Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

I already made some nesting boxes. I took an old desk and took the drawers out. I took plywood and made a bottom for the birds to lay eggs on. I cut out 3 holes on the front side for the birds to get into one in the knee space and the other two where the drawers were. On the side you would normally sit at I covered with 2 boards with hinges. I used an 11 inch piece on the bottom and the larger piece on top that way I can fold it down to get the eggs. I would like to use the larger space in the middle for one that goes broody. In addition to that we took 2 old end tables and put a divider in them. Cut 2 holes in the back for the hens to crawl in and I can use the doors to open to get eggs. The end tables work great on top of the desk and this gives me 7 laying nest. I put these in one end of my coop that I can walk in and keep feed as a clean side. I used chicken wire to block the rest and added a door so I can get to the chicken side to clean and add or change wood chips. I think I got a good set up. Now if I can just get the chickens to start laying eggs I can find out if they like it. I have hay in all the boxes and a golf ball.

If I were to make a brooder box in the future what size should it be and what all would I need? I know it needs food and water but do I need a divider for a dark side to roost and an open side that allows daylight or do I just need to cover one in for shelter. If I need to make an area for roost does it need to be high enough for the hen to get off the grown or will she stay on the eggs and with the chicks? I know it's early but it gives me an ideal to plan, save, and build.
A hen will stay with her chicks and they won't roost until they are feathered in. If you are talking about making a brooder box for a hen and chicks there are no real givens. It depends on your situation. I really like using a big plastic dog kennel for a hen and chicks. I normally leave the door open on them so they can come out as they want unless there is other birds bothering them.

As far as roost in your hen house go I recommend you keep them under about 18 inches, and maybe add some slightly higher as time goes on. The lower the roost the less likely you will have foot injuries.
No more questions tonight , but all the replies have been very helpful. I am also enjoying the different approaches everyone has it makes me think about what will work with what I have.

Thanks everyone.

Yeah we are all different and do things a little different. But we got where we are by trial and error. What works for some won't work for others. I have several different set ups and every one I have has it's good points and bad.
I worked too hard yesterday and spent too much time on my foot. I felt really bad last night. But today I am feeling a whole lot better. I definitely have to credit this cast for giving me stability. I'm really glad it's cooler this week. I have a lot to get done today but I think I'm not going to push quite as hard as yesterday.

 

[HEChicken]

I hurt my hand so I'm typing one handed and will keep this short. Ron, I'll try to remember to take my camera and get some pics of my broody set-ups next time I'm out there.

 

[chicken danz]

HEChicken, hope you are okay! This must be injury season.

 

[sharol]

Yikes. All things considered, I think I'll be extra careful for a while. HE and Danz, heal fast (and slow down so you CAN heal fast.)

 

[jennyjane73]

These are the three amigas

 

[chicken danz]

JennyJane73 I used to have gold laced polish. They are beautiful. I really miss them cause they were so quirky.
LOL Sharol. I am even shorter on time now cause it takes me three times longer to get things done!
I'm walking pretty good now as long as I have the air cast on and stay on level ground. I take it off to take a shower and can't support my own weight without it though. It's amazing how well that thing works. I only have one pair of shoes I can wear right now. I imagine those are going to get really funky before long.
I've been pulling a sled on a wagon behind my lawn mower to feed. It isn't great but it does save me some time on my feet. I threw the crutches aside. Those were deadly for a klutz like me. My foot is still swelling but doing okay as long as I put it up every now and then.
I just can't wait to get things done out there. You never know how much you do until it takes three times longer to do anything.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Good morning all! Nice to be back on the board to read some posts. I have been sick since I last posted. The weekend was horrible. Went to the Dr on Monday and was put on antibiotics. She was surprised to see me back so soon ... I was in to see her 2 months ago when I was sick and completely lost my voice for 2 days. She thought I didn't completely recover from it and it just reared its ugly head again after the long stressful traveling overseas. So I'm back on antibiotics so hopefully I'm on the mend.

Danz... I saw that you hurt your foot! That's got to be hard on you since you were always on the go! Take it easy and hopefully you will get better soon. My sister sprained her ankle when she was in middle school doing a high jump and she has been having issue with that ankle ever since.

Lizzy - Ethan is sooooo cute! Love his smile.

Trish - Sounds like your leg is still giving you problem. I'm sure this cold wet weather doesn't help either. Take care.

HeChicken - So sorry you hurt your hand. Did you sprain your wrist while doing chores? Hope you heal soon. Typing 1 handed just doesn't do it for me... LOL. Of course it makes doing chicken chores that much more difficult as well.

