I just finished up my new nest boxes. I made them super sized since I have a Jersey Giant girl and plan on adding more BIG girls later on. Plus, I suppose my little buttercups and leghorns could probably double up if they wanted to.
They are approx 16" wide and 16" deep, but 17-18" tall. This was worked out so they would fit right under a window in my coop. I plan on adding the linoleum squares to the top so they can sit and look out the window. And so my 16"x48" footprint is not lost in "coop space".
It was relatively easy, used a single piece of plywood, two of the 1x4 8 foot boards, and a couple of 'grade stakes'. I actually got the wrong size, should have gotten 24" instead of 18" grade stakes, as they are meant to stick out and have a small board across for a landing spot for the chickens to go in the nesting box. Still need to fix that.
Originally I was going to have exterior nesting boxes, but decided against it for now. I do plan on adding a door at least, so I can collect eggs from the outside without having to go in the big coop door (even though I usually do anyways).
They cost less than $20 to build and it took less than 2 hours for me to build them alone, even when my power tools started going dead on me. If you had a second set of hands, you could probably build the unit in half the time as it was a struggle to piece it together with just my hands and clamps.
If I had only small breeds I could have easily made a 12 nesting box square unit here, although I may have needed an extra sheet of plywood. As this is an 8x8 coop, planning on having 14 hens currently (and 2-3 roosters, until I build a separate breeder pen), I think this is the perfect amount.
Suprisingly easy project....
They are approx 16" wide and 16" deep, but 17-18" tall. This was worked out so they would fit right under a window in my coop. I plan on adding the linoleum squares to the top so they can sit and look out the window. And so my 16"x48" footprint is not lost in "coop space".
It was relatively easy, used a single piece of plywood, two of the 1x4 8 foot boards, and a couple of 'grade stakes'. I actually got the wrong size, should have gotten 24" instead of 18" grade stakes, as they are meant to stick out and have a small board across for a landing spot for the chickens to go in the nesting box. Still need to fix that.
Originally I was going to have exterior nesting boxes, but decided against it for now. I do plan on adding a door at least, so I can collect eggs from the outside without having to go in the big coop door (even though I usually do anyways).
They cost less than $20 to build and it took less than 2 hours for me to build them alone, even when my power tools started going dead on me. If you had a second set of hands, you could probably build the unit in half the time as it was a struggle to piece it together with just my hands and clamps.
If I had only small breeds I could have easily made a 12 nesting box square unit here, although I may have needed an extra sheet of plywood. As this is an 8x8 coop, planning on having 14 hens currently (and 2-3 roosters, until I build a separate breeder pen), I think this is the perfect amount.
Suprisingly easy project....
