nest boxes

[7L Farm]

Quote:
Lisa, I can give you my dimension that I used. My nesting boxes are almost 3 feet off the ground , the boards that separate the individual boxes are about 13 inches. I have pine shavings on the bottom & hay on top of the pine shavings. I asked on this forum about putting a top over the boxes . Ddawn whom suggested there fine leave them be.I hope this doesn't jinks me but so far all my chicks have layed in the boxes & they are not pooping in them. But today is a new day. I also have fake eggs in 4 of the boxes.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

It's 48 inches by 48 inches. They are all 16 inches high. Bottom row is 24x16, top is 12x16.

 

[1crazychick]

These all look so GREAT!!! I just had someone give me a set of nesting boxes that are very OLD!!
They came out of an old falling barn.
They are metal, but they have very small, round openings. I think I am going to swap them out and see if maybe it will keep them from roosting. But all of these look so nice neat. These will be a little worse for wear but if they do the job I will be happy. And I am putting up a shelf above them today! Sounds easy enough.. I will send photos when I am closer to finish on the new coop!!
Thanks everyone for the ideas.

 

[zazouse]

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
A shot of mine, just to show a variety. I made mine so I can lock them in the nest box and give them access to the middle for food and water if I wish, say for a broody. That has come in handy for other reasons.

One important thing to me about nesting boxes is to have a good way to keep them from scratching out the nesting material, fake eggs or real eggs. I recommend at least a 5" lip on the bottom. I had to raise these.

Chickens usually like to roost on the highest thing available. Make sure your roosts are higher than anything else you don't want them roosting on. Also give them plenty of room to roost. I've had a few Matilda the Huns (always a hen, never been a rooster for me) that take great joy in making life miserable for the less dominant on the roost. I've had hens quit roosting in the middle of their buddies and go roost in the far corner where a bunch of younger ones being integrated want to roost, just so they can be bullies. That's why I say that they need room to roost. They need to be able to get away from the bullies.

 

[ZombieChickens]

 

[rungirl]

Here's mine...

 

[1crazychick]

Classic!!! I love the yellow buckets!! Great idea for separation boxes....

 

[superchemicalgirl]

My chickens HATED the tidy cats buckets. With a passion. Just giving another experience... They really enjoy cardboard boxes with "privacy screens" if you're looking for something cheap, easy and disposable.

They actually preferred the second one of these that I made... no picture, but the handkerchief goes almost all the way across. In fact, I haven't taken it out of the coop because they fight over it. I just put it under the real nest boxes.

 

[sydney13]

i have some pics on my page that are worth looking at. i put the roost over the nest boxes and linoleum under the roost and in the nest boxes for easy cleaning.