As more people are getting keen on building chicken coops and keeping one or two backyard chickens, more progressive cities are amending their laws to allow back yard chickens. Usually they limit the number to five and no roosters can be included. This is a superb provision because roosters are loud and are not needed for some backyard egg laying hens. As part of your coop you\’ll need nesting boxes. Hens like dark and comfortable places for laying their eggs and it is an extremely easy matter to build your own with materials you probably already have on scattered around.
An orange crate, or something similar will work beautifully; any important box or container about one foot square will be perfect. Take away the front panel of the crate or container and replace it with a board approximately 3 or 4 high. This may give the hen\’s easy access to the nesting box. Secure the boxes on a wall of the coop about two feet off of the floor and line it with straw, paper or wood slices. The lining should be absorbent and non toxic.
Ideally, when you build a chicken coop, you must provide yourself with a shallow access door in the wall immediately above the nesting box area to make egg collection easy. To stop predators also using this same system of access makes sure you also use terribly secure catches to keep it closed.
Your nesting boxes should be positioned lower than the perches when you build the chicken coop, since chickens will always roost in the highest points of their coop.
As with all aspects of keeping chickens, cleanliness is extremely important to keep them healthy. When you build a chicken coop make regular cleaning easy and frequently replace the liner of the nesting box with fresh clean material.
Chickens will sometimes lay their eggs wherever they feel enclosed and warm. Therefore position the nesting boxes safely in a dark corner away from any drafts. A well thought out chicken coop will protect your hens from the elements as well as predators and snug nesting boxes will guarantee masses of fresh eggs daily!
HEN HOUSES – Chicken coop building resources. Take a look yourself at plans for hen house