BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[CanadianBuckeye]

My favorite is when someone is in a hen's chosen next box, so she climbs on top and drops one on their back.

My hens scream bloody murder if another hen so much as looks at them when they are in the nesting box.

 

[hellbender]

My hens scream bloody murder if another hen so much as looks at them when they are in the nesting box.

Thanks to my #1 son, our new nests are 18'' square. Two hens CAN lay side by side and some do so without too much fanfare and there a few that continue to lay with company but the whole world is told off about it. There must be at least 15 or 20 nests that get infrequent use this time of year because the hens/pullets simply must have the 'perfect' one...they are all alike, right down to the bug dust in the straw!

 

[DesertChic]

My hens scream bloody murder if another hen so much as looks at them when they are in the nesting box.

I've got two Frizzled Easter Eggers and a Buff Silkie who all pile into the nesting box together to lay, even when only one of them is actually laying an egg. Apparently they've developed some kind of strange, moral support group mentality? And the EEs don't sing once they've laid an egg. The Silkie sings for them, and she's not even laying right now.

 

[DesertChic]

she;'s telling you to hurry up and get on with it Already... sheesh....

She figures you have 20 or so days...get the lead out... She has work to do!

I love this bird, and she's a great mother, but I also think she's going to be the end of what little sanity I have left. I never thought I'd lose a battle of wills with a chicken.

@hellbender I'm placing an order for a couple Chinese caponizing kits with Poco Pollo.

I'm REALLY excited about learning this process.

 

[DesertChic]

Thanks to my #1 son, our new nests are 18'' square. Two hens CAN lay side by side and some do so without too much fanfare and there a few that continue to lay with company but the whole world is told off about it. There must be at least 15 or 20 nests that get infrequent use this time of year because the hens/pullets simply must have the 'perfect' one...they are all alike, right down to the bug dust in the straw!

I built two of my nesting boxes to be 18" wide and 14" deep, which seems perfect for one very large girl or two small ones....and I know this because as many as four of my girls have tried occupying the same box at the same time. They're also the favorite spots for my broody hens.

I need to build more nesting boxes...and everything else for that matter.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

I really have to get going on my Sportsman electric broodie- lots of hatching eggs coming in April, HAS to be ready! I'm building a raft of tractor/coop combos. I've realized that I have to house my breeds separately- the Buckeyes and Cornish are too fat on the food that keeps my red sex link crosses thin.

After going through a bunch of options in my head, I've decided to do the same thing - tractor coops. It's a sturdy, easy plan that's not too hard to build (I already have a conduit bender to bend the upper struts from building the first one.)The NNs have done well with their bare bones one while I've been working on their coop, and it can moved fairly easily by hand by only me. I can adapt it with an elevated floor and roost and hang nest boxes, and when not in use, I can use it as a greenhouse/shadehouse for my more tender tropical plants (e.g., Allspice trees), and maybe aquaponics. As soon as I finish the NN coop, I'm gonna build a bunch of them (it never ends!!!!)

Absolutely YES

The Lumber store really likes me

Yeah, I might as well turn my paycheck over to Home Depot these days...

Speaking of which, I really need to finish my coffee and get out there to finish that coop!!!! It's not perfect, but at this point, I gotta just GET 'ER DONE!!!!

- Ant Farm

 

[Beekissed]

Doing the same thing today...enlarging and revamping the breeding pen. Beautiful day for it but my rear end is sure draggin' today, so the going is slow.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

After going through a bunch of options in my head, I've decided to do the same thing - tractor coops. It's a sturdy, easy plan that's not too hard to build (I already have a conduit bender to bend the upper struts from building the first one.)The NNs have done well with their bare bones one while I've been working on their coop, and it can moved fairly easily by hand by only me. I can adapt it with an elevated floor and roost and hang nest boxes, and when not in use, I can use it as a greenhouse/shadehouse for my more tender tropical plants (e.g., Allspice trees), and maybe aquaponics. As soon as I finish the NN coop, I'm gonna build a bunch of them (it never ends!!!!)
Yeah, I might as well turn my paycheck over to Home Depot these days...

Speaking of which, I really need to finish my coffee and get out there to finish that coop!!!! It's not perfect, but at this point, I gotta just GET 'ER DONE!!!!

- Ant Farm

I have this modular coop/tractor design I'm fleshing out- it will be made of detachable 4x8 panels, 8' side parallel to the ground, isosceles trapezoid shaped- so only 3 sides per 8x8 section (and the fourth of course being the ground!) and the ends. The ground area will be 8x8, the top panel 4x8, the final height of the runs a little less than 3 1/2 feet. I'm thinking of using a 6x6 concrete reinforcing mesh panel for the bottom (ground) to deter diggers. The ends will be plywood, detachable so the coop attaches to one end and I can attach more "units" to make either 64 or 128 square foot (or bigger but I think that will do it) enclosures.
I'm thinking of using plywood for the bottom 2 feet of the side panels (8x2') (hopefully out of sight out of mind- although I know that predators aren't visual!) hardware cloth for the top 2x8 feet. I haven't quite figured out what I'll make the top panel from, maybe I'll have different units- a solid plywood one for winter, a hardware cloth one that can be covered by a temporary tarp, or maybe I'll make a hybrid with skylights

. I want the top panel to be hinged so I can lift it to get in there if necessary, I may make the top panels into 4x4 sections instead...... still thinking!
The whole thing has to be sturdy enough to be dragged by a tractor, and not fall apart into the separate pieces, and be predator proof, and adequate for winter housing. I haven't quite figured out how big the attachable coop will have to be, I plan on not having more than 10 or so adult chickens per 8x8 tractor.

 

[DesertChic]

Doing the same thing today...enlarging and revamping the breeding pen. Beautiful day for it but my rear end is sure draggin' today, so the going is slow.

I'm having the same kind of day. I do a little bit, and then the exhaustion kicks in again. It's gorgeous outside and all I want to do is nap.

 

[Beekissed]

Me too. You know what? I think when one's body is saying "lie down", if at all possible a person should do that. All those signals indicate the body needs rest of some kind~physical or mental~ and forcing it to go when it needs an obvious rest is just not a good thing. Consequently, I cleaned up my construction mess as well as possible and called it a day. It may look like spring out there but my body is telling me it's still winter.

Tomorrow? Day of rest, even though the sun will be shining and will be 50*. All work comes halt so I can honor the Lord. And I thank Him for it!!