Nesting boxes are typically part of a larger chicken coop, but they can also serve as standalone structures that allow your hens to lay eggs on special bedding that acts as cushioning for them and protection for the eggs. For the most part, nesting boxes are rather simple structures that contain just a few basic elements.
That doesn’t mean they can’t be fancy, but the point we’re trying to make is that anyone can build a nesting box from scratch if they wanted to. With that in mind, today we’re going to explore a list of all things nesting boxes to offer, and hopefully, you’ll find some ideas of items, boxes, or components that you can buy, or even nesting boxes that you can build yourself.
Table of Contents
Brower Poultry Nest
Let’s start off with a very basic, yet practical nest option. All you need to put this baby together is a wrench and some pliers. We’re talking about a product that comes with a removable bottom side, being therefore easy to clean. Each compartment has a ventilation hole that allows your poultry to breathe.
Boddie Roll Out Nesting Box
Here is yet another wonderful option for those of you who are looking to free up some space in their chicken coop and provide the hens with extra nesting place. It’s made from stainless steel and comes with a slanted design, which helps prevent chicks from standing on the roof and making a mess.
Nesting Pads
You can’t actually have a nesting box without the right bedding, so here’s an option that will help you set up your chicken nesting boxes. These will cushion your eggs until they’re ready to be collected. They will also draw moisture from droppings, making it easier to clean the nest whenever needed.
Large Chicken Coop
Nesting boxes for chickens come in all shapes and sizes, but they’re also attached to ready-made coops. This is a large plastic chicken coop that’s water-resistant, and it includes nesting boxes as well. This simple coop idea can house up to 12 chickens and hens, with plenty of space for them to live comfortably and hang out on a roosting bar.
Roll Out Nesting Box
Here is a very practical idea of a nesting box that provides space for one hen. It comes with a curtain that grants your chickens privacy. The top side is sloped so your chickens won’t get on top of it and make a mess. The nesting area comes with adjustable slopes to make sure that all the fresh eggs end up in the special collecting box.
Nesting Box Attachment
The design of a nesting box is pretty basic, so it should be fairly easy to make one from scratch. You can cut an opening into one of the walls of your chicken coop and make a nesting box as an attachment to it. With the right type of wood, some hinges, and the right tools, you should have this done in a couple of hours.
Terracotta Nesting Boxes
Did you know that you could make individual nesting boxes with from a terracotta pot, some bedding, and a rod/stick of wood that your hens can sit on? It’s really that simple, and you don’t have to spend too much money to make one, especially if you already own some unused terracotta pots. There’s actually tons of cool projects you can do with these pots.
Eggs Holder
Looking for an original way to store the eggs collected from a nesting box? How about this metal holder that’s shaped like an actual chicken? You can leave it inside the coop and use it whenever you’re ready to collect fresh eggs.
Bucket Nesting Boxes
Do you own some large buckets that you could possibly repurpose? Then how about turning them into nesting boxes? Just flip them to the side, punch some holes in them so your chicken can breathe, and you’re good to go.
Wooden Chicken Coop
Finding a chicken coop that comes with nesting boxes is pretty easy, especially if you’re willing to spend good money to do it. This is a wooden chicken coop that provides nesting and resting places for your chicken, but also comes with a nice little ramp that grants access to an enclosed “outdoor” space for your chicks to get some sunlight.
Eggs Collecting Basket
You can pretty much turn any old bucket into a basket for collecting eggs. If you have a large bucket, you can fill it with grains so you can feed your chickens and collect eggs at the same time, as the grain provides cushioning for you to place the eggs in the bucket.
Single Nesting Box
Made from HD polyethylene, this nesting box provides space for one chicken. It can be mounted on the wall, which grants you a lot of flexibility in terms of where you can place this. This is a pretty solid solution for people looking for a corrosion and rust-resistant nesting box.
More Wooden Nesting Boxes
Since nesting boxes are fairly small constructions, you should find it pretty easy to make one for your particular setup, as it is quite a low-cost DIY project. This particular one is made from wood and has a wooden top lid that opens to grant you access to the eggs inside.
Pallet Nesting Box
Did you know that you could easily turn pallets into nesting boxes? By deconstructing a wooden pallet and with a few other extra tools that you surely have lying around the house, you can make individual nesting boxes for your chickens at basically no extra cost. You could even get some free pallets at your local supermarket.
Nesting Buckets
Here is yet another example of how you can group some buckets in order to create an organized little place for your chickens to nest. You’d be using a wooden platform and repurposing some buckets by flipping them to the side and filling them with chicken bedding, which should be pretty easy to accomplish.
DIY Nest Boxes
Looking for a step-by-step tutorial that will teach you how to make your own custom nesting boxes for next to nothing? With some buckets, nesting, and the right space to place them, you can have a very cozy space for your hens to lay delicious eggs, and maybe get some rest in the meantime.
