nesting boxes?

[Coop de Grille]

I just made these nest boxes yesterday. I found dishpans at the Dollar store and bought a rack at Walmart for $15. I screwed the dishpans to a block of wood that is under the shelf and wired the rack to the wall. I thought they might be a bit small but this morning when I opened the coop three of my older chicks were all crammed into one of them.

 

[enjoyin' my chickens]

Many years ago I had this idea to build a box 4'x18"x18" that I cut four holes in and placed doors on. I then placed my entertainment center on top. The box was used for toys for my grandchildren in the living room. Well When the chickens came along then I needed nest boxes and was short on cash so I had the brilliant idea that I could use this box for the ladies. I removed the top and front wall and sawed the sides at an angle for the roof to set on. I then screwed/nailed it to the outside wall of the coop. I then took my saw and cut the holes out for the ladies to get in. Replaced the top, after putting some rolled roofing across it, with a couple of hinges for access purposes. Put hay in it and a golf ball in each of the four nests. When the ladies started to lay they went right in and laid in the box. I found that they liked to kick the hay out which resulted in cracked eggs when they hit the wood bottom so I laid in a piece of carpet that I had removed from the living room. Replaced the hay and golf balls and voila no more cracked eggs.

 

[hemet dennis]

I make these

 

[7L Farm]

Here's my boxes;

 

[FarmingForFun]

I build my own nest boxes out of old cabinets, and things that I find on my farm. The nice thing about using old cabinets are that odds are there is already a way to hang them on a wall and you are reusing timber. I just built one the other day in about fifteen minutes out of an old wall mounting kitchen cabinet. I took the doors off, put in a divider to section it into four boxes, added two wooden face boards to hold the eggs in, and finished the job by adding roosting poles on the front. I say reduce, reuse, recycle it saves time, money, and trees

!

 

[janshavedice]

I built a nice 6 compartment nest. My hens started laying in a 5 gallon bucket that was hanging on the wall. I secured several to the walls with screws & filled them about half full of hay. Now they lay in the buckets & ignore the nest.

 

[zerwitt14]

Thanks or all the great advise and pics! It seems the girls will lay in about anything they can get into!!

 

[SethBraun]

Great ideas and wisdom. Exactly what I needed. Thanks to all that shared your experience.

 

[jakesbigpapa]

Here's what I put together. 16 and 14 " for the height. 12" for the depth. 32" across, partitioned in the middle.
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[Tdub4chiks]

I used an old kitchen bench.