Thursday, April 5, 2012

Homesteading Project - DIY Chicken Nesting Boxes Using Kitty Litter Buckets


Front View of Nesting Buckets

RW, Jr. and Medicine Man spent some time yesterday finishing up their DIY nesting boxes for the main chicken coop. Some extensive repairs were made on the main coop and some additional coop space was added. In the above picture, you can see the buckets with fresh hay ready for the little ladies. The raised nesting boxes will make it easier to harvest the eggs once someone has seen and made the birth announcements that the Hen's have laid the eggs. Saving time with harvesting eggs means more time for other chores and even a good egg breakfast.




Side View of Raised Nesting Buckets

Here's a side view that shows how the buckets fit in the raised portion of the holder for the new nesting buckets. RW, Jr. and myself put this together using some scrap lumber. The buckets fit easily into the raised platform. There are some additional ground nesting buckets visible in the background.



View of Bucket with Partial Lid

A small section of the lid was left on the nesting buckets to help hold in the nesting material. The lids cut easily with a knife and the partial lids really help in retaining the nesting material.



Kitty Litter Bucket

Since the regular round buckets aren't always available in sufficient quantities, it was decided to use empty kitty litter buckets to make the nesting boxes. There was no shortage of kitty litter buckets available thanks to the Cat Lady.




Raised Ground Nesting Buckets

RW, Jr. also made a small raised platform about 4 inches high for the ground nesting buckets. These are for those hens that feel more comfortable at ground level. With no shortage of kitty litter buckets, there'll be plenty of nests for the hens.

It is always important to utilize all your resources. Usually a simple solution to your needs can be found quite easily if you spend a little time looking in the right place. 

Got DIY nesting buckets?

Staying above the water line!

Riverwalker



8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pretty slick idea, we have a neighbor Cat Man ourself, feeds every darn cat that he can. I might be able to scrounge off a couple of buckets.

Raised hen bin is good idea, our chicken tractor sometimes can be a chore to harvest when the chicken decides to place eggs waaaay over on other side of compartment. We have three hens, who lay about 10 eggs a week, providing we give enough mash along with feed and some greens pulled along side the fence.

Also during summertime, (wife being a teacher and staying home in summer), she will take out refrigerated drinking water for them to drink. They seem to appreciate that.

idahobob said...

VERY nice!

Bob
III

riverwalker said...

To: anonymous 7:36

The regular buckets are sometimes hard to find and these kitty litter buckets work pretty good. You could use almost any type of bucket you have handy for making nesting boxes.

Thanks anon.

RW

riverwalker said...

To: idahobob

Thanks.

RW

Unknown said...

What a great idea! I need to start buying the larger containers of kitty litter (for our three indoor cats) to utitilize this in our chicken coops.
Blessings
Diane

riverwalker said...

To: Diane

Buying the bulk containers of kitty litter should also save you some money, as well as give you a source for nesting buckets.

Thanks.

RW

Renee said...

Can you post instructions how to build them? I keep seeing them but no instructions....thanx

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