Straw Hat Nesting Box
Got any straw hats around the house that you’re not planning to wear anymore? Here’s an idea: how about you flip them over, fill them with bedding or some hay and turn them into nesting boxes? They’re comfortable, provide cushioning for hens and eggs alike, and they look pretty chic as well.
Greenhouse Chicken Coop
Placing a chicken coop inside a greenhouse is a wonderful idea because your birds will get double the protection by being confined inside the greenhouse. It’s quite a complex configuration, but it has some really neat nesting boxes that collect the eggs in a concealed box.
Easy DIY Nesting Box
Remember that old nightstand that you wanted to throw out? Or perhaps those pieces of wood or lumber that have been lying in the shed since forever? You can easily repurpose old furniture or wooden pieces and make single nesting boxes, like this one over here. It’s a simple DIY project that shouldn’t take you more than a couple of hours.
Liquor-Box Nesting Spaces
If you happen to have some wooden boxes that were used to store wine or bottles of liquor, you can easily turn those into (quite the fashionable) nesting boxes. Just nail them onto one of the walls of the chicken coop, add some bedding to create cushioning for the hens, and there’s your 30-minute DIY nesting box project!
Nesting Box Plans
Pay no attention to the title (or the man behind the curtain!), as this “duck” nesting box project can easily be crafted for chickens as well. It’s a three-slot nesting box that requires a minimal material investment on your behalf, and a few nails or screws here and there to put the pieces of wood together.
Milk Crate Nesting Boxes
As you might have guessed up until now, there are a million things that you can turn into a nesting box because it is, after all, a simple box with some added bedding. Here is a project design that shows you plans for how to build nesting boxes out of old milk crates which you were probably going to throw away.
Multiple-Floor Nesting Box
If you’re into a more complex project that combines a brooder and laying boxes, you’re in for a treat. When you’re ready to increase your family of birds with baby chicks, you can use the top side of the construction, while the bottom side is reserves for adult hens that are ready to produce some fresh eggs.
Simple Nesting Box
We bring you yet another simple DIY nesting box project that can be a standalone structure or an appendix to an existing chicken coop. If you have more available space and more materials to work with, you can upgrade this three-slot nesting box to provide more nesting room, as the construction and plans are pretty intuitive.
Wooden Half Barrel Nesting Box
Don’t be fooled into thinking that you can only use rectangular pieces of wood to make a nesting box. Here is how you can repurpose an old wooden barrel and create the perfect nesting place, one that even comes with a customized wooden plaque, just for the sake of it.
Stylish Nesting Box
How’s this for a stylish nesting box? While it may seem like a lot of work, this project is actually more about paying closer attention to the details and looking to balance a practical nesting box construction with good looks that are an absolute must in a farm or a yard where everything is properly organized and aimed at being aesthetically pleasing.
30-Minute Nesting Box
Here’s riddle for you: what can you do with a 1 x 12 board, some 1 x 2 scraps, and a bunch of cedar fence pickets? Why, a nesting box for your hens, of course. Don’t sound so surprised, building a nesting box is ridiculously easy, unless you want to make about 10 of these because you have a lot of chickens. Just one of these can be done in just about 30 minutes.
Plastic Bucket Nesting Boxes
Over the past years, you’ve surely gathered your fair share of large plastic buckets or barrels that you knew you’d use sometime in the future. And if you haven’t, just pick up those your neighbor was planning to throw away, because these can make some means chicken coop nesting boxes. The proof is in the pictures!
Rustic Nesting Boxes
There’s something very cozy about these nesting boxes. It could be the fabrics in playful colors that are used to make the curtains on these babies. If you already have nesting boxes with no privacy for your chicks, you can use fabrics, a staple gun, and a few pieces of thread to set up with cute little décor.
Plastic Bowl Nesting Boxes
This is probably the cheapest solution anyone could ever give you in terms of DIY nesting boxes. You can buy (or repurpose) some larger plastic bowls, buy some line shaving or use hay to add some nesting material and you’re good to go. For the sake of adding more color to your chicken coop, you can also opt for multicolored bowls.
Container Nesting Box
Feast your eyes on a project so simple, it could take you less than 15 minutes. It’s basically a large plastic container, like the ones you use to store away things in your garage, with a rectangular section cut in one of the sides to allow chickens to get in and out of the nesting area, some bedding, and there you have it!
Triangle-Shaped Nesting Box
Here’s another example of what you can do with a few pieces of wood, some hinges, screws, and a screwdriver. Designed to be different and to occupy as little space as possible, these nesting boxes were originally designed as shelter for wild geese, but who says your hens can’t use them to lay a couple of eggs?
