This is a nest box system that was designed specifically to be used with egg mobiles for regenerative egg production on pastures. Initially it was developed in collaboration with Richard Perkins (Ridgedale Farm, Sweden) in 2021. and the process of research and development was continued throughout 2022. and 2023. in collaboration with Olof Hallström (VARVA Regenerative AB, Sweden) and Niklas Ljung (Hällfors Gård, Sweden). The prototyping process took many iterations that were tested in the workshop and in the actual working environment with hens, until we settled with the current design.
FEATURES
The nest box system features roll away nest boxes for production of clean eggs that roll down to a conveyor belt for easy egg collection. The uniqueness of this nest box system is that it is easy to level. Since the regenerative egg production requires moving the chicken house to a new terrain multiple times a week, this feature of leveling is important in order for the roll-away action to work well. Another specific feature of this nest box system is that floors can tilt upward in order to prevent hens from spending their night inside the nest boxes. The daily floor tilting action also functions as self cleaning.
We designed the nest box system that is composed of segments, each 120 cm long. The segments can be stacked together to form a composition to fit individual egg mobile design. Usually most farmers will need a 4 segment system that is roughly 5 meters long, but any nest box system composed of 2 to 6 segments will work well. Nesting floor surface area of one segment is exactly 1 m2 so you can use this number as a guide to determine the actual number of chickens that you can keep, according to your local regulation.
Click on the image below to download drawings with the overall dimensions:
SHIPPING
The nest box system comes delivered on two euro pallets as a prefabricated kit that customers have to assemble themselves. Also there is a bit of work involved such as cutting the nest mats to specific size which can easily be done by a non professional with simple tools.
WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE KIT?
• all the metal components of the kit (galvanized steel)
• all the plastic components of the kit (3D printed PETG)
• hardware – all the nuts, screws, rivets and other hardware that is needed to assemble the kit
• plastic PP egg belt (conveyor belt)
• nest mats (delivered in bulk rolled up)
WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE KIT?
• linear actuators needed to tilt the floors
• any electronics such as timers, switches, cables etc.
• hardware needed for mounting the nest box system onto the ceiling of your egg mobile (every situation will be dfferent)
• tools needed for the assembly
• wooden perches on the enterance
AUTOMATION
Since the linear actuators needed to power the floors are a widely available commodity product, we are not inclined to reselling them to customers at higher prices than what they are available already. You will get clear instructions on which actuators you should order and where. The ones that we use for tilting the floors have a lift of 100 mm and look like this:
Also we are working on a PDF document with clear instructions on how to set up simple and cheap ready made timers that you will be able to wire up yourself to automate the nest box system.
OPEN SOURCE
Green Tools TECH‘s mission is dedicated to building an open source community of farmers, engineers, makers and permaculture designers who will collaborate on building the technological sovereignty that is needed for the regenerative movement. Since such an endeavor is a full time job, at this moment we don’t have the capacity to pursue this path. Open source business models have their own logic that is much more than just putting the blueprints out there. It is still a plan, but skipping steps would be counterproductive.
For any further information please don’t hesitate to contact us.
