Nesting box height from coop floor

[Kathrynmrae]

hi there.. newbie here... how high should a nesting
Box be from the coop floor? And do the hens need a ramp to them?

 

[blackdog043]

18" off the floor is good, this way it does not take away from floor space, as they can walk underneath them. You can put a couple boards at the front of the nest box for them to hop onto. I fastened 2 x 4's under my nest box and put two 1 x 3's on top for them to hop onto.

 

[Spartan22]

18 to 24” high, I prefer slightly higher so it’s easy for me to gather eggs.

 

[blackdog043]

@Spartan22 , I'm guessing you don't have a problem with your chickens kicking out the shavings in the nest boxes, since you don't have a front board?

 

[Spartan22]

@Spartan22 , I'm guessing you don't have a problem with your chickens kicking out the shavings in the nest boxes, since you don't have a front board?

O they do sometimes, it depends on the fuzziness of a hen. The nesting floor is actually 2” recessed down and the perching ledge helps somehow as a stopper with almost 4” deep of shavings. Those divas only uses 3 of those boxes. Out of 14 nesting groups only 9 get the eggs, one hen use the floor corner constantly.

 

[lazy gardener]

I love your creative use of buckets and drawers, also the use of the tree branches. Are those buckets screwed together? And how often do those buckets get used in comparison to your first set of boxes?

 

[lazy gardener]

Nice pics of chicks integrating, Black Dawg.

 

[Spartan22]

I love your creative use of buckets and drawers, also the use of the tree branches. Are those buckets screwed together? And how often do those buckets get used in comparison to your first set of boxes?

Thanks, the 14” planter pots were actually my first nesting boxes, they are screwed on the walls and wired together. The two bottom flower pots are occasionally use, the drawers are used a lot (recycled from my mother in laws) Now I also have a replica of those pots in their run, the layers use them often except winter months.

 

[jthornton]

I put mine at a comfortable height for me to gather the clean eggs out of the back of my Roll Out Nest Box Mk3. The link is to my Article with full plans.



JT