Old Drawer Nesting Box
As we’ve said time and time again, just about anything can be turned into a nesting box, and especially old pieces of furniture that have plenty of drawers. Here is how you can redistribute them to create comfy spaces for your hens. Bet you’ll never throw out an old dresser any time soon.
Additional Nesting Box Area
Let’s assume that you already have a large-size chicken coop. What if you were to cut a hole in one of its walls and build some additional nesting boxes that will actually leave your chickens with more space to roam inside the main room of the coop? Watch this video tutorial and see how easy it is.
Large Nesting Box
The best part about making your own nesting box structure is that you can make it as small or as big as you’d like. Here you have an example of a two-level nesting box that features a wooden construction and plastic containers that serve as the actual resting place for hens. All that’s left is a little bedding and you’re ready to start your own egg production.
Old Dresser/New Nesting Box
Not to worry, nobody actually built a nesting box with such intricate details carved in wood: it’s just an old dresser that has been wisely repurposed to create a magnificent nesting place for your birds. Building the little ramp is easy and costs next to nothing, especially if you already have a wooden plank lying around that you can use.
Wooden-Box Nesting Space
Here is a quick way to finish a nesting area by using produce wooden boxes that you can buy for a few dollars apiece at your local supermarket or thrift shop. The boxes are placed on an old wooden table, and it’s the quickest and easiest setup that you can create. No worry, you’ll have plenty of time for upgrades in the future!
Nesting Box With Ample Space
Whether you’re building a nesting tower from scratch or you’re repurposing an old drawer, here is how much space you can get for your hens to do their thing without suffocating one another. This is a perfect idea for tall chicken coops that provide plenty of vertical space that you can use to your liking.
Large Tube Nesting Boxes
Did you know you can improvise and cut a huge cardboard tube into multiple parts in order to make your own nesting boxes? The tube in the picture did measure 4 feet in length and about 18 inches in diameter, but you can work with shorter or narrower tubes as well, just make sure that you but them so that the hens can actually fit comfortably inside.
Nesting Box Under $50
If you’re on a budget and are looking to build your very own nesting box, this project might be of some service to you. It is a rather simple project that’s designed for three birds at a time, and all the materials needed and the steps are listed so that anyone can see this project through.
Full Chicken Coop Plans
This project will show you how to build a chicken coop from the ground up, but you can skip to the nesting box building part if that’s what you’re mainly interested in. The nesting box is designed to house three hens, and it can be placed both inside the coop, as well as outside, provided that you can offer some shelter from birds and egg-stealing predators.
Recycled Nesting Boxes
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure (of course, even your own trash could be turned into a treasure) if you have the right project in mind. These plastic dairy boxes have been stacked and repurposed in order to create 12 slots for egg-laying, with the added benefit of occupying little floor space.
Chick in the Big Screen
Couldn’t help but use this title when I first say this improvised nesting box idea. It’s basically the ultimate way to recycle the plastic casing on a giant old TV. It offers the perfect nesting spot for an adult hen, and it has a very original feel to (although, to be honest, I would paint that to make it look snazzier).
Hung Up on Nesting Boxes
I feel like I’m getting creative with these titles, but it’s only because the ideas themselves are so original! Here you have repurposed baskets that have been hung up on the wall and provide the cutest and most rusting nesting boxes for someone who wants a cozy chicken coop.
Custom Nest Boxes
One more for the road? Of course! Here is yet another DIY chicken coop nesting box project that implies putting together a few pieces of wood and coming up with a small structure, but one that’s very generous in terms of how many hens it can hold at a time.
Sloped-Roof Nesting Boxes
Let’s welcome a project that’s a bit more complex than some of the others we’ve seen today, but still fairly easy to put together. It’s a nesting box with plenty of housing space, a sloped roof, and a wooden perch as a finishing touch.
Walk-In Nesting Area
The best part about a project like this one is that the nesting boxes are concealed inside a closed space that will prevent predators from stealing the eggs and the birds. You can easily walk inside and collect the eggs when need be.
Astroturf Lined Nesting Boxes
Now this is a fancy project indeed! We’re talking about a nesting coop that was designed to solve the broken egg problem and replaced the regular choice of bedding that you normally see in a nesting box with astroturf, making this not only a very practical solution to the initial problem, but also something that looks like it was made by a professional chicken coop brand.
BUY ONE NOWChicken Tractor
If you have chicken, you know they need their daily dose of fresh air in a space that can protect them from predators. So, how about nesting boxes that are half-covered and half-enclosed in order to make sure your hens are kept safe? With this solution, you can leave your birds unsupervised while they lay their eggs and get some sunlight when need be.
