The Trap Nesting Thread

[knjinnm]

What is the hook made of? It looks fragile.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

..., which just results in a closed door, with no occupant. I don't want them to get stressed so I check on them every 20-30 minutes. It's been fun to do this and totally worth the intensive effort of visiting the coop every 30 minutes for 9 hours a day. I am on my 4th out of 5 planned days of tagging and I have been very surprised by the results. Over half of my hens aren't laying at all, and the ones that are laying, several are laying two eggs per day (pulling the weight for the others!). Some of the hens that aren't very old are early molters and stopped laying already for this year also. It's no wonder our food costs are so high. To break even, we have to sell a dozen eggs for $6. That doesn't even include labor costs!

Something is amiss here. It may be possible to happen once in a great while but several hens can't lay two eggs a day.
It takes between 23 and 26 hours from ovulation for the egg to be laid, depending on the bird. For excellent layers, ovulation occurs shortly after the previous egg is laid.
Once released, the yolk spends 15 minutes in the infundibulum where it is fertilized if roosters are present. From there it takes about 3 hours to move through the magnum where about half the albumen is added. It then enters the isthmus where more albumen, inner and outer membranes are added. That takes about 75 minutes. Then it enters the uterus or shell gland. It can spend from 18 to 20 hours there getting the remainder of albumen and all the calcium carbonate for the shell and any pigments. This is a very small gland (about 12 centimeters) so there isn't room for more than one egg in there. So it's almost impossible for a hen to lay 2 eggs a day. If she does, there's something wrong.

If you want to make ends meet, find ways to eliminate waste, lose all the fancy breeds and start replacing them with some of the breeds I suggested or better yet, get some hybrids like sexlinks, ISA browns or hyline hybrids.

 

[jbkirk]

Here you go! We've not had any issues with the new style doors so far. No escapes, no double eggs, one empty tripped box so far, screw was adjusted, works fine now.

Something I failed to mention in my earlier post with my trap door illustrations: on the back of the primary doors there are 1/2" #4 wood screws positioned so the bottom of the door rest slightly higher than the hinged portion. As illustrated below.



The screws keep the doors from tripping when the birds land on the perches in front of the doors, I chose screws instead of mails because screws can be adjusted easily. I tried removing them when the old style doors were not tripping consistently. But the result was of course like I said: the doors tripped when the birds landed on the roost. With the new-style, lower doors and the screw properly adjusted, everything works like a charm.


On a personal note; it might seem strange to worry about such trivial things when I'm not even breeding yet. Predators shut that down last year and I didn't want any more precious and rare standard-bred Ancona's till I was certain I could keep them alive! So this year is all about preparation. We've changed some of our methods, built more secure enclosures and fenced in "free range" area's. The chickens are no longer allowed in the death-trap woods. My red sex links are thriving and the few chickens that I have from last year are as well. Haven't lost a bird this year! I even still have a few two year old hatchery birds, our "first" chickens. Thing is I'm demanding of myself; I've worked out my entire life and although I was never very big at 160 I could bench double body weight raw and squat triple body weight. I've always topped my personal records in one way or another. Now at 52 working 65hrs/wk and driving 10 more, plus parenting seven children ages 16-1yr, I can't ever outdo any of my standing lifting records, I fail to progress. That's where the breeding comes in, I can only get better at this. We homeschool so the kids and wife are home all day. We have the time to trap nest and keeping records and writing all this stuff down and figuring all this out develops critical thinking. It's a win, win. My goal is to increase productivity of standard bred Ancona's to match the claims of Cecil Sheppard's famous Ancona's and do this with birds that win at shows, as he did.

There are the hooks. They are very long so the chicken pushes it when she enters the nest. Once released, the door rests on her tail until she turns and settles. Occasionally they get spooked by the door touching their back and they back out of the nest, which just results in a closed door, with no occupant. I don't want them to get stressed so I check on them every 20-30 minutes. It's been fun to do this and totally worth the intensive effort of visiting the coop every 30 minutes for 9 hours a day. I am on my 4th out of 5 planned days of tagging and I have been very surprised by the results. Over half of my hens aren't laying at all, and the ones that are laying, several are laying two eggs per day (pulling the weight for the others!). Some of the hens that aren't very old are early molters and stopped laying already for this year also. It's no wonder our food costs are so high. To break even, we have to sell a dozen eggs for $6. That doesn't even include labor costs!

It sounds to me like you have hens not tripping it and other hens go in after to lay their egg you find them before they have done it and take them out and then they go in again to lay their first egg for the day.
I have tried a variation of @Rhinoman method and it works quite well

 

[123farm]

It sounds to me like you have hens not tripping it and other hens go in after to lay their egg you find them before they have done it and take them out and then they go in again to lay their first egg for the day.
I have tried a variation of @Rhinoman method and it works quite well

