Electric Nesting Boxes

I made an electrified nesting box to keep my puppy from stealing the eggs.

For days we would find fresh egg shells off the the left of the nest box. Whatever was taking the eggs was not taking them far - about five feet max. I set up a trail camera to see if I could catch the thief in the act. Closest I came was a shot of the puppy with his paws on the upper nest box perch.

So, I decided to electrify the perch using a set-up designed for fencing in large areas (a two-mile perimeter in the case of the least expensive fence charger I could find. The charger itself was intended and designed to be used inside, plugged into a standard US electrical outlet. I needed to install it closer to the nest box, thus out of doors. This required a weatherproof enclosure and the project was on.

• Electric Fence Controller - Tractor Supply Store
• Single gang steel electrical box - Lowes/Home Depot
• 15 Amp Duplex Outlet - (ReStore find)
• 10 Gauge THNN electrical wire - Lowes/Home Depot
• Co-axial antenna cable - False Start - Leftovers
• Re-recycled electrical extension cord
• AC220V 20mA Energy Saving LED Indicator Light - Amazon
• Power Switch, Outlet Extender, 2-Prong - ReStore find
• Illuminated Power Switch, 3-prong - Amazon
• Wire nuts
• Scrap lamp wire/zip-cord
• 4' +/- section of rebar
• 1" Diameter Acrylic Rod - ReStore find
• 1 x 8 x 4' recycled pine shelf - ReStore find
• Aluminum - scrap from Habitat Build
• Plywood Cutoffs - My shop
• 2 x 4 Cutoffs - My Shop
• Walnut scrap - My Shop
• Hinges - ReStore find
• Magnetic Catch - My 'hardware stash'
• III Waterproof Wood glue
• Toothpicks
• Fine Sawdust
• Misc Nuts, Bolts, Washers, Wood screws, 18 GA nails

Tools I used:

• Craftsman Table Saw
• DeWalt 13-inch planer
• HFT Disc/belt sander
• 4.5" HFT grinder w/cutoff disc
• HFT Lathe
• Craftsman 18.2 Volt Drill/Driver
• !8GA Pneumatic Nail Gun
• Rigid Drill Press
• Chinese Forstner Bits
• Craftsman drill bits
• Step Bits - HFT
• Old HFT Hammer Drill

I began with a painted pine shelf board purchased at a Habitat ReStore. There were three of them, between three and four feet long painted on all sides/edges. First step was to slide the board through the noisy planer to remove the layers of paint and get down to bare wood. Then, I cut the board into four pieces and form them into a box temporarily to check to see that the intended components will fit within the confines. Note: I decided against mitered corners - form follows function, after all and this was a temporary shelter for a component likely to prove redundant once the puppy got his second shock (or so).

At this point I realized I needed to account for two more 'sides,' the front and the back! Given the intended use excuse, just cut a scrap of exterior plywood and nail it in place and the back side would be sufficient. The last side, needed to serve as the door. For that, I decided on an 'inset door' variation - inset on three sides, lapping on one.

To make this work I needed to trim one of my sides the thickness of the plywood scrap selected from the pile to serve as a door. Since the Table Saw was already set to the final width of the sides, all I had to do was lay the plywood scrap against the fence and the chosen side against it and run it past the blade - viola cut to fit w/o measurements.

Apologies for the absence of pictures of my planer and table saw at work - sometimes I get preoccupied with the build and forget about documenting the progress.

Once the four sides were sorted, a bit of glue and some 18GA finish nails served to hold 'em together while I attached the back (pilot holes and wood screws) and played around with the electrical outlet box while the Fence Charge was plugged into it to refine the placement to accommodate the various wiring to the box, to the 'fence,' ground rod and finally to the indicator light that needs to be protected from the weather and visible from outside the box that protects it.

So, I needed to figure out how to mount that indicator lamp. The one I had was designed to mount in a (thin) panel.

I had a section of round plastic rod I knew it would transmit light and could be cut and polished easily. So, the idea was to cut a hole in the door just large enough to fit a piece of the tube in in far enough from the edges of the door to allow for drilling such a large hole.

This demanded mounting the door - rather than trust measurements in three dimensions - and mounting the indicator light.

My indicator lamp was designed to mount in a (thin) panel.

I decided I needed a right-angled bracket sufficiently large enough to allow drilling a large hole for mounting the light ("Mounting hole size: 22mm/0.87in") and room for a couple of screws on the other leg to mount the thing (assembly) to the box and went to my small metal scraps drawer and found some pieces of vinyl railing reinforcement we used on the porch of a Habitat build (the railings come in fixed lengths and we cut the plastic railing and the reinforcement to fit. Naturally, I found the shiny metal scraps worth carting home.)

The reinforcement was shaped like an I-beam. All I had to do was cut away the bits that were not a bracket. But, first, I drilled a pilot hole in the center while I had the most material to work with as the material was relatively thin and the drill bits might 'catch.' distorting the material if it was not held securely. I have a set of five (inexpensive) step drills (from two HFT sales back when you got a freebie with every sale - anyone need a flashlight?) and wound up getting close, test fitting, drilling a bit more, repeat until I had the perfect opening for a nice fit.

