Separate coop and nesting boxes?

[farm316]

We have a rat who is stealing our eggs. I cannot seal the coop. I was thinking of putting nesting boxes on rat proof poles outside the coop. Has anyone done this? What do you think? There is not room enough on the coop to put such a nesting design, so it would have to be outside.

 

[neo71665]

As long as they are covered it will work. At one point and time my boxes were under my covered run and not inside my coop.

 

[farm316]

As long as they are covered it will work. At one point and time my boxes were under my covered run and not inside my coop.

To keep them dark? Was going to use 5 gallon paint buckets but I could make an awning to cover them

 

[neo71665]

Just covered to keep them out of the elements. My original nest boxes were milk crates. Had them mounted on the back wall of the covered run and actually about 6 feet from my coop door. I covered the back and top of them to keep any blowing rain off the nests. I used that style for about 3 years but they IMHO were a bit small for my breed and I wanted roll out boxes so I redesigned everything.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

We have a rat who is stealing our eggs.

I use artificial eggs (wooden or ceramic) and they do help detour theft.

Here is one (tree mounted) rodent proof design I saw presumably for wild birds so size would likely need adjusting..

Mounted on open poles etc.. if nice and open may just invite the crows and ravens to be the next egg thieves. Cover is required for hawk evasion and also to help regulate weather conditions.

Rats will also prey on live birds. Strongly suggest doing everything possible to keep populations down.

The rounded bucket is very much like the pic posted above.. it should work well with proper mounting. The followoing link describes why they used the "angle" at the front openeing..

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1255&context=hwi

 

[3KillerBs]

As long as they are covered it will work. At one point and time my boxes were under my covered run and not inside my coop.

This.

I don't have the link, but I once saw a coop for a subtropical climate that was nothing more than a covered roost in one part of the electric-fenced field and a set of covered nests mounted near the gate.

 

[neo71665]

My main setup (the all covered part) is 20x10 foot chainlink panels covered with hardware cloth and a tin roof. My coop is just an open front pole barn on one end of that. So my coop is open 24/7 to the covered run. I can open the side door to an uncovered extra 20x20 feet open run that is just 4 foot tall vinyl covered chicken wire.

Just saying that because while those milk crate boxes were outside of the coop the chickens still had access to them 24/7. Didn't think of that before. Might make a difference if you lock your chickens up in a coop and can't let them out one day.

 

[farm316]

Thanks for the help. Was planning on letting the chickens out every day, laying hopefully in the rat proof nest. Hopefully the rats will lose interest and move on.

 

[farm316]

So here is my quick and dirty. I used a plastic trash can, cut an angle out of it, then screwed it to a primed 2x2 plywood sheet screwed to a post in the coop. We'll see if they like it. I am concerned it might not be deep enough.

 

[3KillerBs]

So here is my quick and dirty. I used a plastic trash can, cut an angle out of it, then screwed it to a primed 2x2 plywood sheet screwed to a post in the coop. We'll see if they like it. I am concerned it might not be deep enough.

Does it have some kind of lip to keep the nesting material in?

Did you put some sort of fake egg into it? (I like golf balls because that way I can reach under a broody and separate real from fake by touch)