Nest boxes

[UrbanEgg]

I am redoing a part of my coop to accomodate more birds. I currently have the nest boxes inside the coop and am now building a small extention to where the nest boxes will be sitting on the outside of the coop like a windowbox--got the idea by browsing coop designs here. like this one: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=6900 I'm going to make a hinged door to access the eggs easily. My question is...would it be ok to make the top door from plexiglass? Or would the chickens not use the nest boxes because they are not "closed in" looking? I was going to do this for 2 reasons--1 let more light into the coop and 2 because I don't have the room to build a steep angle on the addition and I don't want the chickens roosting on top the egg door--and I thought plexiglass would be too slippery even with a small slope. For reference, my coop is similar in size to the one I linked to. It has a small door and ramp on one long end and double doors to access the coop for cleaning/food/water in the middle--no windows. So I usually leave all the doors open during the day and lock them all in at night. But with the addition, I didn't want to cut into the current coop so I'm building removable nest boxes that will essentially hang to cover the opening to the double doors--removal for cleaning and feeding/watering. It will also have plexiglass windows above the boxes since the double doors that usually let in light will now be covered. Thanks for any advice.

--Here's a pic of my coop--so the hanging nest box will cover that double door opening (doors removed) with 2 small plexiglass windows in the upper part of the opening. All part of one removable thing. That way my chickens will have more floor space to roam in with the boxes moved out.

 

[UrbanEgg]

No thoughts on plexiglass egg door vs wood? I'd love to finish this today

 

[stargazer1974]

I would think that the hen wouldn't feel safe if the door was see-through. I would go with wood, but still put the plexiglass on the wall part above the nest boxes to let in the natural light. You might even consider hinging the plexiglass window and putting hardware cloth behind it so you can open it on nice nights to allow for more ventilation. Especially if you're adding in more birds.

 

[UrbanEgg]

Oh--thanks! I like that idea of hardward cloth with plexiglass to cover them. We live in pretty mild weather (pac northwest) 40-50's all winter with very little time below that and usually no snow and summers don't get much above 80 on hot days. We don't have any vents currently in the coop because I would open all the doors every day. We were given this coop so we just have kinda run with what we had. And Thanks for the thoughts on the see through door. I'll make it all solid with windows above.