I caved and bought plastic storage cubes for easy nest boxes.

[Arielle]

Quote:
Were you able to get the dish pans in black also???

Love the neztbox--trying to justify the cost when I have lots of plywood available and I can manage with a power saw--just have to muster up the courage everytime I pick it up.! The pressure is on to present a good example to my boys and teach them safety rules at this point. Oh the things a mom must do! LOL

 

[mommissan]

Dishpans are awesome! Mine LOVE them! I bought mine too so that I didn't have to ask hubby to make me some. Good for you!

 

[rancher hicks]

Just dropping in real quick.

There are many things that can be used for nest boxes. However milk crates do work if you cover them with burlap or other cloth to make them darker. As for scrap lumber I just got some pieces of ply wood 16x48x1/2 which I use for all sorts of things. I check often in their "culled" lumber area and save up. If I need 4' long pieces of 2x4's or what ever I can get them for .51 cents. I even got a post for my porch banister for $1.

Also 5 gallon buckets can be used if you cover part of the opening with cloth or something else, there is actually a guy who invented a snap on front to these but they are more than I would spend. Not to mention plastic does not last long.

Do a google search to get other neat ideas for nest boxes.


Take care,

Rancher

 

[artsyrobin]

Quote:
ya know, my gals absolutely love plastic bins, over any kind of nestbox i have made, i gave up being fancy and let them have their bin...

 

[artsyrobin]

Quote:
i thought i was the only one with that issue!

 

[off-grid hen]

Here are the photos, as requested. Yes, I was able to get black dishpans. I got a total of 4 new nestboxes out of it. I've collected two eggs in them, both partridge rocks. Only one of that breed is laying so far.

I was lucky, they slide under the existing nest boxes.

Dish pan slides out for easy egg collection.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

 

[Mrs.Hoover]

Great Idea, I have been using the dishpan's....maybe I should cough up the money and find those cubes- Do they fit in there snug enough to not tip over? My girls are constantly tipping over their tub's.

 

[Tracydr]

Great idea. I was just thinking of something like this and planning to go to the dollar store or Hobby Lobby today. Did you get these at Target?

 

[off-grid hen]

Yes, they fit in snugly and don't tip over. I think they'd work freestanding ( with more than one hooked together) too bc of their width. Yes, I got them at target. I will say that when I slid them out to clean the coop, the little plastic pegs that are supposed to hold them together As one unit came undone, but I wasn't expecting the little pegs to hold up well, they're just cheap plastic after all.

 

[adgcountrygirl]

Quote:
We are using two large cat litter boxes with covers over them. We removed the plastic doors, and raised the rabbit hutch on cinder blocks. The cat boxes now fit under the rabbit hutch. The door that doubles as a ramp is left open, and they can use any of these 3 areas for laying. The hutch is one of those large ones with a nesting area. I took out the wire dropping part, the divider and the floor of the nest box and just use the removable drop pan as the flooring for the whole hutch. The girls seem happy with it.