Adding an extra nestbox - suggestions please

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Icemaiden

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My midi Dingle coop (http://www.smithssectionalbuildings.co.uk/products/the-dingle_hen_ark_8_chicken.php) is designated as suitable for 6 - 8 hens, but only has one nest box. It's not a problem at the moment as I only have 4 hens presently, 3 of whom lay.
However, I'd like to get a couple more hens later this year, so there'll be 5 fighting over one nestbox. I've read on the forum that you should have one nestbox for every 3 hens, so I asked the supplier how I could add another. They suggest putting a shoebox into the coop with some bedding in it.

What would other forum members suggest? Would a shoebox do the job, or would this just encourage all of the girls to lay in the coop rather than the nestbox? Would a separate external nestbox (e.g. a crate in a cardboard box, tucked away in the greenhouse) be better (or will the greenhouse, with door open, be too hot in the summer)? Would it be better to get someone with woodwork skills to add another nestbox onto the coop somehow? (Please see link for photo.)

All suggestions welcome please.
 
If that's a photo of your coop with the nest box on the outside, I'd get a double put on where the single is. Looks as if there would be just enough room. You could put a nestbox in the greenhouse if it doesn't get too hot but I'd get a decent wooden one made with a roof, probably a double.
 
Hi Chuck.
I was wondering whether it'd be possible to take off the current nest box & make a wider entrance from the coop to fit a double one... Any idea what the recommended width is for a nestbox?
 
That's just what I had in mind - replace with a double one which would be pretty straight forward. I don't know if there is recommended size and most of mine, all hand made vary and are often made to fit the size of the wood available, which is usually plywood offcuts so that I don't have to do too much sawing !
I'll try to give you an average size of mine tomorrow. If you measure yours, double it and see if it would fit the space.

Frustrating thing is, you can build a string of three or four boxes only to find they all want to lay in the same one !
 
We have a double nest box on our new breeding coops designed for three hens and they still fight as Chuck says Icemaiden. The boxes are big so that the plumage isn't damaged from squeezing into a small box -particularly the Cream Legbars with their large tail feathers. Overall internal size is 488 high front, 352 high back, 365 deep, 746 wide divided with 12 mm ply. The cladding and floor are fitted outside that framework which is made from 35 square. We then put a 150mm board at the front to contain the bedding and hang rubber curtain to the front for privacy. I made them as small as I dare and they may be a bit too small-the large mobile coops are 50mm bigger. But they will be fine for hens generally.
 
My nest boxes average 12" long x 12" high x 11" deep. They do vary a bit but I've found over the years that a snug one is preferable as they don't scratch around so much making the eggs less liable to damage. Should add, they have a four inch piece of wood at the front to stop the eggs rolling out.
 
Sorry; been off line for a few days. I'll measure mine at the weekend & measure the space available. If I replace the single nest box with a double, the outer walls will slope a bit (or at least the entrance will, to fit the sloping sides of the ark). I guess that'll be OK?
 
Sloping would be OK as long as they don't have too much of a squeeze to get in and out.
 
Another thought: how about if I made a double width nestbox & then divided it into two with a hanging curtain of thick plastic? That might solve the problem of having to squeeze past a partly shoping entrance wall... or then again, the girls might use the middle of the double box so that there's still only room for one of them at a time...
 
Or they might just use it as a sort of double bed, all in together, girls - it has been known to happen. You could start off with just a double sized inner box, and if it didn't work, fit a divide of some kind.
 
My (limited) experience is that a single large nest box works well. The Poultry Palace that I was going to build has 2 nest box areas, each 4' long as the back of the house is 8' wide. The entrance holes are in the middle of the 8' length and the hens tend to lay in the corners furthest away from the entrance. Generally speaking all the hens will lay in one side for a while, then suddenly change to the other for no reason that we can see.
 
You could start off with just a double sized inner box, and if it didn't work, fit a divide of some kind.
Click to expand...

