Open vs Enclosed Nest Box

[jessica66]

Hello,
First time (soon to be) chicken keeper here. I am working on constructing my coop. It is a semi mobile, hoop coop style. I made a raised 3x4 platform for chickens that will contain roosts and nests for night time safety.

Because we are in Florida and it is HOT, my intention was to have only 1 side have a wall ( a door to be exact) and the other 3 will be chicken wire for ventilation. My issue is nest boxes. I do not really want to do external boxes but they may be best option. My other thought was to do a milk crate attached to wall but I am concerned it will be too open and chickens will be afraid to lay in it.

Thoughts? Any easy plans for an external nest box I could add?

 

[cavemanrich]

Post a pix of what you have, and we will try to make suggestions. I would suggest for the beginning, to make a nest in the corner of the platform, and see how the chickens like/favor it.
A more important suggestion,,,,,,,, is the chicken wire you intend to use. It is not sufficiently safe from predators. I suggest 2 x 4 welded wire with 1/2 inch hardware cloth also attached to lower 2 feet of wire. This way raccoons are not able to reach thru the 2 x 4 openings and grab your chickens. Also place the hardware cloth where the welded wire may be near the roost area. Make sure that there in no area where a raccoon can reach and grab a chicken when sleeping.
If you used chicken wire only,,,,,,,,, in no time a raccoon can chew thru that effortlessly. You being in Florida,,, also need to be concerned about snakes. The 2 feet hardware cloth on bottom should keep most of them out.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and

 

[Shadrach]

Hello,
First time (soon to be) chicken keeper here. I am working on constructing my coop. It is a semi mobile, hoop coop style. I made a raised 3x4 platform for chickens that will contain roosts and nests for night time safety.

Because we are in Florida and it is HOT, my intention was to have only 1 side have a wall ( a door to be exact) and the other 3 will be chicken wire for ventilation. My issue is nest boxes. I do not really want to do external boxes but they may be best option. My other thought was to do a milk crate attached to wall but I am concerned it will be too open and chickens will be afraid to lay in it.

Thoughts? Any easy plans for an external nest box I could add?

A chickens natural instinct is to make nests on the ground, where the eggs will receive some daylight, in what the chicken decides is a reasonable trade off between security, access to food and water, ease of escape and camouflage.
I can't think of any good reason why you shouldn't construct a nest box out of half inch square hardware cloth. One problem you may encounter is how to keep any bedding material in the nest box. A rubber mat or a pre made nesting pad (you can find them on the Internet) may be a good solution and provide some grip for the hens feet which is a problem often overlooked with hard based nesting boxes. In the event that your hens do prefer more privacy the option of draping some cloth over the frame is there.

 

[jthornton]

You should add your location in your profile, it can make a difference in answers.

As others have said chicken wire is only good to keep chickens in and will not keep predators out.

Black snakes can climb trees to get to bird nests, seen it myself.

What you cover your hoop coop with will depend on what predators your trying to keep out. If your making the typical hoop coop with a wood frame bottom and cattle panels it will be around 8' wide and 6' tall in the middle. So lots of room for roost and nest box. The nest box needs to be large enough for a mature hen to stand up in as they stand up when they lay an egg. The nest box should be below the roost so they don't try and sleep/poop in there. If you use the conventional bedding (straw, chips etc) in the nest box put a 4" or so board on the opening to help keep it in.

Dunno if it meets your criteria for easy but my roll out nest box plans are here.

JT

 

[jessica66]

Thank you everyone! I am only using 1/2 inch hardware wire for all the open areas of coop.

 

[jessica66]

This is the coop so far. The top platform will be closed at night. The run area will have pvc hoop with hardware wire.

For 'inside' area, the wire floor section will be roosting area. I was playing with set ups and I do not like the present roosting bars so I will make a ladder type set up. The two side walls will be hardware wire. The front will be hardware wire with a door to run. Back wall will be plywood door that opens so I can access whole area. My thought was to place nest area and food/ water on the white floor area.

Thoughts?

 

[jthornton]

I don't think your going to be happy trying to make a hoop coop with PVC pipe. Big enough to support something it's too stiff... I built sorta one when I first started with chickens and never liked it. IMHO it's much easier to use cattle panels to make a hoop coop or run.

My thoughts are just make the whole thing a hoop coop with cattle panels and make so you don't have to crawl on your hands and knees to work/clean stuff. Enclose the back wall and some of the sides to keep rain out and a cover on top to help with the sun if it is not going to be in a shady spot.

JT