Simple & Cheap DIY Nesting Boxes From Dresser Drawers
I’m going to show you how we made these simple & cheap nesting boxes for our chickens with old dresser drawers and leftover wood (and you can too!). In this blog post I share the measurements and steps we took to design nesting boxes that are functional and affordable, in less than 3 hours!
With the dream of homesteading, comes many costs. Frugality becomes necessary in almost every aspect of life. I often find myself searching the yard and garage for things I can repurpose in order to not buy new. Re-using allows us to keep costs down, and continue to save money even while living the homesteading lifestyle. This entire project was made using recycled materials, making it FREE for us!
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A Note About Tools And Materials:
Oh the things husbands do for us, I so appreciate him being the heavy lifter and turning my creative ideas into reality.
If you do not have a handyman husband (that is literally my husband’s profession, he runs a handyman business) you may not have access to all of the tools we used.
I am going to share with you how we made these nesting boxes. BUT that doesn’t mean you need to do it the exact same way we did. I’ll give suggestions for other materials and tools you can use to make this project do-able for anyone!
Following the exact measurements isn’t even a requirement. You may have less space, chickens, or materials. You can lower the height, prop them on cinder blocks instead of giving an 18″ space below, and if you do this, you won’t even need to add the front roost to give your chickens the boost up.
I will explain exactly what we did, but you can change this project however you want to make your own simple & cheap DIY nesting boxes!
DIY Nesting Boxes Tools & Materials:
Materials:
From these materials we made 8 nesting boxes that measured: 42 inches tall, 53 inches wide, 14.5 inches deep. Adjust materials according to your available materials and number of chickens.
For the boards, we used mostly 2x4s and decking boards because that is what we had lying around. You can use any sturdy boards for this project.
4 Dresser Drawers: Ours were 26.5 x 14.5 x 6.5 – Size doesn’t matter, as long as they’re big enough for nesting boxes. The important thing is that they are wood.
Scrap Wood: We used:
4: 42 inch boards (for legs – adjust height as desired – we chose this length so we would have 18 inches below the boxes, and 10 inches in between.)
4: 53 inch boards (to support bottom of the drawers, may not be required if your drawers are more sturdy than ours were
2: 53 inch 2×2 boards ( for roost across boxes)
4: 14.5 inch boards to divide drawers from 1 big nesting box into 2 smaller nesting boxes.
2. 12 inch 2×2 boards (for lower sides of roost)
2. 6 inch by 2 inch boards ( for upper sides of roost)
*If your dresser drawers are different dimensions cut to fit your project*
Tools:
Tape measure ( to measure boards)
Pencil ( to mark cuts)
Rafter Square (speed square) (to cut correct angles for your boards)
Drill or impact driver
Circular saw (to make cuts)
Nail gun (optional, can use drill for entire project if desired)
2.5″ framing nails (if using nail gun)
2 3/4″ screws
How To Design Your Dresser Drawer Nesting Boxes:
Our basic design for this nesting boxes was legs, and a cross support (made from the dresser drawers) we then added roosts to make it easier for the chickens to jump in to them.
Step 1: Determine how high you want your nesting boxes to be. Use 4 boards that are the same length for the legs.
step 2: Decide if you want your nesting boxes to have dividers or not. We cut 4 divider boards to make 8 nesting boxes from 4 drawers.
Step 3: Choose whether you will reinforce the bottoms of the drawers or not. We chose to do this because the bottom of our dresser drawers were flimsy.
Step 4: Decide if you want roosts across the boxes
Step 5: Choose whether you want the top nesting boxes to have a board or not. We chose not to, and our chickens don’t seem to mind.
How To Assemble The Simple & Cheap DIY Nesting Boxes:
Step 1. Find and measure your old drawers
Step 2: Calculate the length of your 4 leg boards. How to do this: measure the height of your drawers, decide how much height you want between the nesting boxes, and how much height you want the nesting boxes to have off of the ground. This determines the length of your 4 leg boards. Example: Drawer height 7 inches x 2 drawers = 14 inches + 10 inch space in between drawers + 18 inches off the ground = 42 inches. You would need 4, 42 inch boards.
Step 3: Use your circular saw and rafter square to cut boards to desired length.
Step 4: Connect the drawers together using your drill. Do this by drilling 3 screws into each side of the two drawers you are connecting. both drawers should be sitting side by side facing forward.
Step 5: For under-drawer support boards option: measure the length of the 2 screwed together drawers. Cut 2 boards the length of the 2 drawers using your circular saw and fasten them to the bottom of the connected drawers by drilling into the sides of the drawers.
Step 6: For nesting box dividers: Measure the interior width of your drawers. Cut divider boards into that length and attach boards to drawers from the outside front and back of the dresser drawer with either your drill or nail gun.
Step 7: Turn the drawers on their side, mark where you want your legs positioned, and fasten 2 of the legs to one side of the drawers with either your drill or nail gun. Repeat on other side.
Step 8. Once legs are attached, if you want a roost across for the chickens to hop on to, measure the entire length of the nesting boxes. Use your circular saw to cut your boards to match that length. Then cut 2 smaller boards to the length you want the roosts to be standing away from the nesting boxes. We did 12 inches for the bottom, and 6 inch for the top. Fasten to sides of nesting boxes using your drill.
