Nest Box Accesibility...Why???

[Chickaroo!]

Why should you have accesibility from the outside of the coop to gather eggs from the nest boxes? Why can't you just go in the coop and get them out??

 

[silkiechicken]

Some don't like to get their shoes dirty. However, I go in to get eggs... as they all free range and I'll get my shoes dirty by just stepping onto the porch.

This is why we take our shoes off when we enter the house.

 

[Chickaroo!]

Oh, I was beginning to think that maybe all this time I've been doing something wrong. I don't have access to my nest boxes from the outside of the coop. I have shoes specifically for outside/coop. I always take them off when I go inside the house.

 

[Wynette]

I have outside access to my nest boxes, and I like it because in winter when it's bitterly cold, the nest box door is much smaller than the access door, so the warm air generated by their bodies inside doesn't escape as much as if I opened the large access door.

 

[jed1154]

I am building a coop right now and am specifically placing the boxes on the INSIDE of the coop for several reasons.

1.) more holes, more joints, more palces to leak air or water and rot.
2.) Build is easier.
3.) Most importantly, it forces you to walk INTO the coop and have a look around when you collect eggs. There are plenty of things that can go wrong in a coop that you might not know about unless you walk in there. You collect eggs once a day and peek inside the coop once a week.....you might miss something you could have fixed if youd seen it earlier.

Thats just my thinking. Of couse the most important reason can be fixed with a little dicipline, but if you are going to go in a look every day anyway, then why not just get the eggs while your in there.

 

[shangri-lafarms]

I also have shoes for the coop, my kids call them poopie coopie boots

I have no access for eggs from the outside either

 

[birdy_num_nums]

I specifically left it off my design as well, mostly because I saw it as yet another access for predators. Yet another lock I would have to fret over making sure was locked at all times.

 

[Daycare Mom]

I have outside access on one coop and not the other. I don't mind going inside the coop. Like others said, my chickens free range so we always take our shoes off in the house.

 

[averytds]

I would think for some it's because they can't actually go in the coop. Our current coop is about 3.5 ' off the ground and while it is something like 6' x 9', it is only about 3.5' tall. The nest boxes are at the far end from the entrance. So I could go in the coop to get the eggs if I really wanted to, but I would have to go in the run, climb up in to the coop and hunch over to the opposite side. Since only 2 have started laying and I've become a frequent nest checker, it'd be a royal pain without the access door.

The new coop DS and I are building will be 4' x 4.5' and two stories. Each story will only be about 3.5' tall. Once again royal pain without access door.

 

[shangri-lafarms]

Yeah when I asked my hubby to build me a chicken coop, boy did he, I have a 15' x 8' pole barn for them, they love it......