Flea Market Nesting Boxes
If you happen to walk through a flea market and find boxes or shelves at a really good price, all that’s left is to put your imagination to it and you can end up with a cool-looking and very practical nesting box. Don’t shy away from old or ugly-looking options, because you can make anything look good with some polish and paint work!
Double Nesting Box Area
Talk about creating all proper conditions for your birds to lay eggs! This is basically a double suite at a Hilton as far as nesting boxes go. Each nesting box comes with its own ramp, there’s a light installed in there, and you can get easy access to clean the dropping and collect the eggs when the time comes.
More Container Nesting Spaces
If you have a tall metal structure with rails that would allow you to slide in a few plastic containers one on top of the other, you’d have a generous vertical tower to serve as a nesting area for a number of hens. Consider adding a ramp to reach the upper containers and that’s basically all you need in terms of nesting boxes that don’t occupy a lot of space.
Nesting Box Rehab
I just love the name of the project and it’s just another perfect example that you can recycle stuff and turn it into nesting boxes. This is a galvanized nesting box that may be filled with rust, but it’s nothing that a little polishing and a fresh coat of paint can’t fix.
Tire Nesting Box
Odds are, if you have a farm, you have some 0ld tires lying around. By cutting a few rectangles out of them and giving them a coat of paint, you can make your chickens an easy, protective nesting box without spending a dime. Not to mention, you can get rid of some of your spare tires.
Mailbox Nesting Box
With a large mailbox and a little bit of ingenuity, you can get yourself a nice row of nesting boxes for your chickens. The nice thing about this idea is that you can close the front door for a little bit of extra protection and open them up to see if you have a special delivery.
Throne Nesting Boxes
If you want a truly unique set of nesting boxes for your chickens, you really couldn’t do better than this. If you already have a couple of old toilet seats laying around, this is a great way to recycle them. Close the lids for some privacy and hook up a latch system to keep them open when they’re not occupied.
Nesting Box With Curtains
While curtains for a nesting box seem like a cute idea, they actually serve a very practical purpose. The curtains can keep the eggs and broodies protected and out of view of flock mates, which protects them and gives them a better chance of being viable and productive.
Raised Nesting Boxes
By raising your nesting boxes to eye and arm level, you can save yourself a lot of trouble bending over and trying to get a peek inside. You would be surprised how this can improve the quality of your life and make the whole process of raising chickens easier. Add a small ladder to make it more convenient for the chickens and everyone is happy!
Rustic Double Chicken Nesting Box
The simple design of this rustic nesting box is where all of its charm lies, but it also incredibly well built and durable. This is a great example of how you can use clean lines and tasteful construction to create something that will last a long time. Not to mention, your chickens will love the extra room.
Vintage Chicken Hen Nest Box
The galvanized metal on this nesting box is the epitome of “shabby-chic” but it is a great use of recycled materials and the vintage styling will fit in with any backyard coop. Galvanized metal is a great material due to its weather-proof coating. The patina on it looks well-worn and the construction will hold up for many years.
Portable Chicken Coop Tractor With Nesting Box
This portable tractor and nesting box is the Rolls Royce of chicken coops with everything your chickens could want. It’s portable thanks to the side casters and features its own nesting box built-in. If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution, this could be the one you and your chickens have been waiting for.
Hen Nesting House
Saving space is a major consideration with backyard chicken coops, especially if you have a large flock that needs a lot of room to nest. This multi-tiered nesting house could be a good option if you want to keep all the nesting areas in one space. The mortise and tenon joints holding the levels together are a classy touch and the whole thing has a very “country cabin” feel.
Rustic Vintage Chicken Hen Nesting Boxes
If your coop has a bare bones, vintage feel, this rustic nesting box might fit right in. Large nesting areas that are stacked on top of one another can save space, while still providing enough room for all your chickens to have their own section for laying eggs.
Boddie Roll Out Nesting Box
The design on this roll out nesting box could be perfect if you don’t want to disturb the nesting areas that your chickens have set up. Keeping your hens comfortable means letting them have their own space that they can nest and relax in. The roll out design makes it so you don’t even have to reach into the box. The eggs roll out into the trays and wait for you to come gather them up.
Coburn Triple Nesting Box
If portability is a concern of yours, this triple nesting box might be the answer. If you want to move your nesting areas outside the coop when the weather is nice, you should have no problem picking this box up and moving it wherever you think your chickens will be the most comfortable. When the time comes to move it back inside, you’ll probably be glad there aren’t any screws to undo or fasteners to mess with.
Bottom Line
When you think about nesting boxes, you’re most likely picturing very basic structure, but the truth is there’s a lot of playground when it comes to these small spaces. Whether you make them from scratch, buy them, or upgrade them from more basic models, you can fiddle with nesting boxes quite a lot. Would you be willing to make your own chicken coop nesting boxes from scratch or would you rather buy a ready-made one?
