Small coop: give space to nesting box or coop floor?

[Krugerrand]

Hello.

I'm building a small coop based on plans I bought on etsy. The photo below is from the Etsy page and shows the piece that I'm considering moving (orange arrow). If I keep it where it is, the floor space of the nesting boxes will each be about 15 1/2" x 16". If I move that piece to where the blue lines are showing, it will shrink the nesting boxes to 10 1/2" x 16".

While, the 10 1/2" measurement is a bit on the smaller side, it would free up 5" of floor space in the rest of the coop.

Consider also that my chicks are on the smaller side of medium: Golden Comet, Easter Egger, & (obviously small) Silkie.

What do you think? give the space to the coop or the nesting box?

 

[Chuckie chicken]

If you had a bottom plate on that wall, say a piece on either side of the centre stud, or cut the centre stud 1½" shorter and run a 2x4 all the way across, then you could sheet the nest box side with ¼" plywood and gain the 5" on the coop side, and only lose ¼" on the nest box side.

 

[All4Eggz]

I would give space for the nesting box. The chickens love their dark, corner of privacy for laying eggs.

 

[Krugerrand]

If you had a bottom plate on that wall, say a piece on either side of the centre stud, or cut the centre stud 1½" shorter and run a 2x4 all the way across, then you could sheet the nest box side with ¼" plywood and gain the 5" on the coop side, and only lose ¼" on the nest box side.

Well, I ended up going with shortening the nesting box to 10.5". The reason is, I have a lot of height. So, I can 'fill in' the bottom 3.5" if I need to and raise the nesting box floor to the height of the 2x4. Then, it'll be the full 12".