California - Northern

[caychris]

How deep should a brooder box be?

 

[caychris]

What age do cockerels become fertile or rather when should I separate them from the hens if I just want eggs?

 

[ronott1]

What age do cockerels become fertile or rather when should I separate them from the hens if I just want eggs?

Separate them when the cockerels start harassing the pullets. That is different with each hatch it seems.

Brooder Box should be a couple of feet high at least. They will get out of it, so it needs some type of top.

 

[Sirracha]

How deep should a brooder box be?

i built my nesting box in a four square configuration. 12" out so it accommodates the largest bird and 10" high for each box. I also staggered the boxes so I could staple the sides together easily. If you are building a nesting box with an open face, make a 1-2" lip around the front so they won't kick out as much material and rolls eggs out.

 

[TheKeeper]

So, one of the newly hatched chicks acts like it can't stand... It's body just goes forward with his legs and it lays on it's belly.   I'm not sure what to do for it.

Is it trying to move it's legs at all? What if you propped it up in a cup like for splay legs? Maybe some temporary support would allow it grow correctly.

 

[PetRock]

How deep should a brooder box be?

I have 3 that are made from rubbermaid type containers that are 14-18 in tall with lids. I also have a 2 ft x 4 ft metal stock tank with a lid that is 2 ft tall. Once they have outgrown the stock tank, they graduate to what was a double decker quail pen. Each level is 3 ft x 8 ft and around 3 ft tall.

 

[PetRock]

What age do cockerels become fertile or rather when should I separate them from the hens if I just want eggs?

It does depend on the breed. My Bresse and Pita Pintas mature in all ways at an early age. My Langshans don't crow until past 27 weeks and don't show much interest in the females until around that age or later. You can keep a cockerel with your girls even if you only want eggs. You won't have chicks unless one of your girls goes broody or you hatch them in an incubator. I thought that it would bother me to eat fertile eggs but, nope, they look and taste the same plus I get to hatch some of them!

 

[OR4-hmom]

i built my nesting box in a four square configuration. 12" out so it accommodates the largest bird and 10" high for each box. I also staggered the boxes so I could staple the sides together easily. If you are building a nesting box with an open face, make a 1-2" lip around the front so they won't kick out as much material and rolls eggs out.

Do you have bantams? my big girls have boxes 16x16 and are kinda scrunched when they stand to actually lay the egg. We made smaller ones for the bantams and they don't like them, they insist on laying in the coop on the floor, thank goodness it's small enough I can reach all the corners. They do sleep in the smaller nest boxes.

 

[Nikon]

I wanted to share couple of photos of the eggs some of my hens lay; or, I should say: they gift me with. I do not breed for egg color; the color palette and the patterns were a delightful surprise. The small ones are Ko Shamo eggs; which they lay surprisingly large eggs for their tiny size. I took the photos under different natural light so to give a better view.

Lual

Gorgeous!!!! I love the speckles.

 

[AmyPaperlady]

So, when my husband brings our new girls tomorrow night (

), would I be right in telling him that it may be a couple of weeks before they start laying again?