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@debid thank you, interesting. Have you had any breakage? I left this morning @8:30 and got home close to 9pm. I collected 11 eggs, 3 were in the nest space the rest rolled out. No breakage.

You have a very fortunate starting point! When you clear the overgrowth be ruthless around the shed. Chickens love sunlight and you will too. Follow @arrt 's advice for ventilation and fix any leaks (water kills buildings fast!) as your first priorities; I would be adding windows or fresh...

My floor drops 3" over the 24" width of the floor; pitch is 12.5 degrees. I have seen that the eggs can get stopped/moved by the hens. Once stopped an egg can just sit until harvested by me. Notwithstanding, my incidents of egg eating is much reduced.

I used a pitch calculator to get the angle of 12.5 degrees. To build I just raised the back by 3" over the 24" width of the floor board. I set the opening from nest to roll out box at 2.5"; with the artificial grass even my largest eggs roll to the front. On caveat is that waste from the hen...

I recently built a front roll out using artificial grass in lieu of bedding. Huge success! The design allows a single piece that can be easily removed to shake or clean; hens have nothing to rearrange or toss outside.

@debid The 1st floor I had was 21" with nest box faces at 12" from wall. I watched one of my hens reach under the 2.5" height for an egg; within reach to break but not to eat. I will replace the floor with a piece 24" wide.

Clever design, nicely executed! I have just been through a 3rd (at least) nest revision to a front roll away design to deter egg eating; largely successful... Has your egg eating disappeared?

Does your apron trip feet up? If you do nothing, most likely to overgrow within a summer or two. Use the time to sit, enjoy your flock and perhaps a cocktail?

@FunClucks I know the lack of cage dilemma. Working my way to resolution through a new 14' x 16' pole shed to house cages. Will end up with 3 big (4'x8'x6'high) and the 3 small we are discussing

Thank you both. I have 10 cockerels in cages, I moved one, he was getting ganged, and carefully chose his mate; they get along. That is my only aggression issue with cockerels isolated in cages, thus far. I will have a closer look at removing the divider; not horrible but awkward I think.

I keep excess cockerels in cages. I have 3 cages on two levels - upper level has two 30" by 5' cages, bottom has one 30" by 10'. Each cage has 2 cockerels. Is it better to remove the divider on the upper level and house 3 on each level?

@HowIsItDone Thank you. There are many folks on this site who give great advice, freely. Each has their areas of interest/focus that collectively cover everything a chicken geek needs. I took more than a year getting serious about bird life before I built. Taking one's time to get what you...

I thought an update was in order. I have successfully broken the nest sleeper habit by moving the hen to the roosts just after dusk, took 7 evenings. All eggs now roll into the box without getting hung up on waste. However, I am still getting a few eggs broken. I was gathering eggs and saw one...

LOL perhaps I should have written "coop/run". Both the run and the coop/run are L shaped.

A L-shaped coop: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-coop-page.65912/

Pennsylvania's winter runs from November to April, snow falls vary from "18 to 150 inches of snowfall" depending on location. Temperatures are typically below freezing sometimes reaching -5F or lower.

I agree with the comment above regarding size vs number of chickens however, will try to answer some of your questions. I have been through overcrowding in a coop - you and your chickens will not be happy!! "deciding if food is kept in or out. What's better?" Everything you put inside the coop...

Thank you, good advice. The two elevated levels are very easy to service & to inspect the birds. I have like breeds together so comparison is much easier. Now starting to look closely at my six Chantecler cockerels/roos to chose which I will use for my June hatch. I had thought grow out would...

Not always. I thought it was related but I have moved the offending hen each night for the past five and got an egg eaten. This evening she was on the roosts.

Yes, would recommend to anyone with egg eaters. They ladies carry trash in so weekly maintenance probably a good idea. The hens now only use the new nests; only one divider but they spread out evenly; 95%+ eggs roll to the front; mornings have 5-7 nests in use; production increasing (probably...