How can I build an easy place for my chickens to lay eggs in?

[cocoaskin]

My rooster has started mating with my hens, and I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas of how to build an easy compartment for my hens to lay there eggs.
Thanks!

 

[ColoradoMike]

This type looks like the easiest I've seen...

 

[tallieb]

I used to use plastic rubbermaid drawers.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Target has plastic storage boxes for about $4. Turn it on it's side, give a little barrier (like the bucket above) and viola! Nesting box.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

There are lots & lots of easy low-cost or no-cost things you can use for nesting boxes. Maybe we should have a section in the coops forum just for them. Hens will make their own nests by themselves, the only reason for providing nest boxes is to make the job of collecting easier for us humans.

They just like something rather cozy & secluded. Have some soft dry bedding on the bottom. Place it where it will stay dry & not too hot. Have it handy for you, so collecting eggs won't be such a chore.

Look around your place for things you could use, buckets or boxes or bins or drawers. You shouldn't have to spend much, if at all, to furnish nest boxes for your hens. Put golf balls or fake eggs in them, to inspire your hens to lay there.

 

[RL]

I didn't get my nest boxes completed in time before mine started to lay and they were laying their eggs on a storage shelf I had in the coop. So I just put a plastic bin on the shelf and they laid their eggs in that. It was a great temp nest.

When I got my nest boxes completed, I put the plastic bin in one of the nest boxes and removed the storage shelf. The next day my BR laid an egg in the bin in the nest box. I removed the bin and now she and the others lay in the nest box.

I would just get some inexpensive plastic bin with maybe 4 inch sides and put them on a shelf in your coop. Just make sure they are secure so they can knock them off the shelf.

 

[Uppity Peon]

Quote:
I have been making nestboxes basicly out of junk. Here is one where I cut a hole on a black ABS plastic box.

Here is a community nest from and old dog house.

And this is made from an abandoned shelving unit.

I have had hens lay eggs in all of them.

Although I did catch my rooster Rusty trying to encourage a hen to follow him under the canoe this morning...

 

[andalusn]

When the hens lay in the hen house they are using a wooden winebox/crate that has some hay in side. The community "box" outside the coop are my two dog crates I used to bring new hens home in. They are about 10 feet from the hen house door in the barn aisle way. There is hay inside and they have rounded out a nest and will lay in there when they lay. My current problem is nobody wants to lay other than one of my Dominiques once a week

I really like that 5 gallon bucket idea

 

[Coopa Cabana]

Those covered privacy kitty litter boxes work great, too.

 

[TennesseeTruly]

My husband went and built nice nest boxes for my hens and they started to lay in an cat crate that we had left in the run. Go figure!

So we had a bunch of cat crates, lined them with hay and put them in the coop. That's what they use to lay in. They absolutely refused to use the nest boxes.

Laurie