Review the Best Rollaway Chicken Nesting Boxes

Over a decade ago we were the first to introduce Amish made all metal rollaway nesting boxes to the general market. Our initial offerings which are still our most popular were 2, 4, and 8 compartment nest boxes with a rollout egg tray that protects fresh laid eggs from being messed, stepped on or pecked at as some chickens will eat the eggs 

With the cost of feed and overhead losing, just a few eggs a day can really add up.

As we made our Amish product tours a few years later we discovered another Amish company making a slightly different type of rollaway nesting box without dividers. These were being built as open concept community nesting box patterned after commercial operations.

The Community Nesting Boxes as they are called basically have the same design as our divided boxes but use a traditional laying mat which, resembles a section of Astroturf, to allow the eggs to drop and roll forward into a compartment. Instead of the dividers, they use curtains on the front to resemble separate entries into nest boxes. 

The open community concept accommodates more chickens, about twice as many as our divided boxes. So, we added the Community Nesting Boxes and introduced them to the Internet as well.

Since then several other companies have begun selling the Community Nest Boxes on the internet as well.

Sales of both styles have been strong with repeat customers coming back for more of the same models. As people would call and ask which is the best we would say it’s a Ford-Chevy discussion depending on which one you were used to as we have customers on both sides raving about them.  Then we would share the benefits of both and let them make their own decisions.

The one thing that kept sticking in our mind was the need for the laying mat.  Our original nesting boxes use a PVC coated wire mesh that allows the manure to pass through to a slide in drop pan underneath.

A laying mat basically is sharing the same surface with the egg to roll over and to collect the manure.  Extra laying mats are good to have on hand to switch clean out for dirty. Other than that, the Community Nesting Boxes offers a bit larger collection tray that can be switched to either a front or back collection based on your coop size and needs.

The Community Nest Boxes also have a solid back which means they can be set out in the middle of a coop floor up on blocks or screwed to a wall. But, we really like our traditional nest boxes with the open backs because they use wall cleats to hang on a wall so that they can be easily lifted off and taken outside to be power washed and disinfected from front and back.

So, we went back to our original supplier and learned they too have been looking for a way to build a better rollaway nesting box. We believe they have succeeded with the Colony Rollway Nesting Boxes and we are the first again to introduce them to Internet sales.

The Colony Rollaway Nest Boxes are available in the same 2, 4 and 8 compartments outside designs except for no dividers to offer the open community concept and added curtains to mimic the nest box entrances.  They are also now available as a front or rear collection box.

Best of all they don’t require the messy laying mats and still offer the quick removal hanging cleats to quickly take them outside and power wash them.

Even better the price point is lower for even a bit thicker galvanized metal used on the horizontal parts such as the tops and cross members that can easily be damaged by kids stepping up on them.

We believe the Colony Rollaway Nesting Boxes just might the best of the best of all rollaway nesting boxes. Especially, when you have the option to purchase the double layer 48” nesting box for much less than having to buy two of the 48” rollaway nest boxes. 

You can buy one Colony Double Layer and benefit with two 48” nesting boxes stacked together in one that will handle 80 or more hens.

Reversing the Colony Nesting Boxes to the outside of the coop for rear collection takes up zero space inside the coop. Simply cut a hole in the side and hang the Colony Nest Box on the outside.  

All the access to the eggs, manure tray and even reaching through to lift the roost bar to block entry can be accomplished from outside the coop. Manure cleanout is the easiest of all nesting boxes, especially on the outside rear collection.  You can roll a wheelbarrow right up to the box and pull out the manure tray just under the egg collection tray and dump without ever having to reach in or disturb the layers.

At Cottage Craft Works https://www.cottagecraftworks.com We have the largest selection of all metal rollaway nest boxes.

Cottage Craft Works is a unique emporium of old-fashioned made in America products for the farm, home, and garden.

Roller Egg Nesting Boxes | Chicken Nest box

Roller egg nesting boxes are changing the way people are raising chickens for fresh eggs from commercial poultry operations to a flock of backyard chickens.

The traditional nest box resembles a regular bird nest lined with nesting material.

The chickens  come in lays their eggs and then leaves the eggs open in the nest.

One nest maybe used by several chickens so the fragile eggs are exposed to stepping on them or pecking at them. The general rule of thumb is to provide one nest box to handle up to 5-6 hens.

Chickens that get a taste of the inside of an egg will likely become egg eaters and will need to be removed from the flock to keep them from destroying eggs before they can be harvested.

Roller egg nesting boxes are designed with a front collection tray.  The bottom of the nest box is covered in a plastic coated wire mesh to protect the eggs as they drop.

As soon as the eggs drop they roll forward into a covered compartment out of the reach of the chickens until they can be harvested.

Roller egg nesting boxes have many other benefits as well;

• They do not require nesting material.  As strange as that sounds the chickens actually become easily trained to lay their eggs in the nest compartment.

• Each roller egg box comes with a training egg.  Chickens that are accustomed to nesting materials can be started off in their new roller egg nesting boxes filled with the traditional nest material and then gradually removed to wean them down to no material at all.

• Without nesting material to harbor mites and lice keeping your chickens can enjoy more of a pest free life and likely become more productive.

• The roller egg boxes come with two hanging wall cleats.  The entire box can be lifted off and taken outside for washing and disinfecting. 

The roller egg nesting boxes known as the Roll-a-way nest box are Amish made from 26 and 16 gauge galvanized metal.

This is a more substantial nest box using thicker metal than the others on the market using  thinner gauge metals and plastic parts.

The Amish Roll-a-way nest boxes are only available from Cottage Craft Works .com  in two, four and eight  nest compartment models.  

Compartments measure 8” tall 11-1/4” wide and 11-1/2” deep.  The four and eight compartment nest boxes both measure 49” wide and 17” deep, while the two compartment is only 24-1/2” wide.  

Cottage Craft Works is a unique online country store featuring many heavy duty Amish made products for the home, garden farm and ranch.