Hello to all; This will be a little wordy,but the more facts the better. Here we go.... We have 24 one year old Buff Orpington hens,and 1 handsome rascal of a rooster to shepard them. I pretty much used as my Bible Storey's chicken guide. Their coop(I should live so good)exceedes x2 the amount of sq/ft.recommended per bird. I built the stairstep roost,right off they all wanted to be on the top rung and a couple of birds got knocked out with all the fussing going on.SO.. I ended up having to put a single perch parrallel to the walls (used up alot of space). Now that I'd like them to brood, I was considering putting it back but don't want to upset the apple cart.(I have to say that chickens don't really impress me with smarts when they can't find their home after I've moved it 50 feet). What do y-all think? Secondly,we're wondering about brooding. My philosopy is that any animal that's worked for me earned it's retirement(within reason). Thats why we got the Buffs,so the biddies would take up the slack of the older hens.... like how Social Security is suppose to work. There's plenty of fornicating going on and the girls are growling or zoning when in their nest boxes. I have yet to set aside brooding boxes(was thinking of using cat carriers). Is there a time element here,like so many hours of daylight makes trees leaf out? It's spring here in Missouri and hot. Well, thats it in a nutshell. Any advice or comments would be appreciated... Adious
