Nesting boxes - interior access or exterior access?

[sonoma44]

I have noticed most designs I have seen online lately have nesting boxes accessible from the outside of the hen house. Years ago, I recall them being accessed from the inside of the hen house. I just wanted to get some feedback on this design trend.

Am I wrong thinking that the perceived popularity to the exterior access nesting box is due to:
keeping coop structure size down,
removing need to walk through coop or run to get eggs,
maximizing ventilation to avoid dust,
maximizing interior space for the birds to roost or nest,

However, you still need to store bedding, cleaning supplies, feed, tools/implements, spare parts, etc. correct?

My thought was a hen house with two rooms if you will; one for the birds and the other for the humans. Both would have good adjustable cross ventilation. The human side would store clean supplies, clean bedding, and feed along with hatches to retrieve the eggs, similar to exterior access coops that appear to be popular. There would be a door to outside, so you don't have to walk through the pen or the coop to get to this room. Where space in yard, or size of coop, is not an issue, wouldn't this be preferable?

What are your thoughts on the exterior access nest box trend, why its popular?
What are you thoughts on my hen house design?

Thank you

 

[Michael OShay]

You are right about the reasons that exterior nesting boxes are popular, especially not having to walk through the coop to run or get eggs. I personally think that whenever the eggs are gathered the interior of the coop should be checked so I've never bothered to build an exterior nest box. I usually use tunnel nests anyway. I like your idea of two rooms if you don't mind the extra expense for building materials. If you do decide to build an exterior nest, just be sure that it's well secured against predators and that the access door is built so that rain water will not flow from the coop roof into the nest box.

 

[donrae]

Most of the exterior boxes I've seen are on coops that don't fit a human

. The little elevated coops, there's not much other way to get eggs except an exterior box. I've been blessed to always have walk-in coops and have my boxes inside. My current set up doesn't have any built in boxes, I just put milk crates and rubbermaid totes in the favored spots

 

[sonoma44]

Thank you,Michael and Donna, for your response. Michael, could you describe the tunnel nest you reference?