How to Make Egg Laying Boxes for Hens

Fresh eggs laid by your own backyard chicken flock are far tastier than their supermarket counterparts, and you can feel good knowing that the birds that laid the eggs are well-kept, fed a healthy diet free of hormones and antibiotics and not forced to suffer intensive confinement. Luckily, most hens aren't too fussy about where they will lay their eggs. It is not necessary to have specially made racks of laying boxes when you can use buckets, wooden boxes or any almost any other clean container you have on hand. Milk crates are popular for making egg-laying boxes, and are one of the easiest objects to transform into working nests.

Things You'll Need

  • Milk crates
  • Cable ties or hammer and nails
  • Nesting material
  • Burlap flap
  • Two-by-four
  • Plywood or aluminum roof
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Instructions

    • 1

      Turn clean, dry milk crates on their sides.

    • 2

      Using large cable ties or large nails, depending on if your coop is made of wood or chicken wire, fasten the milk crates to the side of your chicken coop with the opening facing outward. Place nesting boxes at least two feet off the ground, but lower than any perches. Otherwise, the birds may choose to roost rather than lay in nest boxes.

    • 3

      Fill nest boxes generously with straw, hay, wood chips or shredded newspaper. There needs to be two to four inches of nesting material per box to keep hens comfortable and prevent eggs from accidentally getting cracked. Replace the nesting material at least once a week.

    • 4

      Tie a square of burlap to hang down over the entrance as door flap.

    • 5

      Glue or nail a two-by-four in a horizontal orientation to the top of the nesting box, flat up against the wall.

    • 6

      Glue or nail a piece of plywood or aluminum to the top of the two-by-four so that it covers the top of the nesting box at a 45 degree angle. This false roof is to keep birds from roosting, perching and pooping on top of the nest box.