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

[Rvl Rookie]

I love the variety of use what you have, or can find here.

 

[AlienChick]

We moved to a new house and acquired an old bookcase the previous owners had left behind.
I thought it would make an excellent nest box(es).
I also put a planter on the floor for those hens who want to lay low.

 

[TexasLisa]

Good morning! I have a question for those who have the metal file cabinets and are making nests out of them. Wouldn't the metal get hot during the summer months? I live in S. Texas and we are in the 100+ temps. Just curious.

Thanks,

Lisa

 

[shelbear81]

What a good Idea, I have some old bookcases lying around that I can use.... hhhhmmmm

We moved to a new house and acquired an old bookcase the previous owners had left behind.
I thought it would make an excellent nest box(es).
I also put a planter on the floor for those hens who want to lay low.

 

[andycowboy]

A local novelty store was getting rid of some t-shirt displays, so I scarfed one up. It's actually twice the height you see, but basically two cubes bolted together, so I separated them - friend of mine is going to use one of them. Placed in a corner, there are 4 nesting boxes - centered on the wall, I get 6 boxes - placed in the center of the floor, I could have 8. Will be putting 12-24 birds in this coop, so plenty of boxes!

4 of the soon-to-be nesting boxes: 2 on the other side - there are also 2 against the coop's
rear wall - easy expansion if needed...just move the
display to the center of the coop floor!

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The wood strip you see to the right of each box makes a perfect hay holder on the front of the nesting box:

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Add a roost in front of each box...done!

A shot from farther away...

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Now, there's a little humor attached to this repurposing...as mentioned above, this display was actually twice the height shown. You can see the corner of the top cube on the right side of the bottom picture. The original display spun in order to display a total of 16 different t-shirts. I removed the turntable under the lower cube and screwed the cube onto the base. But I thought it might have been funny to leave the turntable attached. Can't you see a 5-6 pound hen flying into one of the boxes, and setting the whole thing spinning?

 

[tallgrass]

Good morning! I have a question for those who have the metal file cabinets and are making nests out of them. Wouldn't the metal get hot during the summer months? I live in S. Texas and we are in the 100+ temps. Just curious.

Thanks,

Lisa

I am in MO and it got to 106 degrees last week. I am just building my coop and pen so i cannot say so for sure but i plan on my being in a shaded area without explaining to much until later. Depending on the coop and nest location; even a covering of anything(plywood, foam sheeting) will dissapate the heat.i let you know more after i get mine going.

 

[AlienChick]

Yes, definitely be careful when using the metal as it does get HOT.
If you have a cool barn that you will be using, then the metal won't get too hot.
Inside a chicken coop gets very warm during the summer.

 

[Arkansas81]

i have about 15-17 hens. only about 10 of them are getting ready to lay...just wondering how many nesting boxes should i need once they all are laying. first bunch should start laying in a few weeks, the others probably oct.

i was thinking on making them out of plastic dish pans...drill some holes in the bottom for moisture to drain, then use pine shavings for bedding.

 

[lizanne]

My hens haven't started laying yet, but our nesting boxes are attached to the side of the coop, and have a plywood cover that we can lift up to get the eggs (for if they ever start laying- lol)
How many nesting boxes do you need? We have 10 hens, and four nesting boxes, should we add more?

 

[Rvl Rookie]

That should be plenty. Don't be surprised if they only use two of them.