Need dimensions nest boxes

[Ridgerunner]

I looked back over a "laying house" design from the 1950's I had saved and noticed that they went with a style of nest box that I have not seen before. Looks to me like a side entrance!

The overall dimensions look to be 12 inches at the rear, and 2 foot 6 at the front. 2 feet deep and 3 feet wide. Roomy!

Interestingly, this is all internal to the coop/laying house. They have an enclosed nest box with a hinged lid, all within a building. No "exterior" access to the nest box.

That's called a community nest box. I mentioned those in my post above. Just guessing but that one is probably good for 15 or so hens. There should be a chicken entrance on both ends, not just one end. And yes, usually no exterior access though you could probably arrange that. Could even make it a roll-out nest box with a little ingenuity.

Those aren't that unusual in walk-in coops for small producers. They are easy to build, don't take up much room, and are not good for broody hens.

 

[paneubert]

I looked back over a "laying house" design from the 1950's I had saved and noticed that they went with a style of nest box that I have not seen before. Looks to me like a side entrance!

The overall dimensions look to be 12 inches at the rear, and 2 foot 6 at the front. 2 feet deep and 3 feet wide. Roomy!

Interestingly, this is all internal to the coop/laying house. They have an enclosed nest box with a hinged lid, all within a building. No "exterior" access to the nest box.

I've seem community boxes before, but not side entrances. Always seemed to be the classic front opening, sometimes with a curtain or holes like @aart example. Pretty neat. The one I posted claims to be for 25 hens. So the overestimation of coop capacity goes all the way back to the 1950's. Haha.

Here is the PDF of the entire "house".

https://www.lsuagcenter.com/~/media...2d57a9cb02ceb6e/7402familysizelayinghouse.pdf

 

[cmom]

You can make a larger community nest box or smaller ones as others have suggested. I have both kinds. Most of the birds pick certain boxes to lay their eggs in so even if you have several nest boxes they will probably lay their eggs in a few. One of my coops has 12 nest boxes but the birds only use 3 or 4 of them mostly. All of my nest boxes have a door so I can collect the eggs without going into the coops.
There are 8 nest boxes in this coop. We did do some modifications on this coop since this picture was taken.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Mine are 14.5"x14.5"x14.5" internally (sloping up to 24", since it's all internal to coop and I don't want them on the lid). I think my original plan was 16" cubed but with the way the studs were in the corner, 45" length was a perfect fit to so I just cut down the boxes to match that. Ending right where a stud sat gave the boxes a more finished look.

 

[aart]

Interestingly, this is all internal to the coop/laying house. They have an enclosed nest box with a hinged lid, all within a building. No "exterior" access to the nest box.

That just seems huge...waste of space, and a great gathering place for poops.

 

[cmom]

Mine are 14.5"x14.5"x14.5" internally (sloping up to 24", since it's all internal to coop and I don't want them on the lid). I think my original plan was 16" cubed but with the way the studs were in the corner, 45" length was a perfect fit to so I just cut down the boxes to match that. Ending right where a stud sat gave the boxes a more finished look.

Do you have a picture?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Do you have a picture?

Not very pretty since I'm a "measure once, cut five times" type. The boxes aren't attached to the coop itself and can be removed for cleaning. The lid can be latched up to the window frame above. Due to the way the lid sits, it's enough to hold the unit firmly against the wall. More photos in the My Coop link under profile.

 

[cmom]

It looks fine.

 

[rosemarythyme]

It looks fine.

I tried to build for function but I know where the cuts are crooked (thankfully the lid hides a lot of the flaws).

At least the chickens haven't complained!

 

[paneubert]

That just seems huge...waste of space, and a great gathering place for poops.

The small entrance holes (look like 8 inch squares) combined with the fact that it is a covered space would make me wonder what is going to jump out at me every time I open the lid. Haha. I would probably cringe while opening daily.