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

[ashlieneevel]

The one you posted is awesome. You could sell your designs if you could make construction directions/blueprints.

thank you I wish I was so skilled to be able to actually create blueprints but unfortunately im limited to just making things look pretty on a computer lol

 

[Lynn Manes]

thank you I wish I was so skilled to be able to actually create blueprints but unfortunately im limited to just making things look pretty on a computer lol

I think a person who can build stuff could look at your drawings and easily be able to follow them to build one of your designs.We do that here all the time without blueprints.

 

[ashlieneevel]

I think a person who can build stuff could look at your drawings and easily be able to follow them to build one of your designs.We do that here all the time without blueprints.

I can calculate how much wood and hardware cloth would be required to frame/build most things I design except the roof parts but to actually tell someone how to assemble it and secure everything PROPERLY is out of my wheel house but I agree I think someone with construction experience could look at it and figure out what you need to do. They aren't people mansions or skyscrapers after all lol. I'd get the biggest kick out of seeing something I designed brought into reality. The coop and run i'm designing today ( I do one nearly every day) is very basic and is sized for up to 14 chickens. It doesn't have any bells or whistles, no special storage, electricity, or running water. It has a total footprint of 16x16 ft with a complete wrap around run around the coop so chickens are free to move out of the path or into the path of the sun as they please. It also has a shed style roof at a pitch of 3 in 12. The interior dimension of the coop itself (not the run) is 7x7 and has 4 nest boxes that sit on the outside of the coop wall with a reach in lid on top. It has 3 2x4s running from side wall to side wall spaced 18 inches apart from each other and the walls. First 2x4 is mounted at 2 ft from the ground the second at 4ft and the the third at 6ft which allots 1 ft of roost space per bird on the 4ft and 6ft elevation 2x4s. The 2x4 with the 2 ft elevation provides access to those roosts but also a position to enter and depart from the nest boxes. There is a 2x2 chicken door (permanently open) 8 inches off the ground on the east and west side. There is also a 6ft double door in the back on the north side to allow for coop cleaning. I really don't know how well my designs would do for northern climates because I always have Florida in mind (where i'm from originally) when I design them. This coop in particular would be the smallest coop i'd ever design for that amount of chickens. I think the more space the better for them but this coop fits into the "acceptable" sq ft per chicken numbers for both coop and run. The coop comes in at 3.5 sq ft per bird at 14 birds and the run comes in at like 11.25 sq ft per bird at 14 birds based upon the interior space on this framing configuration on the program.

 

[ToniTalley]

Lol, you need a separate thread to post your designs so we can look at them!

 

[Blooie]

I hate to toss a little more cold water on this idea, because roll out nest boxes are fantastic! I have them. But you specifically said you wanted to use the foam with a hole in it, with a funnel toward that middle where the eggs would roll down, and that you were concerned about the hens' comfort. If that opening is large enough for an egg, then it's large enough to trap a hen's leg. If her leg slips out from under her, she may well panic rather than simply pulling her leg out. For all she knows some critter has just grabbed her by the foot and she'll try her best to escape. So now instead of being comfortable she's injured, and will probably not go back to that nesting box when she recovers.

By the way, my girls are perfectly comfortable in their nesting boxes, which are slightly (and I emphasize slightly) tilted back. I don't have the ones where the eggs roll out the back, then roll back forward toward the front. Mine simply roll out of the nest into the exterior collection access. During the winter I closed the opening off and just gathered the eggs the old fashioned way.

And yes, if you have one egg already in there that you didn't get a chance to pick up yet, and another eggs plops out of the vending machine on top of it, you're going to have 2 cracked eggs. I hate telling folks who have put a lot of thought into a good idea that there are reasons why it probably won't work, doggone it! But I'd rather do that than see someone with a great imagination go through all the work expense of building something just to to find out that it's just not practical. I'm sorry.

 

[ashlieneevel]

I hate to toss a little more cold water on this idea, because roll out nest boxes are fantastic! I have them. But you specifically said you wanted to use the foam with a hole in it, with a funnel toward that middle where the eggs would roll down, and that you were concerned about the hens' comfort. If that opening is large enough for an egg, then it's large enough to trap a hen's leg. If her leg slips out from under her, she may well panic rather than simply pulling her leg out. For all she knows some critter has just grabbed her by the foot and she'll try her best to escape. So now instead of being comfortable she's injured, and will probably not go back to that nesting box when she recovers.

By the way, my girls are perfectly comfortable in their nesting boxes, which are slightly (and I emphasize slightly) tilted back. I don't have the ones where the eggs roll out the back, then roll back forward toward the front. Mine simply roll out of the nest into the exterior collection access. During the winter I closed the opening off and just gathered the eggs the old fashioned way.

And yes, if you have one egg already in there that you didn't get a chance to pick up yet, and another eggs plops out of the vending machine on top of it, you're going to have 2 cracked eggs. I hate telling folks who have put a lot of thought into a good idea that there are reasons why it probably won't work, doggone it! But I'd rather do that than see someone with a great imagination go through all the work expense of building something just to to find out that it's just not practical. I'm sorry.

You shouldn't feel bad I asked for the opinions and what you brought up is something that I had considered might be an issue as well. I was concerned that something like that might happen but was hoping that since it would only be a 4 inch drop it might now be an issue but i definitely see how it could be. Some ideas are good ones and some are bad lol the important thing is to have ideas eventually one will be a winner lol

 

[ashlieneevel]

Lol, you need a separate thread to post your designs so we can look at them!

If you think others might enjoy seeing them also then maybe I'll do that then. God knows my husband is tired of looking at them lol. I show him something new all the time lol im sure he's sick of it. I'll have to look where on the forum it would be appropriate to post that sort of thread

 

[ToniTalley]

If you think others might enjoy seeing them also then maybe I'll do that then. God knows my husband is tired of looking at them lol. I show him something new all the time lol im sure he's sick of it. I'll have to look where on the forum it would be appropriate to post that sort of thread

As long as it's ok with the sites admin, why not? Others might like to contribute their own designs, although I doubt many would have the "portfolio" that you do, lol.

 

[ashlieneevel]

As long as it's ok with the sites admin, why not? Others might like to contribute their own designs, although I doubt many would have the "portfolio" that you do, lol.

I think it could go safely in the Hobbies section because its my hobby but like you said ask a site admin to know for sure

 

[KellyBChickens]

EXACTLY!! Why would rolling eggs be a good thing. Sounds like a lot of extra work? I have two nesting boxes and 9 hens so far, and they ALL go into the two just happy as can be. I open the door in the afternoon and there are 9 eggs. Perfect. And isn't there someone who might gather your eggs while your gone? The reward being fresh eggs??
Cool idea yes, but too risky.