Chicken Nesting Boxes
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Category: Chicken House
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We are in Central Indiana. The interior of the coop does get pretty hot at
times, but the wood frames we built for the tubs are pretty tight because I
accidentally made them about 1/4 inch too narrow. The tubs are VERY snug in
the frames. We have multiple hens that use the tubs, and we haven’t had any
issues at all with the tubs or the weight. It’s also handy with broody
hens. As the chicks hatch, we move the mother to an isolated crate, tub and
all, until her chicks are ready to come out.
Thank you for the kind comments. We will try to keep the ideas coming. The
other thing we would have done a little differently, and still could, is
raise this up off the ground just a little higher. The bottom row is about
ground level, and while that is good when we have broody’s and chicks, it
also has a way of collecting things underneath. It hasn’t bothered us
enough to take the time to move them up though.
You may adjust your measurement to what works for you. We selected about 16
inches, but could have done with a little less.
Do you have any trouble with heat making the bins unstable with the weight
of the hen(s)? I’m in Texas and it gets very hot here, plus we frequently
find more than one hen in a nest.
I was wondering about the fake egg.. are they ceramic or wooden?
I have a question regarding the size of the wood you used for the dividers
and back. Also how high did you mount the frames on the wood. You said 16″
but was that from the wood frame, taking into account for the 6″ depth of
the bucket? Right now my hens are fighting over their favorite nesting box.
I have no idea why I hadn’t thought of that. What a great idea,…thanks!
Do you have plans or did you just wing it?
Our hens are not bothered by the flat roof and continue to lay their eggs
there just fine. Our hens roost in the rafters of our coop, and they use
the roof of the nesting boxes to jump into the rafters. It has gotten
rather messy from the chicken droppings from above. We do have one that
sits up there in the evenings to sleep. You could angle the top to keep
them off if preferred.
After seeing your video, I made a similar coop from your idea. Would have
never thought of it without your video. Many thanks.
Love your ideas! I have been trying to plan my coop and this video is a
great help. Thanks for sharing!
Great idea! Thanks! I’m getting ready to build some nesting boxes and I
like the idea of the plastic tub for easy cleaning.
Best ideal i’ve seen!Only thing need slop on roof.VERY well thought out!RTR
How big is your coop?
I like this design better than anything I’ve seen on the net, and I’ve
really been studying the subject! Better yet, it will work great in my
space. Thank you so much for posting this!
Where did you get those tubs?
The roof of the nesting area is flat. Will not roosters and hens jump on
and sit on that roof? Have you experienced any problem with that or does it
not matter (Hens not bothered by it)?
I believe we got the tubs from Walmart. I mention the brand name and size
on the video, but they are nothing special. I made sure the wood side and
rear support was “tight” to the tub to ensure it wouldn’t fall through when
a chicken was in it. The rear support is on it’s “side” to provide
additional support as the tub handle protrudes a little more at the back
than the tubs do on the sides (if that makes sense). Thanks for watching!
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10 feet x 20 feet
We used plastic eggs to get them started in our coop. However since the
original set of chicks, the subsequent chicks have just learned from the
other hens. You can use ceramic or wooden as well if desired… or even a
store bought egg that you mark so you don’t accidentally eat it after it
has been unrefrigerated.
Great idea. I love clean and this is prefect! Thank you!
Thanks for your video, Very informative.
We used a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of 1/4 inch plywood. We mounted the bottom
box wood rail (that the tub sits in) at the bottom of the plywood sheet. We
then divided the remaining boxes equally between the remaining sections and
space available. So the 16 inches mentioned is from the top of the nesting
box to the bottom of the tub above it. In retrospect we could have provided
less space between them. Best of luck with your nesting boxes!
Great idea! We just built these for our chickens – They should be great!
Really a pretty easy project if you have a air compressor fired stapler/pin
nailer
Nice Nests, one of the best designs I’ve seen. Easy to clean, comfortable
for the chicken! Awesome!