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Newspaper Boxes Make Great Chicken Nests

 
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Plastic Newspaper Boxes Make Great Chicken Nests

When Dave M found 8 plastic newspaper sales boxes behind his town’s local newspaper office, he thought right away that they might work as chicken nest boxes. So he converted them, then gave them to a friend.
   “All I did was remove a hinged plexiglass window on the front of the box and then placed some straw inside,” says M
   “My friend has about 150 layers and says they love using these newspaper box nests. They will often lay multiple eggs in one nest. They also seem to like the elevated vantage point. The plastic boxes are easy to clean, and the straw can be easily replaced.”
   The bottom half of each box has a solid front. “I cut out the front panels and use the space inside for more nests, which doubled each box’s capacity,” says M
   “Newspaper and shopper boxes are being phased out because everything is going to the Internet. Converting them to chicken nests is a good way to reuse them,” says M

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Reuse and not refuse
Reuse and not refuse
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Wide look at nesting boxes. Happy chooks, better eggs.
Wide look at nesting boxes. Happy chooks, better eggs.
 
Steward of piddlers
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Location: Upstate NY, Zone 5, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall
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What an great upcycle. Eggs, hot off the press!
 
gardener
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That are pretty cool. Wish I had a source for those.
 
master gardener
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Location: Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods
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I have this vision of me being stopped by a cop as I'm loading those boxes into my truck.  "What?! It says 'free' right on the top there."
 
Dave Mathia
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EDIT:  This was originally posted in Farmshow magazine, but I thought everyone would like it.  I was impressed how much the chickens liked the boxes, once it was all done and the second level steps were put in.  Unfortunately, the barn caught fire a couple years later and it’s all gone.  (And in case anyone is wondering, I DID NOT steal the boxes.  Everything is being phased out).  
 
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