That's an idea...

My single nest box is about the same size as Chuck’s; 31cm wide, 31cm deep & between 31 & 29cm tall (as the roof slopes for drainage). The back of the coop’s 108cm wide at the bottom of the nestbox, & 65cm wide at the top of the nestbox. This means that if I use 12mm wood (will chipboard be OK if I coat it in wood preserver?), the IDs of twin boxes would be 52cm wide at the bottom & 30.7cm wide at hen head height (6mm wider each if there isn’t a timber division). They can be the same depth & height as the current one. There’s currently a lip of about 4cm between the coop & the nest box.
Now I just need to work on my woodworking skills. Don’t think I’ll get much help from him indoors…
 
Chipboard is no good even if it's the "waterproof" version, it will just swell up in the wet and go all black and manky. OH has just said he wouldn't expose it to the weather unless it was gloss painted which would seal it. Even OSB3 would be best painted, both for the weather and to seal the crooks and nannnies. The best thing is exterior ply ( not marine, that's horrendously expensive) which will survive with something like Cuprinol shades. You could use shuttering ply but that is fairly poor quality so you'd need to use exterior woodfiller and paint it, otherwise you have lots of nice little crevices for redmite. I've used a piece of shuttering ply for the floor - filled the worst bits with 2 pack wood filler and given it 3 coats of paint.
 
I agree entirely with Margaid. Every piece of chipboard INSIDE our UK house was removed and replaced with exterior ply. There are different qualities of exterior ply. You need the hardwood version which my supplier called Far Eastern ply. It's the adhesive used that determines it being designated exterior and obviously the softwood swells more in damp. I treated ours with oil based primer then one -coat gloss on the exterior surfaces leaving the inner faces unpainted to allow any damp to escape.
 
Hardwood throughout Icemaiden. Having said that I accidentally bought one sheet of 12mm hardwood faced stuff which seems to be holding out at the moment but it does distort a heck of a lot, even small pieces. Over it's width the sheet bowed 2" but it's framed with timber which has pulled it flatter.
 
OK, so 5 1/2 months after I first asked the question, I've finally bought the all-hardwood 12mm ply & cut out the bits that I need (i.e. two side walls, a floor & a roof). I've applied one coat of preservative & will add another tomorrow, though that won't waterproof the timber. I've bought a couple of Wells' rollaway nest box inserts, so I've had to make the nest box deeper to allow for their 5 1/2" height.

Two questions for you DIYers out there:
1) Do I also need to treat the finished box with a waterproof finish, &
2) to join the sides to the top & bottom, given that they follow the sides of the ark in a quadrilateral shape, the angle between bottom & sides is 62.4 degrees, & the angle between sides & roof is 114.5 degrees. How the dickens do I cut these angles into the 1 1/2" square cross section battens (left over from building the run, hence the size) to frame out the box? I tried asking my husband for help, but he threw teddy out of the pram :roll: (still, better teddy than the hens, I s'pose...)

My DIY skills are very limited, so I don't fancy my chances of planing them at a constant angle (the nest box is 50cm deep, so I guess the framing needs to be too?). Any ideas? :-)19
 
Hi icemaiden. All our coops have two coats on the exterior of 'cuprinol shades'. It worked very well in England but sadly not here. The areas continually damp have got mildew stains on them. Problem is it needs some sun and airflow to dry it out.
I now cut angles along the length by running them through a circular saw, with a final plane to smooth. Before I got the saw I used to plane them by eye. I have a 'cords rule' which is a 600mm folding rule that you can set angles on. Used that as a guide, but a protractor would do. It's not easy but can be done. Check after every cut and watch out for a 'bowing' effect due to taking more off at the ends.
 
Thanks Chris.
Does the circular saw have a baseplate & an adjustable angle of cut? You can tell that I don't know much about diy...
My husband's got what looks like a circular saw; I'll have to investigate it while he's out!
 
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