There must be thousands of variations on the nest box.
We like to make ours so one can access the eggs without going in the coop.
Here's an update on what we've learned.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Adding_a_nest_box_to_a_chicken_coop/
Egg drop contests can be a lot of fun.
My wife made a blog post on her notes on this exciting activity.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/How_to_win_an_egg-drop_contest/
We've been using 5 gallon buckets as a kill cone substitute.
My wife summed up our notes in a blog post here.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/How_to_make_a_chicken-killing_bucket/
Our chickens often roost on a fallen cedar tree in one of their rotating pastures and we've never had any problems.
Here's a blog post on that particular pasture after one year.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/One-year-old_forest_pasture/
I can see where cedar shavings might be an issue for chickens in an enclosed space, but we've never had a problem with chickens roosting on cedar trees.
A lot of people will even say the cedar helps to keep mites away.
Here's a blog post on one of our rotating chicken pastures that has had a...
One downside to letting your chickens forage on a rotating pasture system is every now and then they will hide eggs.
Here are some notes on that subject in a short blog post.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Pullets_hiding_eggs/
This animation sums up the first day of construction.
Here's a blog post on how it got finished.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Homemade_chicken_tractor:_part_I/
Here's a not so subtle message our chickens look at everyday to motivate them to keep laying.
Here's a blog post on the origins of such a message.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Chicken_tractor_doors/
My wife made an entire blog post on some of the chicken tractor doors I've made over the years.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Chicken_tractor_doors/
That link in the post above is not working.
Here's a blog post on egg gourds and how we used one to encourage our hens.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Gourd_nest_eggs/
Of course they dry out after a while....maybe one could inject some heavy weight epoxy to keep it feeling heavy...
We've been collecting data of deep bedding for years now.
Here's a blog post summing up some of those observations.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/How_to_make_deep_bedding_for_chickens/
It does work some of the time.
Here's a blog post on the data my wife has collected.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/How_to_determine_the_age_of_an_egg/
My wife makes our chickens in the yummiest ways.
Here's a blog post on some of her secrets.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Heirloom_chicken_recipes/
One low budge method is to use an electric pipe heater.
The instructions say to not use it with plastic, but it did not melt this 5 gallon bucket.
Here's a blog post on how we did it.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Heat_tape_chicken_waterer/
My wife made a blog post on the foraging abilities of the attractive Light Sussex breed.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Foraging_ability_of_Light_Sussex_chickens/
Here's recent blog post on the foraging abilities of the Light Sussex breed.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Foraging_ability_of_Light_Sussex_chickens/
You can buy these poultry fingers and build all kinds of homemade chicken pluckers.
We experimented with the above design with mixed results.
Here's a blog post on the subject where my wife breaks down a few options.
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Homemade_chicken_pluckers/
To get an accurate picture you need to weigh the eggs and keep good data.
I feel for the guy who is paying 40 dollars per dozen...ouch! but I'm sure that cost will go down next year.
Here's a blog post on how much we calculated that we pay per dozen eggs...