The chickens are over 16 weeks old now, and even though they are a large breed (adult female Faverolles can be 6+ pounds), so will probably lay later, and they have started to molt, so will probably lay later, I felt remiss about not having some kind of nesting box. Just in case.

So I used the plastic bins from an old kid’s storage set (given to me by a friend!), and set them up on the shelf of my work table. It was always my plan to set up the nesting boxes here; I just modified the original plan slightly to make use of the plastic bins. I put some wooden ledges in to keep the boxes from accidentally getting knocked off the shelf, and added a hard divider made of scrap siding to separate the two nest boxes.

Because the weather gets hot here in Texas, I worry about hard-sided nesting boxes, especially as I wanted my nesting boxes to open to the wall, rather than into the room (as recommended in Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens). So I sewed some curtains to go around the nest boxes. I used cotton with a dark print to keep the light out but still let the air circulate. I used picture frame wire (twisted steel cable) and screw eyes to hang the curtains. I am hoping this will make the area dark enough for the chickens, but easy for us to reach in and gather eggs.

The chickens were eye-balling the area, but no one was actually getting up there, so I added small perches to the entrances.

Since it looks like I may have 11 or 12 hens, I should have one more nesting box. I’m thinking on what I will try next.