Nesting boxes made from removable dish bins?

[CindyinSD]

I put nesting pads in my nest boxes. They’re like the old-style really cheap plastic “grass.” Only they’re not so cheap if you buy the nest pads. I think I’ve seen door mats that would work if cut up. I don’t have plastic bins... I just made my nesting boxes from wood because I had some. The nesting pads work well in them. I toss hay, straw, shavings, etc in them and the pile of the “grass” holds the materials so they don’t get kicked out. It’s easily sprayed off if necessary, but I haven’t needed to.

I don’t find that my birds often mess up the boxes. If they do, I just toss the soiled bit of straw into the deep litter on the floor and stir in—nest clean.

 

[aart]

My dish bins are only 4 1/2 inches tall, so do you really need 3-4 inches of pine shavings? I was thinking maybe 2 inches (half the bin height) would be plenty.

Might be fine, observe and adjust.
The depth may not be deep enough to deter them from scratching bedding out of bin.
They stand up almost fully when the egg actually emerges so what's around the bin might come into play.

 

[breege]

I am building my first nest boxes for the coop. The 3 nest boxes will be internal to the coop, but I have an access door on the outside wall that allows access to the back of the nest boxes to collect the eggs.

The nest box design I am thinking about building is based on using plastic dish pan/bins from the Dollar Tree. The bins would be set on rails and the bin itself would be removable. I have read some old threads on this concept and have watched a few YouTube videos about this concept.

Advantages: Removable bins, easy to clean and/or replace, broody hen can be moved with bin and eggs all at once, plastic dish bins are only $1 each.

Disadvantages: ??? Nobody mentions any disadvantages of this concept.

If anyone has some disadvantages to using these plastic dish bins for nesting boxes, please let me know. Or, if any has some built next boxes with this concept and it works just fine, I would like to know that too. Thanks.

We put in the plastic bins & I really like them! We don't have them on rails, just nestled inside an individual, oversized "nest box". It gets really cold (-20+C) here in winter, so the ladies push a bunch of the nesting material between the bin and the opening as extra insulation.
I'd suggest getting getting 2 for each. That way you can be cleaned & drying while the replacement is immediately put to use.
A couple of extra spares doesn't hurt either

 

[gtaus]

We put in the plastic bins & I really like them! … I'd suggest getting getting 2 for each. That way you can be cleaned & drying while the replacement is immediately put to use. A couple of extra spares doesn't hurt either

Exactly, at $1 per bin, even I can afford to have extras on hand for cleaning or replacement.

 

[ChickEngineer]

I am building my first nest boxes for the coop. The 3 nest boxes will be internal to the coop, but I have an access door on the outside wall that allows access to the back of the nest boxes to collect the eggs.

The nest box design I am thinking about building is based on using plastic dish pan/bins from the Dollar Tree. The bins would be set on rails and the bin itself would be removable. I have read some old threads on this concept and have watched a few YouTube videos about this concept.

Advantages: Removable bins, easy to clean and/or replace, broody hen can be moved with bin and eggs all at once, plastic dish bins are only $1 each.

Disadvantages: ??? Nobody mentions any disadvantages of this concept.

If anyone has some disadvantages to using these plastic dish bins for nesting boxes, please let me know. Or, if any has some built next boxes with this concept and it works just fine, I would like to know that too. Thanks.

I have used the plastic dish bins for a while now, work great, the girls seem to be OK with them.

 

[gtaus]

I have used the plastic dish bins for a while now, work great, the girls seem to be OK with them.

Thanks for the feedback. I bought the bins and will be building the nest box frame soon.

 

[gtaus]

For those of you who wanted pics....

Here is a shot of the side of my mobile coop. You see the 24X36 sliding window and underneath is my outside access door to my internal nesting boxes.

Here is the same shot but with the access door down, showing the inside nesting boxes.

Finally, a shot of the dish pan nest boxes from inside the coop. My girls still have a few months before they start laying, so I just put in the dish bins for the picture. I don't want them thinking this is a place to sleep, so I took the bins out after the picture and won't put them back in for a few months.

And a little closer...

The nest boxes are 12 inches off the bottom of the floor and about 16 inches to the top of the dish bin. I have about 4 inches of deep litter in there right now. The deep litter portion was designed to be as deep as 12 inches, which would make the bottom of the nesting box almost at bedding level. My roosting bars are 24 inches and 48 inches from the bottom of the floor, so I hope the girls will chose to sleep on the roosting bars and not in the nesting boxes.

Any comments welcomed. Thanks.

 

[aart]

Nice proportions and perch.
Are bins suspended on side rails or also touching on bottom of bin?

Might want to put some blocks at the blue spot, on both sides of bins,
so when birds step on red front edge the bin doesn't tip.

 

[gtaus]

Nice proportions and perch.
Are bins suspended on side rails or also touching on bottom of bin? Might want to put some blocks at the blue spot, on both sides of bins, so when birds step on red front edge the bin doesn't tip. View attachment 1839197

The bins are suspended about 1/8 inch off the bottom of the nest box enclosure. If you look under the front of the bin, I added an anti-tip bar. There is one in the back too. When I tested the bin with my hands, it was solid and did not tip at all. But I'll keep your suggestion in mind if I see the bin starting to tip. Thanks.

 

[aart]

OK, not seeing an anti-tip bar...but glad you tested it.