Do chickens need access to nest boxes/coop during the day?

[flewdacoop]

good luck with your babies and yes add an area that is covered and has sides for them to escape the sun and rain. and it helps with their stress if they feel scared they will hide in the sealed area

 

[bruceha2000]

If the chickens can get back to the coop from the run, will they go to the nest boxes there? Or are they too lazy to walk 20 feet and I should put a nest box in the run as well? If that is the case, I suspect I will have a real problem finding eggs they lay while free ranging. Every day will be an Easter egg hunt!

I am converting a horse stall in a bank barn to a coop. I plan to replace a missing outside wall window (now covered with plastic) directly across the alley from the stall with new glass and a closeable chicken door to a run attached to the outside of the barn. I had planned to cut a chicken door into the barn wall at ground level but since I already have a too big opening that should be repaired, I figure I can have both a new window and a chicken door without cutting through an inch of perfectly good vertical siding covered with novelty siding. Yes, it is an OLD barn. The coop will be the 'predator proof' safe house for night time with its own chicken door, the run will be 'predator resistant'. If this access is left open when the chickens are outside, do I even need shade/rain coverage on the run? I ASSUME chickens are smart enough to go inside the coop in bad weather or to eat and drink. Let me know if that is a BAD assumption

My "enclosed moveable walkway from coop to run" design quandary is: "horizontal elevated sky way" or "ramp from door at base of coop" I need to channel them to the run door whether it is ground level or in the window, otherwise they'll be all over the barn. The bottom of the window in only about 3' above the alley floor. In any case, they will need a ramp both in the outside run and in the barn to get to the window chicken door. If I go with the 'skyway' I can incorporate a ramp in the coop that goes past the nest boxes so I wouldn't need 2 ramps in there.

Thanks,
Bruce