafts on eggs when hens enter and exit the box. Warmer eggs have thicker albumen, improving their structural integrity and hatching success.

Ideal Nest Box Temperatures

Use a thermometer to monitor your nesting boxes. Avoid extremes with these optimal temperature ranges:

• 95degF when brooding eggs
• 70-75deg when not brooding
• Under 85degF to discourage brooding

Insulated nest box curtains help maintain temperatures in this productive sweet spot through challenging weather.

Benefit 6: Fewer Floor Eggs

Finding eggs strewn across your coop is messy at best and dangerous at worst. Unfortunately, chickens lay outside nests boxes for many reasons like overcrowding, insufficient nests, or simple stubbornness.

Curtains can help combat floor eggs by making nest boxes more attractive. The privacy and warmth offered give hens an inviting, comforting space where they actively choose to lay.

Additionally, first-time layers often need to witness an ideal nest location before using it. Closed curtains with tiny peek holes allow newcomers to spy nest details without negative flock interactions or uncertainties dissuading use.

Quick Tricks for Collecting Floor Eggs

If you still battle floor eggs after adding curtains, try these tips:

• Place decoy ceramic eggs in nest boxes
• Move floor eggs into nests immediately
• Use golf balls or wooden eggs to fill box space gaps
• Limit overhead roost access encouraging nest use

With a few adjustments, your girls will lovingly lay in their private curtained oasis.

Choosing Suitable Nesting Box Curtains

Want to outfit your coop with nesting box curtains? Consider these top tips when selecting your fabric:

• Choose natural breathable fabrics like cotton, linen, burlap and hemp
• Aim for medium weight, durable fabrics
• Steer clear of synthetics as chickens may nibble them
• Ensure high temperature durability for washing/sanitization
• Measure box openings carefully for a customized fit
• Use clip rings, hooks or rods for easy install/removal

Pay attention to your flock's preferences too. Some colors, patterns, or textures may invite superstitious suspicions. Stick to neutral solids as you experiment.

Cleaning Nesting Box Curtains

Sanitize curtains regularly to prevent disease transfer:

• Remove and launder with hot water/bleach weekly
• Alternate 2+ sets of curtains for continual use
• Disinfect curtains by boiling, UV treatment or hydrogen peroxide soaks

Renew curtains showing wear annually for best results. Following sound coop hygiene practices keeps your flock happy and healthy.

Installing nesting box curtains benefits your backyard flock tremendously by reducing stress, increasing egg production, and deterring problem behaviors.

Help your feathered ladies feel comfortable and secure by creating a sheltered nesting environment tailored to their needs.