Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[LeslieDJoyce]

Hi,

Oh well nuts! The white chick is gone. The other night I went out to put the birds to bed and make sure the chick made it into the low coop. Mama hen was in there all feathered out like she did when she was warming the chick. I didn't want to disturb the chick so I closed the door and Hubby Bob and I put up a hardwarecloth barrier across the front of the door so they couldn't get out, as it was going to rain. Next morning I went out to see how they did and lifted up Mama hen and ...no chick. Oh nuts and rats! Apparently the little chick wasn't able to make the jump into the coop and Mama hen went in anyway. I didn't think she would do that as she had been taking very good care of the chick. So I had inadvertently locked it out of the coop. We looked for it, it is dead by now. I am mad at myself. This is a great reason to have a broody coop where Mama hen can raise their chicks and there are no obstacles the chicks can't negotiate, sigh. Well at least I know which breeding created that chick, altho I have since given away the sire. But I know the genetics behind it and can come close to duplicating it next year with hens in broody coops. I figure we will build 4 of the each at 4x4x4. That gives the hen enough room to raise 7 chicks each and raise them to big enough so I can later release them into the large yard ( ala Leslie Joyce) and they can't get thru the 2x4 welded wire.
Nuts,
Karen

That's a shame. I like to hang out before bed time, listening for peeping, so I can help the very little birds find their way back to their broody. Sometimes it takes them a while to learn to navigate or be brave enough to jump over door jams.

We find even with 1" chicken wire some chicks have no trouble squeezing through. Or half-way through.

They're a bit like rats that way. This year we needed to wrap the bottom of our broody run with nylon deer netting to keep the littles on the right side of the fence.

We use a 2 x 4 welded wire to make a chick feeding station, and surprisingly large chicks can squeeze in there to eat.

Unless your breed is very tall, you won't need a 4' tall cage for the broodies. I prefer longer, narrower cages to square ones. And I prefer the nests on the ground.

 

[gjensen]

Hi,

Oh well nuts! The white chick is gone. The other night I went out to put the birds to bed and make sure the chick made it into the low coop. Mama hen was in there all feathered out like she did when she was warming the chick. I didn't want to disturb the chick so I closed the door and Hubby Bob and I put up a hardwarecloth barrier across the front of the door so they couldn't get out, as it was going to rain. Next morning I went out to see how they did and lifted up Mama hen and ...no chick. Oh nuts and rats! Apparently the little chick wasn't able to make the jump into the coop and Mama hen went in anyway. I didn't think she would do that as she had been taking very good care of the chick. So I had inadvertently locked it out of the coop. We looked for it, it is dead by now. I am mad at myself. This is a great reason to have a broody coop where Mama hen can raise their chicks and there are no obstacles the chicks can't negotiate, sigh. Well at least I know which breeding created that chick, altho I have since given away the sire. But I know the genetics behind it and can come close to duplicating it next year with hens in broody coops. I figure we will build 4 of the each at 4x4x4. That gives the hen enough room to raise 7 chicks each and raise them to big enough so I can later release them into the large yard ( ala Leslie Joyce) and they can't get thru the 2x4 welded wire.
Nuts,
Karen

You learned a lesson. You also learned that brooding hens are not perfect. They do lose chicks.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

 You learned a lesson. You also learned that brooding hens are not perfect. They do lose chicks.

Yep. We had some broody chick losses this year for the first time. Strangely, though, not from the free-range coop. We had tons of pressure from hawks this year. Kinds of Hawks I'd never seen before. And some eagles, also new.

 

[NanaKat]

I also brood on the ground as often as we can. Sometimes I have to use a large wall cage until the hatched chicks are a week old. The hen and chicks remain in a floor pen in the brooder room for another week and then mom and chicks free range with the flock.

We have also had hits by hawks and owls. We have had an owl before but never hawks like we have had this year. My flock has lost 15 to Ariel predators. Our state allows shooting hawks and owls that are attacking poultry and livestock but eagles are protected.
We had to shoot an owl that was inside one of the breed pens. The three hens were actually attacking the owl while it was on the ground to protect their chicks.
Hawks are hard to catch in the act of attacking but vigilance about carrying a loaded gun has paid off. The boys got one of two hawks hunting together over the free ranging juveniles last week. As one swooped down on three 12 week old cockerels in the garden, our crack shot took it out saving the cockerels heading for cover.

 

[3riverschick]

Yes,
It was a sad lesson learned. I I know now to always double check the chick's location and not to trust every hen to be supermom. The other 2 hens this year did great with their multiple chicks. Yeah, guess you are right about the height. 3 ft. would do fine, smile
I just thought 4x4 would be easier to cut from the wood. Maybe 3x5 would be a better idea. A longer way for the chicks to walk and exercise. Hubby just explained to me that 3 ft. deep would be better because I could reach the back of the coop. That's a good idea. Tho I admit be wanting that extra sq. foot the 4x4 would give me.
Best,
Karen

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Yes,
It was a sad lesson learned. I I know now to always double check the chick's location and not to trust every hen to be supermom. The other 2 hens this year did great with their multiple chicks. Yeah, guess you are right about the height. 3 ft. would do fine, smile
I just thought 4x4 would be easier to cut from the wood. Maybe 3x5 would be a better idea. A longer way for the chicks to walk and exercise. Hubby just explained to me that 3 ft. deep would be better because I could reach the back of the coop. That's a good idea. Tho I admit be wanting that extra sq. foot the 4x4 would give me.
Best,
Karen

Karen, here is a photo of one of our brood cages. We chose that height because Hardware Cloth comes in 2' widths. We chose that length because we used some wood tree stakes for the long sides. And the width is also because of hardware cloth sizes, but it also fits one of our double nest boxes perfectly ... that's a double nest box sitting on top, without the divider. This particular cage is a bit of a wreck as we've been using it hard for a couple years now. It was simple enough to build. Two doors on the top ... we put the nest under one door so we can check the hens, and the feed/water under the other door.

