Nest box design and placement

[saysfaa]

I'm having trouble deciding nest box design and placement. I want to use crates for nostalgia reasons. They are each 14"x 16"x 12".

I have 5 pullets who are all 18 weeks old. Three are australorps and two are brown leghorns. So, I think I need two nest boxes and that the crates can go any direction (on their sides, or ends, or backs) as far as dimensions go.

The darkest corner and by far the corner most convenient for gathering the eggs is complicated by having the roost and poop board butting into it - but with a twelve inch gap between the frame and legs of the poop board and the wire wall diving the coop side from the storage side of the shed.

I want raised nests so I don't have to bend down to collect the eggs and so they can have a floor space.

I prefer to put the crates right side up so I don't have to build a frame to hold the bedding in. And so I don't have to take slats off to gather the eggs without going into the chicken side.

I have room - if the hens will go over the poop board to get to the nests. They spend a lot of time on the poop board, if that makes a difference.

Do you think they will?

The picture is not the end result - instead, both crates would be open side up, end to end with their bottoms about even with the cross bar you can see on the wall behind them. Their tops would be about even with the bottom of the frame around the poop board. They would rest of a piece of plywood supported by legs and maybe the wall framing.

 

[3KillerBs]

Try it and see.

Chickens are much less fussy about these things than we owners are.

 

[saysfaa]

Maybe I should just make the standard wooden box.

I irritate me a lot sometimes, sigh. But
I really don't want to have to redo it.

 

[aart]

It will be about as high as the bottom of the nest boxes. I'm looking for how many inches in front of the nest boxes.

I went 8".
Detail drawing and pics in my nests album.

 

[aart]

Sounds like you would use distance again. I like yours - especially the round entrance but I don't think I can cut it with the tools we have.

I did replace the 2x2 perch with a 2x4 because of a clutzy brahma,
but yes it's worked out very well.
Used a jig saw to cut the circles.

 

[Alaskan]

I have a couple of girls that like to lay on the poop shelf, so nothing wrong with having them that high.

 

[McChooky]

Maybe I should just make the standard wooden box.

I irritate me a lot sometimes, sigh. But
I really don't want to have to redo it.

Not being a carpenter I decided to make a simple long, wide and tall box for a nest box and attached it lower than the floor of the coop so technically my coop is a bi level. The hens can simply jump down into the nest box to lay from either side of the nest box.It has 2 entrances and no dividers. It also has a louvered vent for light and ventilation.

 

[Alaskan]

This shows the bar (my nests will look different), see where it shows 12" front to back for the nests? Then doesn't gove a measurement from the front of the nest to the perch/bar/landing place. I'm not sure what to call it.

Ah.

I don't think Australops would need help to get in there, so you could probably just skip that front perch.

But if you want to have one, I would follow @aart 's advice

 

[saysfaa]

Not being a carpenter I decided to make a simple long, wide and tall box for a nest box and attached it lower than the floor of the coop so technically my coop is a bi level. The hens can simply jump down into the nest box to lay from either side of the nest box.It has 2 entrances and no dividers. It also has a louvered vent for light and ventilation.

What breed(s) do you have? A few people have talked about community nests are liked by some breeds and individual/divided nests are liked by other breeds - more consistently so than random chance would account for.

Do you have a picture of your nest? One of the things I like about the old crates is the slates instead of solid walls.

We aren't much of carpenters either. Measure four times; cut twice is pretty standard.

 

[aart]

Not your usual 'nests'....more like a separate room in the coop.
Put some fake eggs in there.