The Best Nest Box,us it worth it?

[Denise27]

I am thinking of getting one of these rollaway boxes, but it's pretty pricey. Do any of you have this next box, and if so would you recommend it?

 

[Chad Oftedal]

I'm sorry, I can't speak to that specific brand. I do have a HenGear rollout nest box. It looks quite similar in design: https://hengear.com/collections/products/products/rollout-nest-box-small

Last year, I was a bit disappointed. Not in the nest box itself, but the fact that only a few of my eight birds would use it. The rest had decided on the floor in the coop behind the trash can was an ideal spot. This meant that my expensive nest box was largely unused. However, after going through a molt this winter, and starting up their laying again in the last 5-6 weeks, all of them are using the nest box. Acting like that's how they have always done it. So, now that they are using it, it's been great! I like that all the eggs collect in the tray and it makes it nice for collection and safe keeping.

I'm definitely a fan of mine, but nest boxes are a very wide ranging area of discussion. It seems that almost anything with modification can work and are put to use. I'm not sure if you're trying to solve or address a specific issue by getting a roll out or not. in my case, I liked the setup, and it was one less thing for me to build since I was already building my entire coop. With all that said, you may find that you have the best setup possible and the birds will still find another place to lay until you can convince them otherwise.

Best of luck in whatever you decide. Hopefully someone with that brand can help and chime in specifically. Oh, and in my case, mine is big enough for multiple birds to lay at the same time, but in my limited experience with them all deciding to use it this spring, I'm still only seeing one actually in there at a time. I think it's truly up to your flock and their tolerance of each other as to whether you'd get multiple hens using it at the same time - provided the box you choose is big enough to accomodate. In my case, if a bird gets tired of waiting, I'll find the egg on the poop board rather than in the nest box. That's only been a couple of times so far this year, so they seem to work it out. I just mention this because depending on the size of your flock, and the willingness to share the box, you may have to consider multiple boxes if you have a bigger flock. Just something to consider.

 

[ColoradoPip]

I am building my own roll away boxes and using these for pads:
https://www.flemingoutdoors.com/kuhl-plastic-nest-pads.html