Arizona Chickens

[Sonoran Silkies]

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The link doesn't work for me.
What should I look/search for?

"Fresh air coop with roll out nest boxes"

 

[Tracydr]

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I'm getting about ten banty eggs a day from two tiny OEGBs. I'm beginning to feel like raising a whole bunch of OE Banties. If nobody steps up to the plate I might just replace everyone with twice the number of Banties.

No way are 2 birds laying 10 eggs a day. Several someone else's are helping them out.

Oops, I meant a week. Wow, I would get a bunch of OEGB if they laid that many! They are laying most days, though. Which is better than normal for game birds.

 

[Tracydr]

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Mine are totally open on three sides. I'm thinking about adding some windblock with plywood or siding that I can remove in the spring but not sure I really need to.
My main project I need to work on is the roof. It's leaking badly. We're going to add a false roof with an angle to make it look nicer and add tiling or shingles. I'd love to find cedar shingles or clay tiles if I can find them.
I may need to do the windbreak if that doesn't totally take care of the water problem, there may be water getting blown in the sides. There is only a twelve inch wind break for the roost area on the sides.

 

[Tracydr]

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I used to have chickens and even peafowl in northern CO. It was a really, really cold part of CO, out with no wind break in a spot that got wind all the time. If Denver got a nice, pleasant 20" of snow, we got a raging blizzard with 30", 50mph winds and below zero temperatures. I would literally bring my car battery inside the house at night so that I knew my car would start in the morning, in addition to plugging in the engine block heater.
The chickens had a very drafty, cheap, Home Depot type of she'd, no insulation, no heat. I had a two chicken sized doors on the front and never closed the doors so there was always air flow.
The chickens were healthy and happy. No frostbite, no illnesses. The peafowl roosted in my open horse barn.
We had low temps every winter of -30 with much lower windchills.

 

[Tracydr]

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oops, it was late and I was tired.

to me

No it was fun! I was envisioning the local bird population coming to the rescue trying to help out. Or maybe a racoon stealing eggs from the neighbor's chickens and bringing them over... (I smell Disney movie)

As little as the eggs are, maybe I have all the neighbood doves laying in my nest boxes? I found an egg in the sandbox yesterday.

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

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Once concern is if the hen uses the "egg cage" part as a roost or step to get into the nest whether it will tip with her weight? Other than that looks pretty easy.

I would have the same concern. Maybe you could put a little peg or piece of wood on the back wall to slide the bottom under. Or temporarily attach it in some other way.

 

[kevs-chickadees]

I've often wondered if the chickens adapt to where they live, kinda like people?

For example on my wife's side they always complain about the heat and do whatever it takes to avoid going outside, my side however, we enjoy the heat. I will purposely put warm things on at the slightest inclination of cold just to keep my blood thin.

 

[southerndesert]

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Once concern is if the hen uses the "egg cage" part as a roost or step to get into the nest whether it will tip with her weight? Other than that looks pretty easy.

I agree and thought of that as well and will have better support than the small support tabs shown in the video as well as a deeper egg catch area with a plastic curtain so the eggs can not be seen from the inside by the hen. Like the hardware cloth on outside for viewing and I will let you all know how they work out. May have time to build them tomorrow or over the weekend as I ended up busy today.

 

[southerndesert]

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Once concern is if the hen uses the "egg cage" part as a roost or step to get into the nest whether it will tip with her weight? Other than that looks pretty easy.

I would have the same concern. Maybe you could put a little peg or piece of wood on the back wall to slide the bottom under. Or temporarily attach it in some other way.

That was my thought almost (peg or other support in back) exactly and plan to add a cross bar in the back of nest box to lock it under to keep it from tipping up and a support in front as well with a lip so it can not slip out. Should hold it pretty well with minimum modding of my existing setup....

 

[tball chicky]

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Excellent idea! Hmmm.... Modifications....

And the best part? IT WORKS!

I came home yesterday to 8 eggs laying there all CLEAN and in one piece on the carpet in the tray. Somebody was really enjoying the egg taste

. But the egg eating days are over! Apparently they were laying. Not great but still. This was the coop with 20 chickens. Not bad considering that half of them are molting and the other half is just starting to lay.
I'll get notes together on the weekend and post. It's a fun and "rewarding" project.

Do you have the link to the nest boxes that roll to the back...inside the building or something? Thanks!