Ron Rose - Welcome to our little chicken/ducks/fowl circle. Seems like you guys are doing great with the birds.

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Just by reading the last couple of pages that lots of people are getting hurt. What's up with that? I hope all of you recover soon and take it easy to help healing faster.

I'm loving this weather. After the "heat wave" (90s sounded like the heat wave to me now compare to the 60s we have had), this sure is a nice change. What a weird year! First the super cold winter and now the cold/mild beginning of summer! I really don't mind having a mild summer though and definitely looking forward to Fall. Of course if I would watch the weather forecast then I won't hang all my laundry out last night and get them all soaking wet from the rain.

Oh well, they will dry and they are only towels and rags. Not much going on with my birds, which is great! DH is complaining that the feeds are gone fast. Well... between the mickey mouse eating them (we just can't keep up with trapping them) and me not doing the fermented feeds since I was travelling last month, it seems like the dry feeds were gone much faster. I think I'll start up the fermented feeds again and get a couple of barn cats to help keep the mickey mouse population down. DH asked a rhetorical question a couple of days before ... "How soon do those mickey mouse reproduce? I can't believe they pop out so fast!". I thought it was just hilarious that he asked that question. Those mickey mouse sure can multiple and they multiple FASTO!!!

Have a great day everyone! Enjoy the unseasonably cool weather!

 

[chicken danz]

Tweety I only got two cats so far and one is a kitten but I know the mama has killed a couple mice in the shop. The problem is they have gotten very spoiled very fast and now want fancy cat food instead of the dry. That isn't going to work. I think I need to get a few more. The young boy cat is onery as he can be. He hasn't caught anything but chases everything so I think he will be a good mouser some day. I just need about 100 hungry cats for about 2 weeks and then have most of them move on. I have had to watch the hens that have a couple broody chicks. The cats are attracted to the chicks. Luckily the hens have done a good job of flogging them when they tried.
I had some chick starter that got wet in the bottom that I threw out a few days ago. One of the hens apparently took her babies to it and they both died. I feel awful about it. I just didn't think they would eat it. I should have burnt it.
I did go to the garden and the darned squash bugs are back. This has been the worst year for them ever. I need to find a good garden spray that isn't toxic. I wish the birds would eat those things.

 

[Trish44]

JennyJane, those are pretty Polish, I had some silver laced years ago when I didn't know that much about chickens, I just had them for eggs & my enjoyment back then.

tweety, I hope you feel better soon, that's the pits. Mice can reproduce faster than any other animal that I know of. You'd better get those barn cats fast! Yeah the weather doesn't help my leg any, but it just isn't healing right, I can tell. I have the appt. with the other specialist next week.

danz, I have noticed that the chickens don't like to eat bugs with a hard shell, they must not taste good. They will eat about everything else though. You need to put those cats out there & not feed them fancy food so they will be hungry for the mice. We just feed dry food to our farm cats so they still will go after mice & rats out there. I know they do go next door to hunt where all of the trash dump is, it's probably a pretty fertile hunting ground.

It's raining here now so there goes any work on the fence posts today. It's not that we can't use the rain, we can for sure use it, we just need to get things done on the fence as well.

 

[HEChicken]

Tweety, I can answer you on how fast they reproduce as I used to raise pet mice. Both male and female mice are sexually mature at the age of 3 weeks. Their gestation period is also 3 weeks, just like a chicken egg. So at the ripe old age of only 6 weeks old, a female is able to give birth to her first litter. They typically have 6-10 per litter. So you can do the math after that. If they have 8 and half of them are female, in another six weeks another 32 will be born. And so on.

Danz, I've always heard that females cats are better mousers than males. I guess that makes sense since the "culture" among big/wild cats is that all but lions are solitary so it is the female raising infants who has to do all the hunting to feed her young. The only big cat that lives in groups is the lion but even in lion prides it is the females who do most of the hunting. Solitary males of all big cats except lions only have to hunt enough to feed themselves - never their offspring. So - female cats just tend to be better at hunting than males.

My hand is doing so much better today - thanks to everyone for asking. I have no idea what I did to it. I woke up Tuesday and went to pick up something and there was a twinge but I didn't want to let it slow me down so I worked all day that day and just kind of ignored it. By Tuesday night it was throbbing and so painful I asked DD to bandage it for me both to give it support and to remind me not to use it. Yesterday it still hurt enough that I was typing 1-handed but by last evening I was able to remove the bandage and it didn't hurt too much. I slept without the bandage last night and today I can still feel that it is tender but it is nothing like the agonizing pain I had for about 24 hours there. So glad the pain went away almost as fast as it started but I still have no idea really, what triggered it in the first place.