Worried that our nest boxes aren't big enough...

[chickens3]

Those are good they will like them.

 

[cindyanne1]

Thank you, everyone!!

Quote:
Yes, that paneling is from Lowes and I also am confused as to why it says it needs painted. It looks just fine as-is. My husband says we should go ahead and paint it though. I think I'm going to paint mine a burgundy color to match the trim on the house.

 

[lunkerchicken]

No worries - your girls will love there nesting area. It looks great.

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
Yes, that paneling is from Lowes and I also am confused as to why it says it needs painted. It looks just fine as-is. My husband says we should go ahead and paint it though. I think I'm going to paint mine a burgundy color to match the trim on the house.

Painting is for weatherproofing.

Maybe white for heat reflectance and the burgundy for trim?

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[Agape Builder]

I probably would have designed them a bit differently (taller in the back side), but since you have already built them, leave them alone. I would, however, close up the front a little bit. A piece across the bottom to hold bedding and eggs in, plus a piece at the top to sort of close the space up for the hens.

Rocks and Australorps will probably be okay in there, but a larger breed like standard cochins or Jersey Giants might have a little trouble with the short back side. I personally built my boxes 16" square (WxDxH) in order to handle all breeds, but I tried to make the openings a bit smaller to make the hens feel more enclosed and safe, while also allowing enough room for ventilation since I live in Florida and it gets hot here.

On interior nest boxes, the tops are normally sloped down from the back forward. However, on exterior boxes like yours, you have the right idea, just got a little short on the back side is all. A good opening on the front side for yours would be 7" to, at most, 10" high.

Below are some pics of mine, but I just built mine with materials laying around the house. Also, I did not slope the roof because of a lack of room against the wall where I am going to permanently install it.

For reference sake, my boxes are 8' long altogether, with two rows of 15 1/2" wide x 16" deep x 16' tall nest boxes. The opening on the top row of boxes is about 8 1/2" high x 16" wide. The opening is a little taller on the bottom (about 11 1/2" high), but I figured that to be okay because of the large (12" deep) walkway above that gives the hen a sense of being more closed in than she is (I hope... I am not a hen and I CAN'T fit into the box to see).

As far as your sheathing from Lowe's is concerned, it is tempered hardboard (think, pressed cardboard) siding. Masonite is a brand name of tempered hardboard that many people have heard of before. The problem with hardboard (even as pretty as that Lowe's hardboard siding is... I've looked at it myself and admired it, thinking about how pretty a chicken coop built with it would look) is that it sucks up water, swells, then disintegrates, rotting and falling apart.

When priming and painting, pay particular attention to the edges of cuts and especially the bottom edges of the boards near the ground. Take care to paint the bottom edges of the sheeting very well, more than anywhere else. The water will want to splash up off of the ground and soak up into the grain of the siding from the ground and therefore destroy the bottom of the siding when the rest of it looks okay still. Protect that bottom lip (and other edges) well from water, and the siding should last a long time. If you do not, it will fall apart rather quickly (within a few years). Plywood siding has the same trouble, but hardboard siding is by far the worst offender.