A few photos from Wisconsin

[Sir Birdaholic]

Chickens? Where'd ya see chickens? I just saw the red sea.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
It's strictly organic table egg production. We buy ready-to-lay pullets.

I could build you one, if you have $100K to spare.

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
It's strictly organic table egg production. We buy ready-to-lay pullets.

I could build you one, if you have $100K to spare.

Oh shoot, just chunk change!

I do love it, seriously! Thanks so much for sharing!

 

[Mac in Wisco]

It actually used to be an old equipment barn. The previous owner converted it to a hen house. He had it resided, lined, insulated, poured a concrete floor and had an egg room built onto the front. I've owned the place for three years and moved in two years ago. It was a nice structure when I bought it, but I've upgraded a lot of the mechanical and electrical systems. The previous owner wasn't really handy and there was a lot that was just cobbled together. For example, the egg belt drive motors and gearboxes were propped up on a bunch of scrap wood that was held together with sheetrock screws and a lot of bent nails. They looked like a house of cards ready to topple as those drive units weight over 100 lbs. I welded up those steel stands and created the little shelf areas for the egg flats. I also installed a heater and environmental controls, replaced the doors going into the hen area (they were scrap storm doors that he scrounged from someplace), and automated the feed lines and feed auger to be automatic on a timer.

 

[WIChookchick]

Wow Mac!!
I am just south of Madison myself, do you go to the Where are you/where am I section here?

I have a few production reds like yours, and 2 leghorn hens, as well as a plethora of odd chickens.
Love your set up!!

Carol
aka WIChook Chick

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
I go to that section once in a great while. We live a few miles from the river just south of La Crosse. We had a few small backyard flocks over the years, which is what brought me to BYC 5 or 6 years ago, when it was a much different forum. A few years ago I was planning on retiring from the Air Force and looking for real estate near my hometown. I found an ad for this place, "Organic Chicken Farm!", and I jokingly told the wife that I was going to retire from the service, move back to Wisconsin, and raise chickens for a living. One thing led to another and here we are...

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Here's my other barn, in nicer weather. We are just using it for storage right now. We might raise some meat birds in there in the spring.

 

[Billyj]

1st of all. NICE!!!

Now a question. In the 3rd or 4th pic, and by reading the posts, the conveyer belt looking thingy. What is it? What do you use it for? Just wondering.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Thanks.

The conveyor belt looking thingy is a conveyor belt that brings the eggs out of the barn. It's hard to tell from the photos, but the nest box units have nests back-to-back and there is a conveyor belt running down the center (and there are two rows of nestbox units installed in this barn). The bottom of the nests are slightly inclined and the eggs roll out a small slot in the back of each nest onto the belt. We just flip a switch and the eggs are brought to us in the egg room where we stand there and pack them.

We pull close to 2400 eggs every morning from those belts. Each is 55 feet long and 8 inches wide, yet the belts are packed solid with eggs each morning. It takes over an hour at each belt just to pack up the eggs.

95% of them roll out the nest boxes onto the belt. At the end of the day I walk through the barn to make sure there aren't any remaining eggs left in the nest boxes. I use a broomstick to nudge any left over eggs out the back of the nest boxes onto the belts.

 

[Billyj]

Ok wow, 2400 eggs each day. That is amazing. I could not imagine. I am awestruck. But I have to admit, with that many eggs, I bet that conveyer comes handy. And, If you don't mind me being a little more nosey, what do you do with all of the eggs. Sell them, hatch them, target practice. I mean my lord 2400 eggs a day!!!!!!! Sorry if I spund a little dumbfounded, but I guess I am!!!