My Ikea Hack
You may remember me mentioning a while back that the chicken shed had an infestation of Red Mite. At that time I vowed to make a plastic nest box to cut down on the likelihood of this happening again, and I am now happy to tell you that the Ikea Hack that I had in mind is not only in place, but also a great success! Of course, I would prefer having an all plastic Eglu but that isn't going to happen any time soon.
I thought about getting two systems but in the end just went with one to test the water first. I could always go back to Ikea and double up if the whole thing worked well. Here is what I did.
I bought an Antonius frame (102cm) and set of drawers from Ikea. Once the frame was put together I measured up the side of one of the bigger drawers (I used the off-cut from a pop hole I had built previously to guestimate what size this hole would be).
Next I used a sharp craft knife to cut out the hole. This was difficult to start, but surprisingly easy once it got under way.
Once the hole was cut I used black duct tape to cover the edges. You don't want the chickens to end up with cuts on them through thoughtlessness on your part! You can see I left a bit of a lip on the bottom and didn't cut all the way to the base. This was for two reasons - leaving this in will strengthen the box slightly plus it stops baby chicks from being dragged to the ground when they are still under the hen and in the same vein, eggs wont roll or be kicked to the ground as easily.
The next job was to install the frame and drawers in the shed, just to make sure the whole thing actually fitted in ok. As you can see - Cake had no problem being the first chook to inspect.
And then, of course, there is no show without Izzy!
Finally, with both drawers cut out, the whole drawer system was looking fairly neat but I was most encouraged to see a chicken actually go in to the first nest box.
I hadn't really thought the top of the installation through properly. the only thing I knew was that I didn't want to buy a wooden desk top from the Antonius range, and kinda hoped something would jump out at me later on that could be used as roosting bars.Happily I found a wire shelf in the garage left over from a previous Antonius job in our "laundry room." It fitted perfectly, in one of those "oh my goodness - it couldn't have been better had I planned it that way" moments.
So, the general idea was to have two nest boxes, a storage drawer, roosting bars on top, and the top drawer as a removable poo collector. My chickeny items came down from a shelf and all packed away neatly in the storage drawer. By this time you will be glad to hear I was mighty chuffed with myself!
Finally, with the frame in place, the drawers all slotted in, and the nest boxes filled with bedding, isn't the whole thing looking cool?
As to how it is being used by the chickens, yes, it is a great success with both the chickens and me! A fair proportion of the eggs are laid in the bottom box, and I have seen Lacey in there with at least 10 of her not-so-little-anymore chicks at night, so it must be comfy enough.
The upper nest box is generally not used that much, despite not being any higher off the ground than where I know the chickens can comfortably jump up to. I have had to clean out the bottom box a couple of times now and it is just so easy! All you do is tip out the old bedding - rinse off under a tap and reuse. Couldn't be simpler.
In the beginning the roosting bars weren't really used but in the past couple of weeks or so I have noticed the younger birds have no problem getting up and down from there which pleases me no end!
Not counting the wire shelf (£5.50), which was purchased under a different heading, this project used:
one Antonius Frame - £7.00
two small Antonius Drawers - £8.00
two large Antonius Drawers - £12.00
Total cost - £27.00
My last wooden nest box only cost me £15 at a Poultry Fair, but I think the difference is justified by it being easier to clean and less prone to bug infestation. The next time I am in Ikea I plan to pick up enough to duplicate on the other side of the shed and move the chooks out of the wooden nest box completely.
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