Building a row of nest boxes

Peter G · **Posted:** Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:41 pm

I am new to the forum & would like some input on building a row of nest boxes.
I have a small hen house about 2m x 0.9m x 1.2m high that is sat up 300mm of the ground with a mesh floor.
What I want to do, or was thinking of doing, is build in a row of plywood nest boxes that can be accessed by me from the outside through hinged lids. These are not for breeding but for our up & commong layers.
My questions are :
Is this a practical thing to do & if any what are the downfalls?
Are there any hygene problems from having painted plywood nest boxes?
What internal dimensions should the boxes be for our Rhode Island crosses or even larger birds?
What size should the entry to the box be in relation to the internal dimensions?
What is the ratio of boxes to layers?
Throw your 2 bob in, I need help here if I am going to get it right.
Peter

greenaus · **Posted:** Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:03 pm

Gee, that is a pretty small hen house.

Try something like my "toy-box to nesting-box". There's a thread here somewhere. I'll find it and post a link here soon.

...or not. I couldn't find it. Maybe it is on another forum. :shock:

Here's a photo...
http://www.greenaus.com/chooks/toybox2nestingbox.jpg
http://www.greenaus.com/chooks/toybox.jpg
http://www.greenaus.com/chooks/nestingbox.jpg
http://www.greenaus.com/chooks/openback.jpg
http://www.greenaus.com/chooks/openbox.jpg

Peter G · **Posted:** Thu Aug 14, 2008 3:07 pm

Thanks for the response Greenaus.
Yeh I suppose my hen house is pretty small. It's made from 2 bed frames, a bit of box section & the remnants of a garden shed after a cyclone. It's got a mesh floor & is fitted with lawnmower wheels. The initial idea was to move it around the yard to try & keep the smell from building up with the humidity up here. It worked well & did a reasonable job of fertilising the yard at the same time.
We never had a run to start with & the pekins were able to come & go at will. Even if I shifted it from one side of the backyard to the other while they were out of it they would roost up that night no worries.
In 7 years I have never had to clean it out.
I used 20 litre plastic drums for nest boxes for the Pekins & when a hen went clucky & I wanted chicks I would pick her & her eggs up in the nest box & transfer them to another coop. I would have done this procedure maybe 10 times & never had a hen desert her eggs.
Back to your point Greenaus, "that is a pretty small hen house". Lucky they were Pekins.

greenaus · **Posted:** Thu Aug 14, 2008 7:13 pm

Actually my point was to suggest trying something similar to the toybox-to-nesting box. Granted, maybe a small toybox needs to be converted, but at least it is already half built (ie. hinges in place, etc, etc).

I simply agreed with how you said in your post that it was a small hen house.

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