These cages have no bottoms so the birds can scratch in the bedding. We settle them down into the deep bedding a bit, and sometimes if the birds dig enough we also have to block escape tunnels (split fire wood or stepping stones are good for this). Too much bedding inside the cage isn't great.

We like to make the nest end more "private" by wrapping it in feed sacks or something. We also line the top of the cage if it is in a coop with other birds ... birds love to hang out on top of the cage and poo.

These cages are pretty spacious for when the chicks start to hatch, but light enough for one person to move around awkwardly.

We think the rectangular shape is a bonus feature. Use a hoe or something to reach the stinky broody poo in the middle.



We built a cage very much like this out of 2 x 4s, made it 4' x 4' x 10' for maximum efficiency ... it was so heavy we turned it into a mini coop. We find the 4' height to be difficult to service ... a door on the side means crawling, a door on the top is even hard to reach down into for those of us here over 6' with VERY long arms.

 

[bnjrob]

Karen, here is a photo of one of our brood cages. We chose that height because Hardware Cloth comes in 2' widths. We chose that length because we used some wood tree stakes for the long sides. And the width is also because of hardware cloth sizes, but it also fits one of our double nest boxes perfectly ... that's a double nest box sitting on top, without the divider. This particular cage is a bit of a wreck as we've been using it hard for a couple years now. It was simple enough to build. Two doors on the top ... we put the nest under one door so we can check the hens, and the feed/water under the other door.

These cages have no bottoms so the birds can scratch in the bedding. We settle them down into the deep bedding a bit, and sometimes if the birds dig enough we also have to block escape tunnels (split fire wood or stepping stones are good for this). Too much bedding inside the cage isn't great.

We like to make the nest end more "private" by wrapping it in feed sacks or something. We also line the top of the cage if it is in a coop with other birds ... birds love to hang out on top of the cage and poo.

These cages are pretty spacious for when the chicks start to hatch, but light enough for one person to move around awkwardly.

We think the rectangular shape is a bonus feature. Use a hoe or something to reach the stinky broody poo in the middle.


We built a cage very much like this out of 2 x 4s, made it 4' x 4' x 10' for maximum efficiency ... it was so heavy we turned it into a mini coop. We find the 4' height to be difficult to service ... a door on the side means crawling, a door on the top is even hard to reach down into for those of us here over 6' with VERY long arms.

We can get 3 ft wide hardware cloth here, but I also like the 2 ft tall box because it allows me to reach to the bottom of the pen easily. Your box is similar to the brooder we have in our garage - it's 2 ft x 10 ft x 2 ft tall. Lets me reach all areas without having to stand funny and strain my back and I can reach all the way to the bottom to grab chicks without having the side of the box sticking into my chest/armpit. When I use it as a temporary space for full grown cocks, the cocks' combs are pushed over just a tad bit by the *ceiling* but they have plenty of room to move around and because we used 1/4" hardware cloth, their combs don't get injured by touching the top. And then hens are a bit shorter so they don't even touch the top of the wire.

One thing I figured out quickly, I prefer the pens to be tall enough to stand upright in, or short enough for me to easily bend over and be able to easily reach the opposite wall without straining. Or they need to be a shape, like my smaller a-frames, where they are plenty wide enough for me to work in from the side without staying bent over and have the feed/water easily accessible without having to crawl inside. We have one pen that is 4 feet tall all across the top. I hate it. We have to stay hunched over the entire time and it's too tall to bend over to work from the top. I have plans to convert the top to a peak so that I'll be able to stand upright and be more comfortable.

It's pretty easy to make a pen that is good for the birds, but it's more important and a little more difficult to come up with the right dimensions to suit the chicken keeper's needs. It's really more important for the house to be good for the keeper, because if it is difficult to work in, then keeping it clean and doing chores as simple as watering the birds becomes difficult at best, painful from back strain at worst, and for some, husbandry and chicken health/happiness can suffer if the pen isn't keeper-friendly.

 

[3riverschick]

Thanks so much you guys for these great ideas! So much here to work with when making my cages!
Thanks Again!
Karen

 

[3riverschick]

Hey, where is everyone, I had to go past page four to find the thread!
Karen

 

[finnfur]

I have been checking in everyday but have not had anything to add- guess everybody is just busy with life.
On the chicken front we have had the worst molt I can remember and hens running around naked and then a cold front
comes thru. I have only been raising chicken about 5 years and yesterday was the first day we had zero eggs. And I have more hens[16] than ever.
Have not changed feed or watering routine in 3 years . All appears to be healthy. Stumped. Maybe its the winter lighting ?