Chickens Want Privacy

Today I felt good enough to get outside and play around in the chicken coop. I wanted to enclose some of the nest boxes on three sides for the girls who like to be alone. So I thought I would give them a choice of open boxes or privacy.  There are a bunch of open next boxes out of sight to the left. The top photo shows the doors open.

I like the chicken wire door, but I think the hens will like the dark.

Well, it will be interesting to see where the most eggs are laid.

Here are the top two boxes with their wooden doors closed. Tomorrow I will first saw open and then enclose the bottom nest. I will cut away where the bear ripped the plywood and make a flippy door

I didn't have another metal latch, so I made a wooden turner thing.

I made two. Another one for the bottom nest door.

This is the inside of the nest boxes. I added the plastic box on the bottom 

because there were a few hens who were laying their eggs in the dirt. Goofy girls.

Instead of having to go through the pen and into the inside of the coop I would rather have a door on the other side like the other two. Much easier to collect the eggs. Tomorrow I will put some wood on each end and make a wooden floor for the box. 

Maybe I will add some wood on each side of the opening to make it a little cozier? I'll see how much wood I have left and how creative I feel.

See the pile of straw and dirt behind the little ladder? I shovel the stuff I rake up in the coop back there under the chicken's roosting area. It gets raked out turned over and shoveled back. It breaks down. I suppose it is a little composting area right where it does the most good. During the winter it is supposed to add some heat to the area. Sometime in the summer I do clear it all away, dump the stuff in my little garden and get this started up again for the winter.

[11 eggs today]

Smiles

Be Happy!