Step 9: If you’d like a top board for the upper nesting boxes to be covered, this is when you would cut that the length of the nesting boxes and secure it to the top of the boxes.
Step 10: Secure the nesting boxes to the wall of your coop so that they don’t fall on any unfortunate chickens! Fill with desired bedding, and let your chickens explore their new simple & cheap DIY nesting boxes!
Simple & Cheap DIY Nesting Boxes FAQS:
How big should nesting boxes be: It’s recommended that they be at least 12×12 for the chickens to have enough room to be comfortable.
Will the chickens sleep in the nesting boxes? Not if they are not the highest surface in their coop. Have roosts that are higher, this will prevent them wanting to sleep in the nesting boxes.
Can you paint the nesting boxes? Sure! Paint or even peel & stick wallpaper is a cute and quirky addition to your chicken coop.
Can you use pallets as the spare wood for this project: Absolutely! Dismantle the pallet, and use the boards the same way you would any other scrap wood for this project.
How much height should be between my nesting boxes? We recommend between 8 and 12 inches depending on if you have larger or smaller chicken breeds.
Simple & Cheap DIY Nesting Boxes From Dresser Drawers
Equipment
- Tape measure ( to measure boards)
- Pencil ( to mark cuts)
- Rafter Square (speed square) (to cut correct angles for your boards)
- Drill or impact driver
- Circular saw (to make cuts)
- Nail gun (optional, can use drill for entire project if desired)
- 2.5″ framing nails (if using nail gun)
- 2 3/4″ screws
Materials
- 4 Dresser Drawers: Ours were 26.5 x 14.5 x 6.5 – Size doesn’t matter as long as they’re big enough for nesting boxes. The important thing is that they are wood.
- Scrap Wood: We used:
- 4 : 42 inch boards for legs – adjust height as desired – we chose this length so we would have 18 inches below the boxes, and 10 inches in between.
- 4 : 53 inch boards (to support bottom of the drawers may not be required if your drawers are more sturdy than ours were
- 2 : 53 inch 2×2 boards for roost across boxes
- 4 : 14.5 inch boards to divide drawers from 1 big nesting box into 2 smaller nesting boxes.
- 12 inch 2×2 boards for lower sides of roost
- 6 inch by 2 inch boards for upper sides of roost
- *If your dresser drawers are different dimensions cut to fit your project*
Instructions
- How To Design Your Dresser Drawer Nesting Boxes:
- Our basic design for this nesting boxes was legs, and a cross support (made from the dresser drawers) we then added roosts to make it easier for the chickens to jump in to them.
- Step 1: Determine how high you want your nesting boxes to be. Use 4 boards that are the same length for the legs.
- step 2: Decide if you want your nesting boxes to have dividers or not. We cut 4 divider boards to make 8 nesting boxes from 4 drawers.
- Step 3: Choose whether you will reinforce the bottoms of the drawers or not. We chose to do this because the bottom of our dresser drawers were flimsy.
- Step 4: Decide if you want roosts across the boxes
- Step 5: Choose whether you want the top nesting boxes to have a board or not. We chose not to, and our chickens don’t seem to mind.
- How To Assemble The Simple & Cheap DIY Nesting Boxes:
- Step 1. Find and measure your old drawers
- Step 2: Calculate the length of your 4 leg boards. How to do this: measure the height of your drawers, decide how much height you want between the nesting boxes, and how much height you want the nesting boxes to have off of the ground. This determines the length of your 4 leg boards. Example: Drawer height 7 inches x 2 drawers = 14 inches + 10 inch space in between drawers + 18 inches off the ground = 42 inches. You would need 4, 42 inch boards.
- Step 3: Use your circular saw and rafter square to cut boards to desired length.
- Step 4: Connect the drawers together using your drill. Do this by drilling 3 screws into each side of the two drawers you are connecting. both drawers should be sitting side by side facing forward.
- Step 5: For under-drawer support boards option: measure the length of the 2 screwed together drawers. Cut 2 boards the length of the 2 drawers using your circular saw and fasten them to the bottom of the connected drawers by drilling into the sides of the drawers.
- Step 6: For nesting box dividers: Measure the interior width of your drawers. Cut divider boards into that length and attach boards to drawers from the outside front and back of the dresser drawer with either your drill or nail gun.
- Step 7: Turn the drawers on their side, mark where you want your legs positioned, and fasten 2 of the legs to one side of the drawers with either your drill or nail gun. Repeat on other side.
- Step 8. Once legs are attached, if you want a roost across for the chickens to hop on to, measure the entire length of the nesting boxes. Use your circular saw to cut your boards to match that length. Then cut 2 smaller boards to the length you want the roosts to be standing away from the nesting boxes. We did 12 inches for the bottom, and 6 inch for the top. Fasten to sides of nesting boxes using your drill.
- Step 9: If you’d like a top board for the upper nesting boxes to be covered, this is when you would cut that the length of the nesting boxes and secure it to the top of the boxes.
- Step 10: Secure the nesting boxes to the wall of your coop so that they don't fall on any unfortunate chickens! Fill with desired bedding, and let your chickens explore their new simple & cheap DIY nesting boxes!
Notes
Are You Inspired To Make Dresser Drawer Nesting Boxes?
Please comment to let me know down below!
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This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please read my full disclosure policy here
