Nest Box?

[Cyneswith]

It won't be an issue for a few months (chicks shipping on Monday), but I'm trying to figure out nest box issues.

Some sources say you need an angled "roof" for the boxes. Many pictures just have... boxes. If you don't have roost space above the nest boxes, do you NEED a sloped roof? If you just have boxes with no roof, have you had any issues?

 

[theuglychick]

The angled roof is to keep the chickens from roosting on top of the boxes and pooping in the bedding. Most nest boxes are boxes with a top, and chickens will be most inclined to sleep on the top. The angle is to keep them from getting comfortable up there and causing them to slide off. If you leave the nest boxes open, as in without a roof or roosts above them, you may not have to worry about them roosting on them. But I've had chickens, especially young ones, roost on the little divider walls between the nest boxes and poop in the bedding.

 

[Cntry1958]

If you have nesting boxes that you want to open from the outside we put a slight slant on it so that the rain runs off the lid of the nesting boxes and onto the ground. If the boxes are on the inside of the coop and you go into the coop every day to collect eggs no need for slant. You want your roosting bars above the nest boxes so they can sleep at night. As chickens like to be up off the ground. This is how we build ours and have no problem with it.