The Poultry Guide A Free Source Of Information for poultry Keepers,Raisers, Beginners and poultry food lovers
These free chicken nesting box plans will provide you with 21 DIY options for building suitable boxes for your hens to lay their eggs. Chickens aren’t very picky about where they lay their eggs but having a few chicken nesting boxes makes gathering the eggs a lot easier for you.
The wide range of chicken nesting box plans we have shown here will help you decide on the DIY chicken box style that is right for your hen house. Hens will lay more eggs when they are happy and feel that their eggs are being laid in a safe spot. Check out these DIY nesting boxes from our list and get the project started this weekend.
1: Wooden Barrel Chicken Nesting Box Plan
It is a good idea to work on a nesting box like this one at grit by lisa.
which is portable. These will help you in coping up with weird egg laying habits of the chickens. Interestingly, you can build a lovely, half wooden barrel box of chicken eggs in 10 minutes. The material you need:
- Wooden barrel ( cut into half)
- Cordless drill
- Wire snips
Take a wooden slab make holes into it, and make same size holes in the barrel too. Join them together with wire. Make sure the slab has something colorful on it which appeals the chicken.
2: Triplex Chicken Nesting Box Plan
This is another one chicken nesting box plan by removeandreplace for backyard. We suggest this to those backyard farmers who want to get done with a nesting box which can keep three or more birds at a time. For triplex type, you may need help from a friend or maybe professional.
The problem occurs when you are supposed to join wooden slabs all together and form a secure nesting area. Don’t forget to place fake eggs into the boxes; else you won’t be able to convince your flocks to lay eggs inside it.
3: DIY Cute Nesting Box
Here we have broken down the steps of how to build chicken nesting boxes like this one by urbanfarmonline and that even in simpler ways, being a novice.
- Assemble your needed parts and tools
- Cut two equal pieces of plywood (one is the base and other is back)
- Cut another two pieces from plywood but make sure they have slanted edges – they will make sides.
- Cut roof and front from plywood pieces.
- You need 8 different size lumber pieces too
Follow the link to see how to join the wooden slabs together. It is certainly a very good looking sort of nesting box.
4: Five Gallon Bucket Chicken Nesting Box
Discover how to make a chicken nesting box in this this YouTube video from a 5-gallon bucket. The large plastic buckets are cheap to buy and the plastic is easy to cut, making this DIY project cheap and easy.
5: Down East Laying Box
This one is simple, easy and fast to build nesting box by downeastthunderfarm according to its designer ‘paul’. It is an ideal chicken nesting box plan, and that even works perfectly fine for backyard settings. The materials you need for this project include:
- Plywood
- Strapping
studs - Flathead wood screws
- Waterproof glue ( for wood)
The link has details about construction and pictures that would give you clear idea about the joining of the various pieces.
6: Quick Chicken Nesting Box Plan
It is all wood game – you need to have a slanted top, probably designed with various wooden sheets. Also, with a door type front, you can attract hens to come over it and lay their eggs. Make sure you keep fresh straws in it so that hens feel comfortable. If you think you hens would not get habitual of this behavior, place a fake egg to make them used too.
See this Detail Plan by ana-white.
7: Nesting Box Made Of Dish Pan
Metal nesting boxes when bought from the market are an expensive option. However, you don’t have worry for that as DIY plan by sjoystudios would facilitate your need. The materials needed would be:
- Dishpans (two of same shape and size)
- Snips
- Drills
- Cable ties
Make two equal opening at the main side of the dishpans. Flip one over the other and fix it will screws. This way you will get simplest types of nesting boxes – for depth knowledge.
8: DIY Plywood Box by simon wells
One of the simplest ways of making a highly functional nesting box is here we have in this plan at brand-google – use plywood and get done with it. You can either place it on the floor, or hung it for a wall and keep eggs there in the morning. Make sure it is about 10 inches, as it is an ideal nesting box measurement. Make sure you cut the wooden pieces in equal length and fix them well, because that is only part that require attention, rest remains fun.
9: Chicken Nesting Box from Pallet Wood
The hens won’t mind that their nesting boxes like this one at littlehouseinthesuburbs are made from recycled pallet wood, as long as each box measures about 1-foot by 1-foot.
Using old pallet wood will make the DIY project almost free to create. These free plans are easy to follow and the nesting box style fits in well with a rustic henhouse design.
10: Chicken Nesting Box Plans for Coop
These free plans will give you a chicken nest box idea by construct101 for building one box for the coop. One large nesting box with three entry holes will provide a safe spot for hens to lay their eggs.
The DIY nesting box is built on the outside of the hen house with access for the hens from the inside and access for egg gathering on the outside. Keep your shoes clean by staying out of the hen house while gathering eggs with this easy to build design.
11: Plywood Chicken Nesting Box Plans
Use these detailed plans for building a 3-bay nesting box like this one by lilblueboo for your hens. This design is 3-feet long and 14-inches tall and equally as wide. The size is easy to customize to fit the space in the chicken coop and the egg box is easy to access for egg gathering.
