Those with dog house coops

[winstonsgrrrl]

How do you have your nesting boxes/roosts set up? My nesting boxes are on the floor of the coop, and I'm worried I won't be able to have a roost high enough. It just seems like there is not enough height for everything.

 

[fishshocker]

Here is a pic of how I did it, but I think it will depend on how tall your doghouse is. Mine is HUGE and I was able to have my nest box up high and on the outside of the doghouse. I was still able to put a roost higher than the nest box on the inside of the house.

hope this helps

 

[winstonsgrrrl]

Nice setup! Did you make your nest box from scratch? I've considered attaching a next box to the outside to create more interior room. Can you buy them already made like this? I've only seen the nest boxes for sale that you just set inside the coop.

 

[fishshocker]

I did make it from scratch, but I've seen premade nest boxes linked somewhere on this forum but it seems like they were rather pricey. I've got 2 boys that are going to help with the egg collection so i thought a shelf to put the 'egg basket' on would be a nice addition and I just built the nest box on that shelf using plywood. I used 2 angled shelf mounts from HDepot to mount the shelf and I left a little lip on the wall so that the nest material would stay in the nest box and hopefully not get pushed out. I'm still working out how to waterproof the nestbox roof where the hinge is, I think I'm going to reposition the hinge and see how that works.

I got the dog house from craigslist for $20 and the interior is 4'X4' square. My main concern was the nest box and ease of access. Thats why I went with the external option.

 

[mlm1965]

Here is mine, they are attached to the side and there are holes for them to get to them. It starts at 12 inches and tapers don to seven, the top is attached to the side with hinges.

I am sure someone on here would know better how to build them than I do. i had mine built by a friend that builds dog houses.