Nesting Box Idea...Is it a dumb idea?

[TheEggCollecter]

Not a bad idea. A little out of the box

(pun intended) If you do follow through with the idea i would love to see pictures.

 

[ashlieneevel]

Speedy2020: I have no idea how much it would cost. (I'm assuming you mean the coop and run) My guess is about 25 USD a sq ft to have it built by someone. It isn't something I am having built it at this time it is just one of many coops I have designed. I designed that yesterday for fun. I would love to have that coop though. designing coops and such is just a hobby for me. I live in Holland at the moment and our home owners association doesn't allow for chicken. I wan't to move back to the US with my husband in the next few years and buy some property where I can have chickens and have a coop built. I want my coop and other out building to all match my house and be built at the same time as the house. You never know what the future holds though so I hope this want turns into a reality only time will tell

 

[ashlieneevel]

I thought i went in deep. That is a crazy coop. It would cost that much I'd you do all the work yourself. I would say like 10k. It seems like our would be really nice if you had a decent sized flock.
I only have 30 birds so i don't have a huge coop. My girls spend most of there time outdoors and around the yard anyway even in winter. The only days they didn't was when it was below 10 degrees them they hung out in my run, I cover that I plastic sheeting so they get light but are out of the wind. They get mad if they can't dig in the compost pile or root around in the wood piles.

I wouldn't trust myself to build a big structure like that. The run part I could build but not that coop. I imagine it would cost around 25 sq ft for the coop structure. The coop space actually isnt really all that large. 14.5 x 7 which is 101.5 sq ft which at 4 sq ft a bird would be 25 birds though mind you there is a matching coop on the other side so that coop would be good for 50 birds for the coop portion the other areas are storage areas which would be nice for feed and water access or to use as a room for chicks before they join the flock.

 

[ashlieneevel]

Not a bad idea. A little out of the box

(pun intended) If you do follow through with the idea i would love to see pictures.

Thanks. it certainly is a bit more complicated than what most people have for nesting boxes that have the egg roll out option but i dont necessarily see more complicated as a bad thing if it means the chicken could potentially be more comfortable while in the nest box plus the ease of gathering and prevention of chickens eating the eggs. I am really good at shaping foam because of my theatrical prop making in my past. We would take seat cushion foam and carve it and shape it with an electric carving knife to make padding for hips and such so it would be no trouble for me to shape a contoured nest with an opening in the center. This nest box idea came ot me when i was watching youtube videos of people making egg roll out boxes. they worked great the ones the people had made the typical way but they didnt look like they would be all that comfortable for the chicken which is why i thought there must be another way to have the same functionality but be more comfortable

 

[TheEggCollecter]

Thanks. it certainly is a bit more complicated than what most people have for nesting boxes that have the egg roll out option but i dont necessarily see more complicated as a bad thing if it means the chicken could potentially be more comfortable while in the nest box plus the ease of gathering and prevention of chickens eating the eggs. I am really good at shaping foam because of my theatrical prop making in my past. We would take seat cushion foam and carve it and shape it with an electric carving knife to make padding for hips and such so it would be no trouble for me to shape a contoured nest with an opening in the center. This nest box idea came ot me when i was watching youtube videos of people making egg roll out boxes. they worked great the ones the people had made the typical way but they didnt look like they would be all that comfortable for the chicken which is why i thought there must be another way to have the same functionality but be more comfortable

Wow! Sounds great. Seat cushions and all haha. Lik I said would love to see pictures

 

[Wanttoknow]

I am hardly and expert but why not build one and put a camera on it and see how well it functions and make adjustments accordingly.
If it were covered in old fashioned vinyl it could be wiped down periodically. That would be manageable for small back yard flocks but probably not practical for large scale operations.

 

[ashlieneevel]

I am hardly and expert but why not build one and put a camera on it and see how well it functions and make adjustments accordingly.
If it were covered in old fashioned vinyl it could be wiped down periodically. That would be manageable for small back yard flocks but probably not practical for large scale operations.

Definitely a good idea wanttoknow. If I get to the point where I build one I will definitely look into adding a camera to monitor it when its introduced.

 

[Lynn Manes]

So I was thinking about nesting boxes and came up with what seems to me could be a good idea but perhaps not (ive tricked myself before lol) and I wanted to ask here and see what people thought. I like the idea of the nesting boxes that are fixed in such a way that the egg rolls out but those nesting boxes don't look too comfortable so I thought well what if instead of being a bare box that is tilted that instead you used a thick chair type of foam (covered in an easy clean material of course) but shape the foam like a funnel so that it ends with a hole in the center through which the egg could pass through then roll down a padded incline to the egg collection area. Is this a good idea or a dumb idea? If you need a more detailed explanation of what im talking about im sure i can elaborate

P.S.
If this is in the wrong section I apologize out of the choices on the main list this seemed like the best one.

Just curious, but why do you need a drop and roll box? Is it bc of the design of your coop? How do you keep the eggs from cracking if they roll atop each other? My nest boxes are set up 3 on each side of the enclosed part of the coop, but my coop is a walk in, so we built them flat with liftable tops (that part wasn't my idea and I still don't think the tops are necessary-just more to clean; however the birds love to sit up there even though they have roosts too. I put beds of straw inside mine and the chickens seem very content with them.I love the part about going inside every day, conversing with the flock, praising and thanking them for their gifts of eggs and gathering them. I raised Yorkie and Maltese dogs for 11 years and am quite fluent in dog language. Now guess I'll become fluent in chicken tooLol

 

[ToniTalley]

well thats definitely understandable. I'm still such a long ways off before i'll be able to have chickens so this was just a hypothetical anyway. I'm chicken obsessed without even having any chickens. I spend my free time designing chicken coops and nest boxes and reading about chickens and looking at pictures of them lol im a mad woman. I've been designing a whole chicken barn all day today LOL I know I wont be satisfied with just a couple chickens so I better plan for 100+ LOL

I think you should get a small coop with just a chicken or two, so you can see how it works out, and then you will have some experience in what you really would find useful in a larger coop with more chickens. We took in some chickens and made a coop, and now after 6 months and a winter, I see there are some design adjustments I would like to make to keep the coop cleaner with less work.

 

[sherrysusan]

I use a nesting box, works great, but apparently I must have a chicken that likes to break eggs open & eat em ... some days an egg or two is broke open and the content usually devoured. Their coop is sealed tight, so I know it's them, plus I've seen em eat an egg when I've accidentally dropped one. So nesting box is good, just have to get the eggs before they do! And they have plenty to eat