nest boxes

[serenity]

now I have some laying chickens I would like to add some external boxes to the side of mt 4 by 4 ft shed but have no idea how to get started with this. has anyone here done this themselves and if so how? all suggestions welcome

[Crazy Chickie]

Hi Serenity, we thought of doing the same thing to our chook shed but then read that external nest boxes whern't very secure, increasing the chances of damp, draughts and even vermin getting in (we live in a very windy area too!). We decided to just make do with a couple of hand made boxes inside the shed with little curtains made of old feed bags to give them privicy. The girls seem to like them and the only disadvantage being you have to go into the shed to collect the eggs, which we need to do to give them their tea anyway. Our chooks don't mind you squeezing past them at night to reach into the nest boxes either, though some hens might be a bit more flighty.
Sorry, I havn't really answered your question, maybe someone else has some better experience.
CC

[Brookfield Growers]

we converted a childs play house into a chicken house and have made a drop down door to access the back of the nesting boxes for the outside. The door is locked by a couple of padlocks. This works well and saves having to get into the house to collect the eggs.

[CountryFayre]

we used the boarding that we cut out to form the back of the nest box and used external ply for the floor and lid. We took out the boards, put a frame round the inside of the hole, put some joists from the house sticking out as far as we wanted the nest boxes, fixed the floor to it and the back to that with battoning and the rest just sort of fell into place. I must admit I was a bit worried to start with when John took a chunk out of the side of the house but it seemed to work!!

[yoanbob]

got my dad to make a nesting box, he was off work for a while and going mad with boredom. its the most beautifull thing we own! we cut out a hole in the house the same size as the peep hole in the box, reinforced inside the house around the hole with timber and attached it on the outside with angle iron, we put legs on to give extra support, the chooks love it, we now have a duck vertion which we hav'nt got round to mounting yet.

[serenity]

Thanks for the help everyone. Managed to put a couple of boxes together with the help of the lovely man who owns the local diy shop. He managed to turn my amateur scribblings into a neat pile of wood, all cut to size and even got me the right screws ect so all I had to do was knock it together. I decided to go for boxes placed inside the coop as was a little afraid of cutting a big chunk of the house away. was very proud of the finished result and my girls seemed to find them quite interesting if the amount of poop on the roof is any indication. BUT.........the only as yet, laying chicken is still laying on the floor what do I do ?

[CountryFayre]

Put the nest box on the spot where the chicken is laying!!!

No seriously, just look at wherre you have placed the nest box. They like it darkish and draught free. The other option is to use a dummy egg or golf ball and leave it in the nest box.

[serenity]

thank you countryfayre.

It has been a week now, 5 eggs and still my rir has layed in the same place. I thought I had placed the box in the darkest, draught free area but my girl has her own preference. the only way I can place the boxes in her prefered area is to cut through the shed and mount on the outside which is what I was trying to avoid. Hmmmmm time to get out the jigsaw...

[CountryFayre]

could you not barracade that area off for the time being or put something there like a football so she just can't sit there

[serenity]

yes, a football may well work, will try this first and let you know how I get on. Again, many thanks