Show us your nest boxes! Ingenous design post it here!

[tigger19687]

 

[aart]

Just wondering if I need to make these nesting boxes feel more private by maybe adding a slat of wood across the front at the bottom, or adding curtains across the top... Any suggestions?View attachment 1146258

Welcome to BYC!
Wow, how many birds do you have?!
You only need 1 nest per every 3-5 birds.
I'm betting you could remove/block off that whole top row.
The tubs will keep the bedding and eggs in,
but are those tubs pinned down somehow,
so when the bird steps on the front of the tub it doesn't tip?

 

[stevedal]

We don't have any birds yet, I will probably velcro the bottom of the tubs to the coop so I can still take them out to clean as needed, but keep them from tipping over. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[SuziQ18]

Hey guys and gals! Myself and my daughter are going to be joining the back yard chicken movement in the spring! Would it be possible to modify an old bookshelf that is 9 inches wide and 32 inches long? We are starting with Easter Eggers

Chickens will nest in pretty much anything that is secure....Go for it!!

 

[Lostchicken]

Working on building a larger chicken coop with nesting boxes. Wife is making curtains. Will more pics when we finish.

 

[squadleader]

I hate to be the one to say anything, because you've done a great job, and have put in a lot of work into your boxes, but there's a simpler, more efficient nesting box if you're interested, with a lot of benefits. There's nothing wrong with what you've built, it'll work fine of course, but you may be interested in this.

It's a community rollout nesting box. My box is 24 inches wide, and is rated for use for up to 20 hens, I use it with 12 hens.

As you can see here, 2 or 3 hens can use it at once.

No poopy straw or eggs anymore, the eggs roll out the back of the box, into the collection box, clean as a whistle. It also prevents egg eating from starting in a flock because the plastic mat is on a slanted wire floor, so the eggs immediately roll out from under the hen, and out of her reach, the moment she drops it.

The mat and wire floor let debris filter through the mat and wire floor, down to the ground. Every couple of weeks I pull out the mat, shake it, and put back.

Here are the eggs ready for collection.

I got mine from HenGear.com for $119, but if you're handy, and it looks like you are, you can build one yourself. Hengear.com has different sizes available for larger or smaller flocks.

I also liked this box is reversible, the eggs can roll out beneath the perch in the front, or like mine, out the back, and through the wall, so you can collect the eggs without walking into the coop. There've been times I was in a hurry and didn't have the right shoes on to go in the coop, so that can be a handy benefit too.

Everything is in the box when you get it, to assemble the box either way, front or rear rollout, your choice.

Here's a photo of the front rollout.

The big benefits are, number one CLEAN EGGS, no more poopy eggs!!, I used to hate washing the protective bloom off my eggs because the eggs were poopy, the tremendous space savings of having just one box, the simplicity of only having one box to check, the savings of not building multiple boxes, no more poopy straw to add and remove from multiple boxes, and finally, the ease of collection, including through the wall collection if you'd like that.

This method has so many benefits, I can't imagine anyone using the old nest box system once they discover this system.

If you'd like to build one, search on rollout or roll out nest boxes, there's several threads on how to build one if you'd rather do that, than buy one.

Good luck with your project, that's a nice coop you have!

 

[bmanty]

They finally started laying again and I have found an egg or two in a few of the buckets so far. I think they have made their favorite the top one with the board as that is where I found three eggs today and have been catching them nesting. I will see if I can get some pics of them nesting.

 

[jthornton]

I love my community roll out nest box with clean eggs and no mess. Mine is 36" wide and I've had up to 4 in there at once with no problems.



JT

 

[Lostchicken]

I am going to build a room for my incubator in one section and I can get the eggs from the nesting boxes and put them straight into the incubator. I have the coop section off so I have a 4x8 section for my use and the hens have a 8x8 section for them. I will have one roo and 7 hens in this section for now. Silver Laced Wyandotte's only in this section.

 

[Jonm6825]

Did you build your roll out nest box