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A nesting box is about the most forgiving woodworking project there is — the hens don't care about your miters — but a couple of choices make it last outdoors instead of rotting in a season. Cedar fence pickets are the trick: they're cheap, already rot-resistant, and the offcuts from the roof and walls become the rest of the box, so there's almost no waste.
The only real cut is the angled top of the two side pieces, which sets the roof slope so rain runs off instead of pooling. Everything else is square crosscuts joined with exterior screws and a countersink bit. The sloped roof boards just dry-fit and lap from the bottom up like shingles.
Use exterior screws — plain steel bleeds rust and won't survive the damp of a coop. And if you want a deeper bed of straw, the floor can be raised; nothing about the design fights you on that.
| Item | Qty |
|---|---|
| 1x12, 4 ftSides and floor. Cedar lasts longer outdoors if you can get it. | 1 each |
| Cedar fence pickets, 72"Nominally 5-1/2" wide and about 5/8" thick. Walls and roof. | 2 each |
| 1x2, 2 ftTop supports. | 1 each |
| Exterior wood screws, 2"Self-tapping, exterior-rated — plain steel rusts and stains in a coop. | 1 box |
Overall cost: $. Lumber prices vary by region, species, and season, so we give a band rather than a figure we would only be pretending to know.
| Part | Qty | T × W × L |
|---|---|---|
| Sides1x12Longest-point measurement; one end cut at 20° off square for the roof slope. | 2 | 3/4" × 11 1/4" × 16 1/2" |
| Floor1x12Can be raised for a deeper straw bed. | 1 | 3/4" × 11 1/4" × 12" |
| Top supports1x2 | 2 | 3/4" × 1 1/2" × 12" |
| Front / back wall boardsCedar fence picket | 4 | 5/8" × 5 1/2" × 13 1/2" |
| Roof boardsCedar fence picket | 3 | 5/8" × 5 1/2" × 15 1/2" |
Buy 4 boards at 8 ft.
1 board
1 board
2 boards
Assumes 8 ft stock, a 1/8" saw kerf, and buying each part at its own width. Change the board size or kerf on the full board plan →
Put the box together with just 2" exterior screws and a countersink bit — the two angled sides, the floor between them, keeping everything square. You can raise the floor higher inside the sides if you want room for a deeper bed of straw.
Add the 1x2 top supports across the top of the box. These give the roof boards something to land on and stiffen the assembly.
Screw the cedar fence pickets onto the back and front. A scrap 1x4 works fine for the front if you have one, but since you'll have picket offcuts anyway, the plan just uses those.
Dry-fit the roof boards on top first. When you're happy with the layout, fasten them starting at the bottom and working up so each board laps over the one below — that overlap is what sheds rain. That's it.
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