Any TRAP-NEST designs with PIX ?

[Junkmanme]

Hi,
Just wondering if anyone had any designs for "trap-nests", used to identify the hen that "layed the 'Golden Egg'...so to speak.........

I've seen a few older designs on the Internet.....but nothing yet that "tripped my trigger".

I want to build a couple of them to use in determining which eggs I might wish to hatch (also separating the hens, but one hen and one rooster is TOO HARD on 1 hen)

Any suggestions, designs, and ESPECIALLY Pictures or drawings?

-Junkmanme-

 

[Schroeder]

Hope you get some replies. I have to reduce the size of my flock due to space considerations. I want to find out which of my three EE's lay the bluest eggs before I decide who is going to freezer camp.

 

[Junkmanme]

THANK YOU for the reply!

I think a lot of us would like to see some fine designs and pictures of "trap-nests".

But, probably only the "old-timers" are familiar with the idea.

I know I can make some on some old designs I saw on the Internet, but I thought MAYBE someone else had come up with something a little better.

It would be helpful IF there were a Front and back door and perhaps a "pen" off the back door to let the breeder know who had been laying.

(This would keep the hen from getting "frustrated" by not being able to leave the "trap-nest", until released by the breeder.)

Surely there are people on "Backyard Chickens" who know something about this.....?

-Junkmanme-

 

[quiltnchik]

This one looks fairly simple to make and use:

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Trap+Nests.html

 

[Junkmanme]

QuiltnChik,

THANK YOU!!!!!

I have saved the file that you gave the link to.

I will study it and see what I can learn.

Much appreciated!

-Junkmanme-

 

[quiltnchik]

You're very welcome. Let us know how it works out for you

To be honest, I had never even heard of a trap nest until your post, so thank YOU for teaching me something new!

 

[Elwar]

Why not a webcam?

 

[patandchickens]

Useful links in

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=144866
and
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=146232
and
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=97278

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Junkmanme]

Elwar,

On using a webcam.........
It would seem to me that you might as well sit and watch the nest as to use a webcam.

The sort of trap-nest I'm thinking of would/should be a self-controlling system. Perhaps even a self-resetting system if it has separate entrance and exit.

For instance:

Hen enters trap-nest. Entry door closes (tripped).
Hen lays egg. Eggs leaves nest. Exit door opens.
Hen leaves nest through exit. This resets Entry door which closes Exit door.

Hen is now in separate pen and can be identified with egg.

THIS may be a little "too-complex", but that's the idea.

-Junkmanme-

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
The downside of auto-reset trap nests is you do not know with certainty that a hen laid an egg, nor do you know which one it was... you only know she went through the nest to get in the yard.

Suppose, for example, you get one egg that is consistently inferior to the others. With an auto-set trap nest, you would not know which hen is responsible. The other scenario is you have ten eggs - but 12 hens in the escape yard! Which ones didn't lay?

These aren't major concerns to the backyarder, but they have been expressed by the "old timers" you referred to. Remember, they trap nested as part of a rigorous selection program, the goal of which was to secure high grade lines of laying hens. Eggs were a very profitable business for the small flock man back then, so much energy was expended in securing the best layers.
Today, the tables have turned. Most breeders are concerned with genotype or color and so interest in egg laying as an in-bred virtue has waxed.

Speaking of virtues, some things about the old trap nest designs should be mentioned. The trap nests the 'old timers' made had several things going for them:

They used common hardware and materials.
They were easy to build with hand tools.
They were inexpensive, by design.
They had simple, effective mechanisms.

These folks didn't have a Home Depot to run to, and innovation in the building and hardware lines was still decades off. So anything they built had to have these attributes.

So I'm curious, why not just use what is already proven to work?