How did you build your exterior nesting boxes?

[sreihart]

I'm still building my coop and I've begun building the nesting boxes which will be attached to the exterior wall. I'm at a loss of how to frame it though. Do any of you have pictures or could you explain how you did it? I left a large hole along the length of the coop which is 8' long. So far I've made the bottom but not sure how to do the sides and the top so that I can still fit a lid over it. Your help would be most appreciated. I never thought it would take me this long to build!

Here's the wall that I'm attaching the nest boxes to. (The picture doesn't show it but I now have insulation in the walls and the walls are covered with plywood):

 

[surfchicken72]

see my BYC page. I "stole" my design from "woodguy" (look up his page also).. I moved the back boards inside, instead of outside
I aslo Ran a "lip" of 2x4s at the top (no pics yet) well you'll get the idea. all angles used are 15 degrees

 

[Monk]

I made mine as an insert, minus the top and door. Once inserted, I added the top, door and trimmed it out. I do have a few pics on My BYC Page, "coop".

 

[sreihart]

Okay, here's where I'm at tonight:

The nest box floor is going to be insulated so this is how I framed it:

Then here it is with the insulation:

And where I finished tonight with plywood and a plastic covering like Duratuff:

I'm not sure where to go from here. I'm going to have to cut some miters but don't know an easy way to figure out the angles. does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks a bunch for anything you can offer. I'm getting really frustrated because I've been working on this all summer. My chickens will be 12 weeks old tomorrow and they don't have a permanent home yet.

 

[YolandaT]

Your coop looks AMAZING! Congratulations on a terrific job!

Can't you just make side walls and attach them via wood pieces in the corners? Or use metal brackets and braces? And just put a hinge the top of the box onto the coop wall. If you are no longer having much fun building this coop, just git er done and git the gals in there - you'll be getting eggs real soon and it will alllll be worth it!

 

[bsruther]

I don't know if it will help, but here's how I did mine.
The door on the back opens downward. Rain doesn't get in at all.

 

[sreihart]

Thanks for all the replies! I guess my biggest hurdle is determining the angles to cut for the diagonal pieces. I think what I'll do is take some cardboard and make a template, then use the template to lay on the boards and trace a line and cut from there.

Thanks again everyone... you did give me some good ideas!

 

[bsruther]

I made all of the angles on my coop 22-1/2 degrees. Once you get your first pieces, you can use them for templates.

 

[sreihart]

Quote:
Yep, good idea. Thanks!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

hi sreihart,

I built my nest boxes out of plywood prior to mounting them on the coop. Here is a picture of them, bottom-side up:

Here it is mounted by sliding it inside the 2X4 framing, then screwed in:

Here it is, finished, from the back. I attached the lid to the coop wall:

I then attached the front plate with two holes cut over the fronts of the boxes:

I hope you find this helpful, Todd.