Top or front opening exterior nest box?

[LJF]

I'm working on planning my coop. I want exterior nest boxes but don't know if it's better to be top or front opening. I'm thinking I want top opening, but am concerned about rain leaking at the hinge. Thoughts?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Top opening is more prone to leakage from rain as you noted, so front opening with some overhang would be a better choice.

 

[Sally PB]

Love my front opening nest boxes.

 

[aart]

Top opening is more prone to leakage from rain as you noted, so front opening with some overhang would be a better choice.

Ditto Dat!

Slanted top with good overhangs to shed rain away from nest proper.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My thoughts are that I'd want to be able to see in the nest when I open the door before I stick my hand in there. How high is that nest and how tall are the people gathering the eggs? With my walk-in coop I've found snakes among other things inside so I can imagine blindly reaching into a nest and touching a snake. Or that time a possum was in the coop.

My priority would be to come up with a location convenient to me, then come up with a way to make it happen.

 

[Yakisugi Coop]

Front opening. Doesn’t leak and easier to clean out

 

[LJF]

My thoughts are that I'd want to be able to see in the nest when I open the door before I stick my hand in there. How high is that nest and how tall are the people gathering the eggs? With my walk-in coop I've found snakes among other things inside so I can imagine blindly reaching into a nest and touching a snake. Or that time a possum was in the coop.

My priority would be to come up with a location convenient to me, then come up with a way to make it happen.

I'm thinking the same about being able to see in plus not having to bend over to collect the eggs. I'm 70, 5'3" and some things are not getting any easier to do. I'm going to try a bike tire inner tube over the hinge and possibly add an awning.

 

[perkolator]

Ours are front-opening internal boxes, a set inside and a set underneath the coop accessible from the run only. After a few years the one located underneath the coop became the preferred choice by the chickens and has shown that location is much easier to use by kids and vertically challenged adults. Opens all the way for seeing what’s inside and everything comes out for easy clean out. I did kinda locate it there thinking of my kids accessing them and don’t mind having to bend over a bit to when I’m using them

Our old coop with external boxes leaked a lot at the hinge area and we’re too high off the ground for our kids to access, about 4ft. My in-laws gave us their small/intimate coop they stopped using - it has external boxes with top openings that don’t leak because the design has the roofline come down close and overhangs the hinges enough to keep it dry. Those ones seem a good height actually, being about 3ft off the ground to the outer/lower top edge of the boxes

 

[texsuze]

I'll be the lone ranger here, with top-opening exterior nest box compartment (holds two nest boxes; small rubbermaid totes that fit perfectly). My entire coop is underneath an 8' porch overhand off the back of my barn, so some weather protection comes from that. We overlaid the hinges on the top with a flexible, wide rubber flange (leftover from something). Never had water leak in. Nice to be able to peek in without raising the lid, in case someone is settin'. I can keep the nest box compartment lid opened by hooking it to a small hanging chain, while I gather eggs or remove nest boxes for cleaning.