Building a Nesting Box

Checking out the new furniture

My girls decided that their little box as seen previously was better to sleep on than their perch so in order to combat this behaviour I need to build something with a sloping design.

Some coops suggest having the nest boxes attached to the outside of the shed through a hole in the wall, keeping the central area relatively clear, however when chickens have an area to run about in during the day there isn't a real need to have a large area for them to sleep in. They like to huddle up together at night to stay warm and happy.

My new nesting box design was based around available materials and the size of my coop. Because we decided to keep all 6 hens I decided to make a box with two nesting areas and of course, a sloping roof.

I put it on little legs to again keep it off the floor incase it becomes wet inside as we initially had some problems with rain. The roof ended up being taller than I expected, however it is a good solid structure and cost me nothing to build. It is painted with the same outdoor paint as the coop. More construction photos are available in the Photo Gallery

Nest box complete and painted