BYC Café

[sourland]

Good morning Cafe. @BY Bob help yourself to a cup of coffee and set a bit.

 

[DobieLover]

Wonders how quickly the water will trickle out.

The first bottle emptied overnight. I did put my finger down in the hole where I had it and the soil does not feel sopping wet at all.
The whole concept behind this is as the rest of the soil dries it pulls the moisture from the damper areas and the water will just continue to come out of the bottle. If I find that it's just too much, I will use an IV drip line and I will control the rate that the water is let into the soil. obviously the other end of the IV drip line will have to be inserted into a bottle instead of into a plastic bag that I can't refill easily!

 

[aart]

The first bottle emptied overnight. I did put my finger down in the hole where I had it and the soil does not feel sopping wet at all.
The whole concept behind this is as the rest of the soil dries it pulls the moisture from the damper areas and the water will just continue to come out of the bottle. If I find that it's just too much, I will use an IV drip line and I will control the rate that the water is let into the soil. obviously the other end of the IV drip line will have to be inserted into a bottle instead of into a plastic bag that I can't refill easily!

Wonder if a moisture meter probe(another gardening tool) stuck down there would be a good idea?

 

[chickadoodles]

Good morning cafe. Thanks for the coffee.
I won’t make a latte out of it. Lol I only have one every now and then. Lol
DL your nest box sounds very interesting.
Sour glad to hear your arm is healing quickly.

it rained here over night. Not a lot but slow and steady. No puddles.

 

[aart]

No. When it goes dry, I'll just pull it out, pull off the top and refill it. I keep a jug of water out in the coop to refill the broody hens suspended bottle and I'll use it for this too.

So bottle is not cut anywhere.
This is how I used them, refill from 'top' without removing spike:

 

[BY Bob]

Good morning Cafe. @BY Bob help yourself to a cup of coffee and set a bit.

Thank you for the invitation. I am dealing with freshly hatched chicks and a new momma (not to mention this is my first time as well) so I am a little distracted right now. I'll try and pop in as I can today.

 

[Shadrach]

Oh yes! I absolutely am going to be putting a little step at the center level of that box. The box will sit directly on the plywood floor. The entire maternity ward is going to have a 1.5-2" thick layer of hemp bedding. So I'm going to use angle brackets to install a board step about 1.5" down from the edge of that nest. I think that a chick should be able to make that jump to get back into the nest with mom. You remember the little guy that I lost in the last batch because it fell out of the box and couldn't get back in. I don't want to see that again.
I'm still in the experimental stage. I need to make sure that this whole setup is going to go the distance for 3 weeks. If it works I'll install the step.

I didn't realise that was what had killed the chick. I've mentioned the problem of stray chicks falling out of the nest over on By Bob's thread. It's okay if you're there to keep an eye on things but that just isn't possible for many.

 

[Shadrach]

Partly from Shads article on nest boxes that are best on the earth and when I saw that bottle at my dad's house.
If the bottle doesn't work, the other idea I had was to use an old IV drip line with a drip control on the tube. I also have one of those in my house with a sterile bag of saline solution but I didn't want to sacrifice it for this. My sister is a nurse so I'm hoping I get a used one from the hospital.

I've gone the rustic non tech route. I'll see about getting a couple of pics later. I'm told that if the nest box soil is in contact with the ground and outside environment then the moistness in the surrounding soil is enough to stop the soil in the box from drying out.
My game fowl friend uses this method and gets good hatch rates and happy mums.
But, his nest boxes are about one third the size of what you have there and his yard is secure so he doesn't have as much of a dig under security issue.
I've only had one opportunity to test this system out this year and it seemed to work but I'm not sure how it would fare if it got hot.
There is of course the matter of the hens choosing the nest box in the first place. I was hoping to do a transfer with Donk this year next time she builds an outside nest but new arrivals are on hold for the foreseeable future.

 

[Shadrach]

So bottle is not cut anywhere.
This is how I used them, refill from 'top' without removing spike:
View attachment 2200573

Your nest box would be ideal for a similar system aart. They're well build and deep enough and ramped.

 

[aart]

Your nest box would be ideal for a similar system aart. They're well build and deep enough and ramped.

The post of mine you quoted was about using the spikes for gardening.
I think the luan(thin cheap plywood used for floor underlayment) would 'melt' if kept moist. Not sure about the need for wet anyway, have had 4 broodies hatch in that nest with no apparent humidity issues.