Nesting box ideas, please. More build out done, always more to go...

[jssbcause]

Well i finally got around to putting up some decent fence and a run up to their window/door to the yard.

My next dilemma is nesting boxes... Any Low cost ideas for New Hampshires and what seems to be an Easter Egger? They are 6 weeks today, 24 total (20 hens, 4 Roo's we think)

My question or thoughts are on nesting boxes. Maybe 5 gallon buckets? Are they too small? How many, we were thinking 4-5 total nesting boxes.


FYI, i am going to put up some roosts with trees we fell on the land. Wide ladder style is the thought. (pics will follow when we get to it, probably in the new year???)

Thanks for the thoughts and ideas!

 

[DPC poultry]

milk crate with 2 by 4 in the opening

 

[jssbcause]

Quote:
that's an idea i had not though of. thanks! They should stack well, too.

 

[gryeyes]

I saw this in another post/coop display and saved the photo because I think it's so clever and I want to do the same thing, someday.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

We use old milk crates sometimes too on new coops until I can build proper nest boxes, but we just hang them on the wall with the opening facing up and put in a handfull of hay or shavings. No boards or anything. Works great for all but the giant breeds.

I know everything in all the books say and most people on here use them sideways with some kind of barrier to keep the eggs from rolling out.
I guess our chickens didn't read the book.

 

[oldchickenlady]

I tried the 5 gallon buckets...no go, the girls didn't like them. Then I tried milk crates...same thing, girls wouldn't use them. Their favorite place to lay was behind the 5 gallon buckets. That would have been ok, except they were under the poop board and very hard to reach back into the corner. I had put one of those folding camping chairs in the coop, for me to sit in while hanging out with the girls. They started laying in that. Hmmm, ok so I put another chair in just like that one...they never used it!

Then they started laying on top of a bag of shavings that I had sitting in there for putting on the poop board. Then I tried a couple of plastic dish pans attached to the wall so they wont flip over when the girls step onto the sides to get inside. They lay in the bag of shavings and in the plastic dish pans. I keep saying I am going to make some wooden ones to hang on the wall, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. So...good luck with whatever nest box design you decide to use...it has been a case of trial and error for me!