How to Make a Nesting Box for Parakeets

If you plan to breed parakeets, you must supply the female with a nesting box. It is easy to make your own as long as you have basic woodworking skills and tools. The box has an opening inside the cage where the bird can enter to lay and then incubate her eggs. The back of the nesting box is on a hinge so that you can reach in to clean the box, remove empty egg shells, and also take away any baby birds that happen to die after hatching.

Things You'll Need

• Two screw-in cup hooks Two pieces 1/4 inch untreated, unpainted plywood that are: 6 x 7 inches Four pieces 1/4 inch untreated, unpainted plywood that is 14 x 7 inches One piece 1/4 inch dowell that is 4 inches long wood glue Two metal hinges (1 inch wide) and the screws to attach them Electric hand drill Hole saw with blade to make 2-inch hole Firm cardboard 5 1/2 x 13 inches Paper plate bowl Scissors Soft pine shavings

Instructions

1. Drill an entry hole in one of the 6 x 7-inch boards. Hold the board so that the longer side is the width (as in a landscape orientation for a piece of paper). Make the hole 2 inches in diameter. The top of this hole should be 1 inch below the top of the board. The center of the hole should be 3 inches from either side of the board. Drill a 1/4-inch hole an inch below the bottom of the entry. Insert the piece of dowel into this hole. It will be the perch.

2. Drill vent holes. Put four vent holes along the top of the long side of two of the 14 x 7-inch boards. Make the holes 1 inch from the top and space them equally across the length of the board. One of these boards will be the left side of the nesting box and the other will become the right side of the nesting box. Drill three additional vent holes 1 inch from the top of the smaller board that does not contain the entry hole. Drill two more vent holes a 1/2 inch lower and one more 1/2 inch below that. These six vent holes should end up arranged like a triangle.

3. Glue the long boards together so that they form a rectangular box that is open on both ends. Glue on the front board which has the entry hole and the perch. Allow the glue to dry thoroughly before proceeding to the next step.

4. Attach the back board using hinges connecting the top of the nesting box to the top of this board. It will open and shut easily so that you can reach into the box to inspect and clean the nest. Screw one cup hook in to the top of the front of the nesting box on the left side and another on the right side. These will be used to hang the nesting box to the breeding cage.

5. Trace around the paper plate bowl on the cardboard. Cut out this area so that the paper plate bowl will fit into the cardboard. Slide the cardboard tray into the back of the nesting box. This area will be where the female will lay her eggs. Fill the area with soft pine shavings.

Resources

• Links to Bird Cage Building Plans
• About Raising Parakeets