You may be right although with two of them, I feel fairly certain it was two eggs in one day. The first lay was early in the morning, second lay in the evening. Our hens like to be outside and only come in the coop to lay and leave so it is unlikely that a hen would sit on a nest in the morning if she wasn't going to lay. Those same two hens have laid every day for five days. Perhaps their reproductive systems hold the eggs behind so they occasionally "back up"? I did miss a few lays even though I visited the coop often. To kind of resolve it, if a hen was sitting in a nest and had a tag from the first day, I automatically gave her one for the second day, knowing she already lays good eggs. Some of our hens lay thin shelled eggs because they are 4+ years old, so those girls didnt get tagged even if they did lay an egg, they will be slaughtered in two weeks. This project for me, was good enough. We needed to accomplish something at low to no cost, and we did that, albeit not perfect. The goal was to keep the highest layers and late molters. I am really impressed by your traps... and you are fortunate to be able to stay home with your family. Wish I could say the same

 

[walkonwatereh]

Here are my most recent trap nests. Thanks to those who posted a wealth of info previously.
Nest dimensions 12x12x20

Everything made out of scrap 1/2" plywood. Door cut out below

Used top of door cut out for top half of door. Bottom half 1/4" plywood

No hardware store handy so used seat belt webbing from salvage yard and 1/2" staples

Door fastened to nest box

Screw put 4" down from top of door cut out

If I don't want to use nests in trap mode I prop door up on screw in side of box


Nests set. So far system has worked flawlessly. Thank you again to those who posted the wealth of trap nest info.
2x2 fastened to bottom flush with front of doors


Doors flip up for cleaning



There is more info about my nests under my coop page, "scribe fit" coop

 

[StephWind]

@Rhinoman

Would you have any measurements and plans for your design? I REALLY like the clean look! I currently have several breeds that individual birds are not distinguishable just visually, and need to set up trap nests this year to help with my breeding program. All of the birds that I will be breeding are dual purpose breeds. I currently have Salmon Faverolles, Barbezieux, Bielefelders and Malines, plus plan on adding Sulmtalers in another couple of months. I have some others as well, but those are just for fun and eggs - no roos - including Icelandics, Easter Eggers and Blue Copper Marans. And yes, I have read the entire thread.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Here are my most recent trap nests. Thanks to those who posted a wealth of info previously.
Nest dimensions 12x12x20



Everything made out of scrap 1/2" plywood. Door cut out below



Used top of door cut out for top half of door. Bottom half 1/4" plywood



No hardware store handy so used seat belt webbing from salvage yard and 1/2" staples





Door fastened to nest box


Screw put 4" down from top of door cut out


If I don't want to use nests in trap mode I prop door up on screw in side of box


Nests set. So far system has worked flawlessly. Thank you again to those who posted the wealth of trap nest info.
2x2 fastened to bottom flush with front of doors


Doors flip up for cleaning



There is more info about my nests under my coop page, "scribe fit" coop

Thanks for posting.

@Rhinoman

Would you have any measurements and plans for your design? I REALLY like the clean look! I currently have several breeds that individual birds are not distinguishable just visually, and need to set up trap nests this year to help with my breeding program. All of the birds that I will be breeding are dual purpose breeds. I currently have Salmon Faverolles, Barbezieux, Bielefelders and Malines, plus plan on adding Sulmtalers in another couple of months. I have some others as well, but those are just for fun and eggs - no roos - including Icelandics, Easter Eggers and Blue Copper Marans. And yes, I have read the entire thread.

What are your plans for roosters and isolating breeds for mating in the future?

 

[StephWind]

Quote:
I will be doing specific groups (clan mating) of each breed, but the rest of the year they will most likely all be free range together. I am still working on how I want to do this. I am thinking that I will have several "breeding coops" with enclosed areas inside a large "chicken yard". Each group will have turn-out time in the yard. The birds NOT being bred will be out in the general population. I might revise that though. I have never before had this many different breeds with plans for breeding all (most) of them...

 

[walkonwatereh]

I don't have plans as such, but if you follow the pictures and dimensions listed you should be fine. I guess I'm not really a blue print type of guy as I always modify things to suit my needs. The only thing I have changed to the pictures and dimensions I listed is I ended up screwing on the fronts as I never need to open the front anyway as I can just lift up the door to access the interior. IF they need cleaning out I'll use a shop vac. Several things I would change from the original design are I would make the front door narrower as there have been a few times there were two chickens inside. However I don't think you can totally eliminate this as one can still follow the other in as long as the door hasn't fallen completely down. The other design change is I am going to change the floor to a roll away eggs. When it is muddy they still make eggs dirty sometimes moving around inside. All I will do is make the main floor slant from back to front and extend out the front of the nest. Then place a smaller sub floor up front that slants to the middle, that way if they lay an egg in the front it will roll to the middle drop down and then roll forward. At the front of the trap nest I will make a small access that lifts up to reveal the egg.
In regards to breeding. I have 2 chicken houses for separating and small cages as well. I am getting Partridge Chanteclers in the next month and that is going to be my main breeding focus. I currently have New Hampshire (excellent dual purpose), Jersey Giant (mediocre), and Wyandot (mediocre). I hope to add some of my best layers with nicest size bodied NH to the Chanteclers to speed up their growth.
If you look up "scribe fit coop" in the coop forum, I have more details about our chicken coop and the trap nests.
Hope this helps.
Arthur

 

[walkonwatereh]

I just realized I forgot to post the trap nest door measurements on my "scribe fit" coop page. I just added the measurements with suggestions for a couple of minor changes.