BYC Café

[DobieLover]

Good morning, Cafe. Thanks for the coffee, Shad. I won't doctor it up any. We've had a rather dry spring. I'm not complaining mind you. I just have to water the garden more often.
I have a little nest box experiment running out in the maternity ward room. I hope it will be a better box for my next broody. I am impatiently waiting for her to reveal herself!! I am still rooting for Astrid.

 

[Shadrach]

Good morning, Cafe. Thanks for the coffee, Shad. I won't doctor it up any. We've had an rather dry spring. I'm not complaining mind you. I just have to water the garden more often.
I have a little nest box experiment running out in the maternity ward room. I hope it will be a better box for my next broody. I am impatiently waiting for her to reveal herself!! I am still rooting for Astrid.

Lets have a look then DL.

 

[DobieLover]

Lets have a look then DL.

First of all, I'm using a much bigger box. I cut it in half so that the inside dimensions are 4.5" x 16” x 16". I put three coats of polyurethane on it to make it waterproof.
I then got a bag of topsoil and put about a 2-3.5" layer of soil in the box with a well in the center.

I harvested some soft sheet moss off of some dead logs in the woods where I run the dogs. I laid down a layer of this on the top of the soil.

Next I covered that with a thin layer of chopped straw.


To help keep the soil moist, I found this bottle with a watering cap on it at my dad's house. I silicone sealed two of the four tiny holes that allow the water too slowly trickle into the soil when you push it down into a pot with a plant in it. I'm hoping it will keep it just damp enough to have nice humidity but not so wet that the straw molds. That's what the moss is for. To help retain the well in the soil and put a layer between the soil and the straw.

 

[Shadrach]

First of all, I'm using a much bigger box. I cut it in half so that the inside height is 4.5" x 16” x 16". I put three coats of polyurethane on it to make it waterproof.
I then got a bag of topsoil and put about a 2-3.5" layer of soil in the box with a well in the center.
View attachment 2200449View attachment 2200455
I harvested some soft sheet moss off of some dead logs in the woods where I run the dogs. I laid down a layer of this on the top of the soil.
View attachment 2200450
Next I covered that with a thin layer of chopped straw.
View attachment 2200453
View attachment 2200458
To help keep the soil moist, I found this bottle with a watering cap on it at my dad's house. I silicone sealed two of the four tiny holes that allow the water too slowly trickle into the soil when you push it down into a pot with a plant in it. I'm hoping it will keep it just damp enough to have nice humidity but not so wet that the straw molds. That's what the moss is for. To help retain the well in the soil and put a layer between the soil and the straw.
View attachment 2200457

Now you're talking!!
Very interested to see if and how it gets used. I assume this will be your broody box rather than a normal egg collection nest box?
One thing and a problem I haven't really come up with a decent solution to. When chicks hatch they wander a bit and some fall out of the nest box. You really need a point where they can get back in with a bit of a flutter and jump.
My game fowl mate here says he's seen mums reach out and pick a chick up and get it back to the nest but I've never seen anything like that here.

 

[BY Bob]

First of all, I'm using a much bigger box. I cut it in half so that the inside height is 4.5" x 16” x 16". I put three coats of polyurethane on it to make it waterproof.
I then got a bag of topsoil and put about a 2-3.5" layer of soil in the box with a well in the center.
View attachment 2200449View attachment 2200455
I harvested some soft sheet moss off of some dead logs in the woods where I run the dogs. I laid down a layer of this on the top of the soil.
View attachment 2200450
Next I covered that with a thin layer of chopped straw.
View attachment 2200453
View attachment 2200458
To help keep the soil moist, I found this bottle with a watering cap on it at my dad's house. I silicone sealed two of the four tiny holes that allow the water too slowly trickle into the soil when you push it down into a pot with a plant in it. I'm hoping it will keep it just damp enough to have nice humidity but not so wet that the straw molds. That's what the moss is for. To help retain the well in the soil and put a layer between the soil and the straw.
View attachment 2200457

This is very clever. I am interested to see how this turns out.

 

[Perris]

Good morning Cafe.
Thanks for the coffee Shad.
Interesting nest box DL - one of my old handbooks is a great proponent of putting brooders directly on the soil and goes on at length about the need for the nest to be a bit damp. Where did you get the idea?
It has been pouring with rain all night and morning here - one of the Welsh valley villages even got flooded again last night

 

[aart]

I found this bottle with a watering cap on it at my dad's house. I silicone sealed two of the four tiny holes that allow the water too slowly trickle into the soil when you push it down into a pot with a plant in it.

I just gave away a bunch of those watering spikes to a buddy who has new trees to water.
Is the bottle sealed?
I always cut out the bottom of bottle for easy refill....different application there tho.
Wonders how quickly the water will trickle out.
Pretty cool @DobieLover ...hope your broody thinks so too.

 

[DobieLover]

You really need a point where they can get back in with a bit of a flutter and jump.

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.

 

[DobieLover]

Where did you get the idea?

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.

 

[DobieLover]

Is the bottle sealed?

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.