Villa Gallina's "Maternity Room"

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I have a very little coop, villa Gallina ( https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/judyki2004s-member-page )
in a small backyard. Its a 3'd x 4'w x4'h coop with an atached run of 3' d x 8' w x 4'h + a space of 3' d x4'w x 3'h under the coop, where the feeder and waterer are. It was intended for up to 7 chickens.


My chickens Favio ( the Roo, cooper black maran), Yamina ( mut with some black star on her genes, lays cream medium eggs), Raphaelle ( red layer, lays brown large eggs), Karaya ( longhorn/ eastereagger mix, lays blue xlarge eggs ) and Lady Gaga ( the new girl, an iridiscent black with some white spots tailess that lays small white eggs) are free ranging most of the day.

Yamina so far is the only ona that ever got broody, but the first two times was unsuccesful. This time she sits on 3 eggs, and even when they have tow nest the girls keep laying in her nest; so i had to mark the eggs and try to take the new eggs but as accidents started to happen, i must improvised what i call a "maternity room" in wich she can sit on her eggs undisturbed, in a confort nest, with food, water and privacy. Where hopefully she wanted to stay, and hatched all the different age eggs... actually all the eggs are Raphaelles's. I don't had time or resources to make a bigger coop, so I end up, creating a separate "room", in the extreme end of the room. And that's what i came up with:


I measure the interior space of the run, and cut a piece of pvc 1" panel 22" x 33". And atached it with screws to a pvc tube frame I used before as a cage. This way I already have 3 walls, and only need to build 1 wall. For the fourth wall I made a rectangled frame of pvc tubes, atached a piece of 1/4"x 1/4" in wire mesh using straps, cut out a door opening and use a cap of a "tidy cat"bucket as a door. Then atached it to the floor and side walls. For the nest I use an old pc monitor case. Add a waterer & Feeder, and some hay.


All the materials are repurposed or remnants from previous proyects :
  • (29) pieces of 1" & 1/2" pvc tubes assorted sizes , t's (10) & elbows (12), unions (2)
  • a bag of plastic straps
  • pvc adhesive
  • 1 piece pvc panel (33"x 22")
  • 1 piece 1/4"x 1/4" wire mesh ( 33"x 24")
  • 1 "tidy cats" bucket cap
  • a piece of inexpensive blue tarp (aprox 7'x 2')
  • 1 pc monitor case
  • 4 - 1" gypsumboard paneling screws
  • small waterer & feeder

And so far it was a succes! Here Yamina with the first 2 chicks! Hatched on 4/27/20215
And she keep sitting on the rest of the eggs and taking care of her babies!
The last chicken of 7 hatched on 5/7/2015
About author
judyki2004
I'm a dreamer. an idealist, an artist (illustrations, mosaics, watercolors ect.), a healer (reiki , reflexology, aromatherapy), a backyard gardener, an urban chicken keeper, who also have 2 ducks and who host a broad variety of wild birds. I have 2 cats: Guailí (16 y/o) & Malaki (2 y/o); and some fishies.

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