Margaid
Well-known member
Sorry about all these questions but the secondhand Solway Hen House is now back together having been scrubbed and disinfected.
The internal nest box supplied with it is far too small for my Welsummers. It's like a circular cake tin 9" diameter, the top edge is about 16" off the floor and there is no perch in front of it (it is an older model house).
Today I bought an external ChickBox with rollaway insert and need some advice about where to fit it with respect to the pophole and cleaning access door which are at opposite ends of the house. For those who have never seen the house, it is made from an 8' x4' sheet of flexible material bent into a U shape, so the house is 4' long. The pophole and large door are each in one of the end panels. The house is about 2' 6" wide so the nest box has to be mounted on the 4' wall (as was the original). The perch is across the house parallel to the door sections.
I sort of feel that it would be best as far from the pophole as we can fix it so that it is away from the light; that would also make access to the perch easier for the hens. It would also mean I have the option to collect the eggs by opening the door instead of groping in from the back of the nest box.
05 I've also just realised that I can reach the mechanism for lifting the perch to block access to the box at night if it's near the cleaning door - if it was near the pophole I'd have to grovel about inside.
I think I've just answered my own question at least as far as convenience is concerned, but maybe someone more experienced will give me a good reason for having it at the pophole end.
The internal nest box supplied with it is far too small for my Welsummers. It's like a circular cake tin 9" diameter, the top edge is about 16" off the floor and there is no perch in front of it (it is an older model house).
Today I bought an external ChickBox with rollaway insert and need some advice about where to fit it with respect to the pophole and cleaning access door which are at opposite ends of the house. For those who have never seen the house, it is made from an 8' x4' sheet of flexible material bent into a U shape, so the house is 4' long. The pophole and large door are each in one of the end panels. The house is about 2' 6" wide so the nest box has to be mounted on the 4' wall (as was the original). The perch is across the house parallel to the door sections.
I sort of feel that it would be best as far from the pophole as we can fix it so that it is away from the light; that would also make access to the perch easier for the hens. It would also mean I have the option to collect the eggs by opening the door instead of groping in from the back of the nest box.
05 I've also just realised that I can reach the mechanism for lifting the perch to block access to the box at night if it's near the cleaning door - if it was near the pophole I'd have to grovel about inside.I think I've just answered my own question at least as far as convenience is concerned, but maybe someone more experienced will give me a good reason for having it at the pophole end.