12: Coop and Chicken Nesting Box Plans
Follow this detailed tutorial for building a chicken coop and egg boxes like this one by greenwillowhomestead. This chicken nesting box plans will show you how to build the egg box form just one sheet of plywood. It’s a cost-efficient method of creating a safe place for hens to lay eggs and brood (if desired) and provides easy access to the eggs.
The overall chicken coop is large enough to securely house several chickens and the plans are easy to follow.
13: Chicken Nesting Box With Fold Down Door
After building the hen house you will need chicken nesting box ideas like this one by myoutdoorplans so you can decide the best egg boxes to use in the coop. This chicken nesting box plan shows you how to build a 3-bay egg box on the exterior of the coop that has a fold-down door for easy egg gathering.
The design is also attractive and is great for use when constructing a hen house that will be in an urban or suburban backyard.
Detail plan at myoutdoorplans
14: Exterior Chicken Nesting Box
Make egg gathering quick and easy when you build this exterior nesting box by storey onto the side of the hen house.
This nesting box idea will keep you out of the coop, keep the nesting boxes cleaner, and give you quick access to the eggs. An exterior chicken nesting box is a time-saver and a money-saver, plus it’s easy to build with these free plans.
15: Four Bay Chicken Nesting Box
Here is a great design when you have a large flock of hens producing eggs each morning. Hens are not picky about the building material, design, or shape of a nesting box like this one by linnacresfarm, but they can be a little picky about which nesting box they choose to lay their eggs in.
Large flocks of laying hens often have a line of hens in the morning waiting to deposit their eggs in a specific box. Building a DIY nesting box with 4-bays provides more options and may reduce the egg-laying lines in the morning.
16: Cheap Chicken Nesting Box
Chickens are messy and most people want to keep the henhouse construction cost down to a minimum because items have to be cleaned and replaced often. This chicken nesting box plan by kraftykritters00.blogspot will keep both the cost and the labor down.
Use large plastic bowls as nesting boxes inside the chicken coop. The bowls are cheap to buy, easy to clean and cheap to replace.
17: Roll Away Chicken Nesting Box
Learn how to build roll away chicken nesting boxes in this YouTube video tutorial that are easy to move for egg gathering and cleaning, plus are easy to roll out of the way as needed.
The YouTube video provides plenty of detailed instructions for this DIY project and offers other important information.
18: Exterior Chicken Nesting Box
Gather eggs the easy way when you build exterior nesting boxes like in this youtube video onto the chicken coop. Quick access to the eggs without having to go into the coop is good for you and will help keep the chickens calm.
Some chicken breeds enjoy human interaction but others are skittish and fearful and dislike human contact. Limit human contact with the hens by using this chicken nesting box plans for an exterior build.
19: Milk Crate Chicken Nesting Boxes
A favorite for many chicken breeders, the standard heavy plastic milk crate egg box on youtube. This YouTube video will show you how to create a streamlined design of several milk crates that will be easy for hens to access and easy for you to gather eggs.
20: External Chicken Nesting Box Plan
If you fail to analyses the chicken nest box size that you need, this type of plan by thegardencoop can work best for you. Basically, you draft the nesting box made from wood and attach it with outside part of the chicken coop. The details are given in the link, yet for overview, have a look:
- Plywood sheets ( 19 mm thick)
- Lumber pieces
- Screws for joining
- Hinges
- Latches
Other materials – for door, windows paint
Attach this gorgeous looking nesting box to your coop not from inside, but from outside, it would look as an additional decor as well as allows extra space to accommodate birds within a coop.
21: Plastic Bucket Chicken Nesting Box
Use this chicken nesting box idea by communitychickens to create cheap and easy to clean nesting boxes for your hens.
The cost of plastic bucket is minimal and chickens love them. Mount the buckets sideways on a frame inside the chicken coop and your hens will be happy to lay eggs.
Summary
A good nesting box is necessary if you want your hens to feel safe and lay more eggs. Hens don’t like to lay eggs elsewhere if they find any threats of predators to come and just break the eggs. Each hen likes to lay in their own nesting box so they can gather as many eggs before brooding starts.
Now we have shared with you multiple plans to build your own nesting box. Build the one that you like and suitable for your hens.
Dear Farhan,
Thanks for the info on the day nesting boxes. New ideas need to be spread around. How about chicken keeping as a sport ?
A famous political promise was “a chicken in every pot”.
Chickens are an important agent in Permaculture. Permaculture is the politics I am espousing. Soon I will have chickens.
Another very easy and great way of making nesting boxes is to use 20 litre chemical or oil containers. All you do is cut out the end where the handle is with a saw, this will become the entrance then lay it on its side with the cut end facing you make sure they are totally cleaned with warm soapy water. They are better than wooden nesrting boxes because the can be squirted out and washed when they get too dirty and then just put back. It is a much better way of preventing diseases and minimising odour especially if you are in a suburban area.