Then I cut away all the bits that weren't the mounting bracket, drilled to holes for mounting screws and cleaned up/smoothed out the edges with a file and sand paper.

I played around with possible locations until hitting on one I thought perfect. As it turns out, it wasn't, but it serves!

Now to a hole in the door.

To make the hinging easy, I wanted the hinge side of the door flush with the the edge of that side of the box. Then, all I needed to do would be to lay the old hinges where I wanted them, mark the locations for the screws, drill the pilot holes and screw the hinges in place.

Of course, holding the hinge side in place for all this activity was hidden suspension. I cut two scraps of wood equal to the depth of the opposite wall and set them against the hinge wall to serve as a support for the (in my case) left side of the door while the right side rested on top of the opposite wall. Not perfect, but steady enough to let me accomplish the task and hinge the door so I could measure and mark for the indicator light.

The section of plywood I'd cut was a quarter-inch or so long and over hung the (jamb?) side of the opening essentially forming a lip "that could serve as a handle of sorts," I thought. Then, running with that idea I cut up a scrap piece of walnut - rabbiting out the depth of the overhang the thickness of the plywood and gluing it in place to create a three quarter inch wide 'handle' a man riding by on a fast horse might mistake for intentional.

Once the door was fastened, I could close it over the indicator light and mark the inside face of the door so I might drill a hole to hold a section of the plastic rod to serve as a lens. I removed the door, took it to the drill press nailed the hole position only to realize the 'bad side' of the plywood was facing out - not in.

I had to remove the door, flip it 180, mount it again, mark it again, drill it again, fit it again and then turn a dowel out of a scrap to fill in the first hole, toothpicks and fine sawdust to fill-in the 'old' screw holes. Actually, this all took place before I added the walnut trim piece.

I also added a magnetic catch to the door, albeit long after I'd finished the entire project, mounted and 'field tested' it for a week or more - the pictures of the catch are included out of sequence in one sense and not in the other.

With the indicator lamp bracket and lamp in position, it was time to mount the 'handy box' to the back wall of the box. To check the fitting, I first mounted the duplex outlet to the box, plugged the fence charger into it and moved it about to find the best place to fasten the outlet box, marked it, took it all apart and screwed the Handy Box to the wooden box. Then I brought the extension cord into the box through a hole I'd drilled through the bottom and tied a knot in it (simple strain relief), ran the end through the cable clamp into the box and wired the ground, neutral and hot leads to the first set of screws. I wired the indicator lamp using a length of lamp cord and wired the lamp first, mounted it in the holder and ran the wires through the top cable clamp and to the top two screws on the duplex outlet. Then fastened the outlet to the Handy Box using the screws that come with the outlet and added a plastic outlet cover I had on hand. My original intent was to use a single outlet and metal Handy Box cover. However, at some point into the process I'd set it down near the drill press and forgotten it. When I came time to install the outlet box I couldn't find the parts I'd first found and had to dig 'round in my stash to find a duplex outlet and plastic cover. After I got them all installed and wired I found the first set near the drill press, kicked myself and moved on.

I had a length of Coaxial antenna wire I was sure could withstand the elements and was of sufficient gauge to handle the demands of the fence charger and my four foot run of 'fencing' and tried stripping the covering off to expose what turned out to be a rather brittle, copper clad(?) steel conductor - a real chore. I snapped the conductor a couple of times in the process but plowed ahead despite the warning signs. When I went to install the other ends (to the 'fence' and ground rod, I snapped the conductor twice again, surrendered and went with a length of red 10 gauge stranded copper and another in green

As we had an outlet within about ten-twelve feet from the nest box at issue the easiest solution was to mount the fence charger box between the two. The wall was clad in rough-faced brick and wanted a special attachment solution and I thought to try a French Cleat which would allow the box to be suspended such that it would tilt forward and shed any rain that came our way by attaching a small 'foot' at the bottom of the box aligned with a low point in the brickwork so the bottom bottom of the box was closer to the wall tilting the box forward. Later, I drill a hole through both parts of the cleat to sort of lock things in place buy placing a bolt through the hole.

Then it was a simple matter to run the red and green wires along the bricks and nest box to the 'fence' wire on the perch where a screw, washer and wire nut served to make that connection while a bolt through a hole I'd drilled through the rebar served to fasten the green lead under a washer and nut as securely as needed.

Shown is the white two-prong outlet switch first employed. It was a bit difficult to access what with the outlet cover trying to snap shut. So I replaced it with a three-prong (grounded) outlet switch that was easier to access as well as offering an illuminated switch.

After all this effort, I forget to set up the trail cameras after I had the electric nest box working.

A couple of days went by without any eggs going missing - usually four a day, but every few days or so we only get three. No broken shells nor other evidence of theft. The fence was working - or the thief had moved on?

Then, one morning the wife heard a yelp and went out to see - nothing. The dog wasn't in sight and, though she thought it was him, she couldn't swear to it. It was then I realized the trail cameras were inside the house.

A couple days ago, I was collecting the eggs and the puppy came by the nest box to watch? I was focused upon the eggs (four) when I heard him yelp very loudly, then turned and ran up the mountain as if his tail was afire.

I think he sniffed the perch too closely and got one hell of a shock up his nose. Didn't see that bit, of course but I think the electric nest box 'fence' deters dogs.