Question About a Nesting Setup?

[CrisAnderson27]

Hello ladies and gentlemen!

I've got a quick question about a nesting setup I found on Amazon. It looks to be decent quality, and like it'll be easily reinforced. It's an interesting setup, with what looks to be a rollout box with a removable tray, and an area to capture the eggs that is protected from the chickens. As designed it faces inwards to the coop, but I'm actually intending to attach it to the OUTSIDE of my coop, so as not to impede on interior space.

Here's the link:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B081KXM...ature-pcomp-wm-6&ref=aa_pcomp_prc1_prdg2_eoh1
My idea is to flip it around, so the 'shelf' faces outside. It will be mounted to the exterior wall of my coop, shown in this video at the 0:03-0:06 second marks.

The coop wall itself is 2 layers of sheet metal, with roughly 1" of foam insulation. The nest box assembly would be appropriately reinforced and protected from the elements on the exterior. I'd be mounting it to the wall, with an appropriately sized hole cut through to allow access, and maintain privacy. The hole itself would be trimmed on the inside with 1x fascia material to protect the chickens from the metal and eliminate access to the foam insulation.

What do you all think? Seems it would be an easy method to collect eggs without entering the coop, and also to protect them from being damaged or eaten by the chickens themselves. I had been intending to build something similar out of wood...but this matches the coop better (once painted), and overall seems to have most of the amenities I'd intended to build anyhow...without hours of labor lol.

 

[aart]

Hmmm...might work ok.
I'd be a bit worried about rain/snow melt infiltration.
Not sure if frozen eggs might be a concern where you are.
You'd have to add a latch on egg trough lid to keep critters out,
and of course block off the 'normal' hen entrances.
Looks shaded there so they wouldn't turn into 'ovens'.
Just some thoughts.
Oh, and, noticed you need some ventilation in that shed...and not sure it's a good idea to raise CX with layers beyond a few weeks.

 

[DobieLover]

Oh, and, noticed you need some ventilation in that shed...

I was looking at the same thing with the lack of ventilation. That shed needs some permanent ventilation installed up high on both sides with baffles to divert driving rain and keep excessive winds from blowing too much inside the coop.

 

[CrisAnderson27]

Hmmm...might work ok.
I'd be a bit worried about rain/snow melt infiltration.
Not sure if frozen eggs might be a concern where you are.
You'd have to add a latch on egg trough lid to keep critters out,
and of course block off the 'normal' hen entrances.
Looks shaded there so they wouldn't turn into 'ovens'.
Just some thoughts.
Oh, and, noticed you need some ventilation in that shed...and not sure it's a good idea to raise CX with layers beyond a few weeks.

I was looking at the same thing with the lack of ventilation. That shed needs some permanent ventilation installed up high on both sides with baffles to divert driving rain and keep excessive winds from blowing too much inside the coop.

Thanks for the input! I currently have a 14x28 gable vent on the way, and will be building some vented windows down the road.

You can see the current status as of yesterday here:

And view the entire evolution here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-ish-to-raising-chickens.1351626/
The entire area of the coop and run is shady...there's a very, very large tulip poplar to the east, and the entire north and west sides are forested. We rarely reach temps above 85F, and 99% of our rain is vertical. That said, I do try to build to worst case scenario...so as I said, your input is absolutely appreciated!

I'm still looking over the nest boxes. I did a bare bones breakdown of what I'd need in 2x2 and other materials to frame one...and it's really not too bad. Less than $45 if I'm correct. Even doubled that's only a bit more than half. Add in the cost of upgrades to flip it around and make it safe, and I'm not sure at all. Going to head to my local building supply today for parts to build two more rabbit hutches, so I'll price it out exactly then.

Thank you again!