Chicken Stairs

[jthornton]

That is gorgeous! The craftsmanship is really evident, and those bowls are beautiful. Did you drill holes in the bottom of them in case moisture gets in them? Or is the whole run covered so that can't happen?

It's pretty well covered, the bowls are to the right of the pop door. The box feeder is almost in the center.


Live edge perches line the west wall. You can see the hens standing on them in the above photo. This is the first 2 of 4 that I installed for the hens.


JT

 

[jthornton]

After some field testing by the Cinnamon Queen hens I realized there was a stability issue with my first design. Seems when a hen touches down on the bowl with only the short bottom the bowl flips out. So I doubled the length and after more field testing by the hens the bowls now stay in place no matter what the hens come up with the knock them out.


JT

 

[629864]

I put the bottom of a kennel and a milk crate on a 6x6 with a piece of board for the pop door over a year ago and it was supposed to be temporary... well I finally got my round-tuit for that project and built some chicken stairs and incorporated the grit, egg shell and oyster shell bowls into the stairs. I know it will look like crap in a few days but it was fun to make something from scrap bits of wood. Some of the wood came out of the firewood pile!
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JT

This is AWESOME! I so wish I had carpentry skills!

 

[jthornton]

Spreading some Chicken Crack on the stairs seems to help them get over the Oh No it's an Alien Monster from outer space.


JT

 

[aart]

Spreading some Chicken Crack on the stairs seems to help them get over the Oh No it's an Alien Monster from outer space.
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JT

Great pic!
Didn't realize the dish end would be supported, wondered about it tho.
Love the legs on the dust bath too.

 

[jthornton]

Here's what it looked like before the hens christened it with dust and poop. The top is made from 6 bits of red oak, the long ones are two boards joined with finger joint and the corners are joined with a spline joint. If you zoom in you can see the splines they are a bit darker. The legs are joined with a finger joint then pocket screwed to the top and then coated with 2 coats of Tried and True Varnish Oil. It's the only safe varnish oil that is really boiled linseed oil.

JT

 

[Ted Brown]

Your woodworking skills are superb, well done!

 

[jthornton]

Your woodworking skills are superb, well done!

Good to hear from you, it's been a while since we chatted. How's things up north?

JT

 

[Ted Brown]

Good to hear from you, it's been a while since we chatted. How's things up north?

JT

Our winter has been a combination of not a lot of snow and brutal cold (-25c to - 30c without wind chill). Egg production reduced to almost nothing just now increasing.

I finished my covered run last fall, well secured to the extent I leave the pop door open. The flock goes out early, finds the sun and follows as it move through the day.

I will pickup a male Chantecler next week from Greg Oakes (a top flight breeder with the current as well as past Champions) and focus on expanding my 3 Chantecler hens as they are very cold tolerant as well as being dual purpose moderate egg producers. Goal is 25 hens including the 16 I already have.

Have outstanding work for clients from last year that I should have finished but simply too cold to be outside for very long. Just now able to get back at it.

Good to see you are well and continually improving your new run space!

 

[linguini]

They were still a bit afraid of the new stairs so another slice of cornbread this morning and spreading their Chicken Crack on the stairs and landing was the breaking point for the hens... they just have to have Chicken Crack.

Chicken Crack 1 cup dried mealworms, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds and 1/2 cup sunflower hearts.

JT

they know how to get you to up the ante