Anyone use trap nests?

[nissa_loves_cats]

I've read a lot about the importance of using trap nests to keep track of which hens lay well. Does anyone use trap nests these days? And where did you get your trap nests from?

I have an old Stromberg's catalog from 1988 and they had trap nest fronts for about $3. Now Stromberg's doesn't have them, and they run to about $35 in the few places you can get them.

(The reason I posted this here is that in 'Flock Management' they say any question to do with nest boxes goes in the 'Coops' section.)

 

[patandchickens]

I have not yet used them but am seriously contemplating it. NOT for identifying how well hens are laying (that would be a much bigger job than I'm interested in -- remember you have to check trap nests every half hour or so the whole time they are 'set', which for recording laying ability would mean all day every day for a good while!) but just to know the parentage of hatching eggs being set in an incubator.

If you use the 'search' feature you can probably find the two threads on which I asked for do-it-yourself designs and got several good answers (I think I may actually build the most-recently-posted one, as per some link to a belgian marans breeders site)

In terms of generally getting a sense of which hens are laying well and which infrequently, there are a bunch of physical signs that are correlated with it, I know it's been discussed a number of times here but am to certain what to 'search' on to find the desired info efficiently.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[nissa_loves_cats]

I've seen that belgian Maran site and if all else fails may try to build to that plan. I'm just not very handy when it comes to complicated projects, though.

One reason I want to trap-nest is so that I can find out who is laying what color egg. I have a coop full of alleged purebred hens who are supposed to lay white eggs, and am getting 90% tinted-to-brown eggs. And when I get my Ameraucanas I'll really want to know who's laying what color.

I like the metal style of trap nest fronts and I did find some at http://dblrsupply.pinnaclecart.com/products/Trap_Nest_Front-1360-269.html that cost 24.99 which though outrageous is about $10 less than the other source I found.

I'm also going to run a local wanted-to-buy ad in the paper and see if any old-timers have any they'll sell for cheap.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Actually if you look at the photos they are actually EXTREMELY simple -- just two panels with a circle cut out (part of circle in each panel), 'hinged' together by stapling two pieces of tape or whatnot to them, and velcroed onto the nest at the top (velcro stapled onto top panel). It should take about 15 minutes to build, most of that spent jigsawing the circle

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[nissa_loves_cats]

My question is: what are the panels made of, and also how does the trapping function work? I assume something holds the door open and that the hen must disrupt it some how causing the door to close behind her. Just not sure what the something is.

 

[patandchickens]

They're just thin plywood (or anything else you wanted to use that you could attach the straps to).

Look at the photos -- you manually set the door by sort of 'perching' it in a folded-with-lower-part-slightly-above-horizontal position. Gravity holds it there (b/c the top half of the door is slightly bigger than the bottom half). The hen knocks into it when she enters the trapnest (b/c it's low enough she'll naturally brush against it), dislodging the door so it folds down. It's wider than the lip at the edges of the nestbox so she can't get out til you let her out.

Very ingenious!


Pat

 

[nissa_loves_cats]

Oh, I see (said the blind man).

Now I just have to build the nest boxes, and I want to do them different than in the picture, don't like the flat roof, I have one like that now and my three GIANT Brahma roosters think it's their place to sleep at night. I need to build a slanty roof, maybe.

I just keep making this project more complicated--- I may ask my mother to see if she can con my brother into making it for me.

 

[jvls1942]

Quote:
I was directed to that maran sie twice and was told to scroll down.

all i ever got was a picture of a bunch of people standing around a coop or display or something..

I am very handy with tools, but I cannot relate to the photos you are talking about because I have never seen a photo of a trapdoor.

are the doors you are talking about installed inside the nest or on the exterior?

I am going to build a row of 14 nests along one wall of my coop and I want to include trap doors in each one..

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I dunno, maybe you could try using a different browser? Like at a library or something if you don't have anything else installed on your computer? On mine (SeaMonkey, sort of a successor to Mozilla -- it's a free download btw and I recommend it as a good browser) it displays a dozen and a half or so thumbnail-sized photos towards the right-hand half of the screen (below the text at the top)... there are some with people but many of them are of rows of nestboxes etc. And then at the very bottom of the page there is a *large* schematic of measured plans for the trapnest fronts.

are the doors you are talking about installed inside the nest or on the exterior?

It's on the 'front', i.e. the open side that the chicken enters through, but installed on the inside side of the lip at the bottom and sides of the nestbox so that when the trapnest front is unfolded it can't be pushed out by the chicken.

I am going to build a row of 14 nests along one wall of my coop and I want to include trap doors in each one..

You're aware they have to be checked every 30 min or so all day while in use, to free hens that go in there? This is a big labor commitment, it is not in any way related to rollaway nests that 'auto collect' eggs for you. Just making sure we're talking about the same thing

Good luck,

Pat​

 

[jvls1942]

thanks pat, I think I have a pretty good idea of what it should look like..

Yes, I do know the function and how often I have to check the nests.. I have 55 laying hens and I want more nests.. I have a bank of 8 nests now and there are too many times that I find 2 hens at a time in a nest..

I am retired and have all the time in the world to check nests..

what I have to come up with now, is a banding program so I can pick out the chicken that I have already checked..

colored bands is not an option as I am color blind..

I am going to give that moran site another go round..