How do y'all set up your breeding pens?

[r4eboxer]

DH has started marking off space for the breeding pens. He has not sectioned them off. I plan on putting my trio of RP in one and putting 2 Narragansett hens with a Blue Slate Tom, and a Bourbon Red Hen with a RP tom. What do I need in terms of space? Do I need a roost? What about nesting boxes? As far as space I have a 20 ft ceiling in the barn and somewhere around 8ft x 4 ft stalls. I can go bigger if I need to but that is how he put the t posts in the ground.

on a side note, I sure wish I had a Narragansett tom, a blue slate hen or two and a Bourbon Red Tom. I lost too many poults and did not end up with pairs of everything.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Yes, I do. I like to set them up at least a month ahead of time.

 

[janelle18]

Here is my set-up
I have between 3-8 birds per pen (one rooster plus x-amount of hens) My pens are perfect size for 7 birds I would say. The ones with 8, if the birds are civil everything is fine, but if they are energetic/bored like my Barred Rocks, then they pick at each other, so half of them have naked behinds...

each pen has a man size door and access to the nest boxes from the aisle.


During construction




Nest boxes from the outside
(my mom decided each breed needed a name plate)


Nest boxes from the inside, they each have a ladder up to them now. One thing i would change is making the front lip a little higher because they kick the shavings or straw out like NO other. Solution to this was to add carpet in the bottom of each box...lifesaver... they can scratch it all they want and it doesnt move and it save eggs from being broken!


these are the other two pens, on the opposite side of the barn. They incorropate a old feed trough (barn used to be used for sheep eons ago...)
this is set up for my chicks, but my icelandics are now in the pictured pen.

I have 7 'breeding pens' in total then i have the area under the ramp of the barn made up as a room for my extra roosters.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I look forward to see what others have to say.

 

[r4eboxer]

Kuntrygirl, do you use breeding pens? I'm also wondering how long they need to be together for pure eggs, or the mix I've set up. A week a month

 

[r4eboxer]

WOW WOW WOW, I love your pens!!! My concept is the same but I have the pens in a 20 x 40 pole building. I can't tell how big you have yours sectioned off but I think mine are too small. That's ok because I can adjust the size because all we have is 4 t posts set so far. Love the roosts. I can't tell exactly but do you have the nest in the ground under the roosts?

 

[kuntrygirl]

WOW WOW WOW, I love your pens!!! My concept is the same but I have the pens in a 20 x 40 pole building. I can't tell how big you have yours sectioned off but I think mine are too small. That's ok because I can adjust the size because all we have is 4 t posts set so far. Love the roosts. I can't tell exactly but do you have the nest in the ground under the roosts?

Thanks. BUT... (drum roll)...........Mine are too small as well. if I had to do it all over again, I would make a few changes.

#1. Make the entrance as tall as I am. I am 5'7", so the entrance would be at least a 6 foot entrance. I HATE HATE HATE having to duck down to get in and out.
#2. I would make the single compartments a little wider AND longer (extending toward the back). Each individual stall is 5'x6'. That is NOT big enough for me. However, I think it is if you just have a hen and rooster. I guess I'm thinking about my own reasons for wanting it bigger.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************************
Other features that I will mention.......
1. I have portable roosts. I can take the roosts out and put them back in.
2. I also have portable nesting boxes. I can pick them up, take them anywhere, drop them off, use them and when I'm done, I pick them up and take them out or I can leave it where I want it. (SEE PIC BELOW).

My hen has the option to go in the nesting box or lay eggs on the ground. It's up to her but I do provide a nesting box.

 

[r4eboxer]

VERY nice nesting box. I did a search on turkey breeding pens I and saw where someone was using saw horses. I may use that Idea. I'm going to redo the pen sizes. I've got the barn split in two with a square hay bale wind barrier that I can easily move to get more room. My geese use half the barn and I"m going to use the other half for the turkeys and two breeds of chicks. I'm comfortable with the size of the pen for the chickens but the turkeys are so much bigger. I'm going to do 4 pens in half the barn. I can go pretty high, 20 ft but will most likely only go about 8 ft up. I want a walkway in the middle with 2 pens on each side. I'll try to get some pics when I start and finish.

I know what you mean about ducking. I have to duck getting into the chicken run. I've got the netting too low and it skims my head as I go about chores. If it's raining I come out of there with a mop head from all the water on the net.

 

[janelle18]

kuntrygirl, how many birds do you have in each pen?

 

[kuntrygirl]

VERY nice nesting box. I did a search on turkey breeding pens I and saw where someone was using saw horses. I may use that Idea. I'm going to redo the pen sizes. I've got the barn split in two with a square hay bale wind barrier that I can easily move to get more room. My geese use half the barn and I"m going to use the other half for the turkeys and two breeds of chicks. I'm comfortable with the size of the pen for the chickens but the turkeys are so much bigger. I'm going to do 4 pens in half the barn. I can go pretty high, 20 ft but will most likely only go about 8 ft up. I want a walkway in the middle with 2 pens on each side. I'll try to get some pics when I start and finish.

I know what you mean about ducking. I have to duck getting into the chicken run. I've got the netting too low and it skims my head as I go about chores. If it's raining I come out of there with a mop head from all the water on the net.

 

Thanks

I'm loving your idea of the turkey breeding pens. Man, that's gonna be SWEET !!!!!!!! I can't wait to see how it turns out. Please do take pics throughout your process. You may want to have pics so that you can enter any future contest for breeding pens. :/ I'm thinking yours is gonna be NICE !!!

Great idea to do the saw horse nesting boxes for the turkeys. I like that!