AllenK RGV
Chicken Addict
The original bones of this structure, was an old dog house that I converted into a Sumatra coop. That little archway cut is irregular from the prior owners dogs boredom I suspect. When the Sumatra decided to be peckish about me stealing their eggs they set up a nest in the furthest back corner and thought they had me 1 upped. I got tired of the waddle crawl and hitting my head on those low rafters. So, I showed them they got excluded from that area by just bording it up. Next I set up a bachelor pad in that area because I had a 4:12 roo/hen ratio of Silkies and it was getting a bit excessive and one of the twerps wanted to get all floggy with me. He got relocated with another friend I didn't like the looks of as well to the pad. So that is the original state of affairs and I do not have a need for the bachelor pad now as in total I have a 3:14 ratio(floggy roo got "rehomed"). 4 LF/1 OEGB/ and four unspecific dec&jan hatched Silkies that survived through the winter.
I have 2 Silkie hens that are sharing 5 eggs with my broodzilla Sumatra who will probably kill the "helpers" once hatch out occurs on the 19th-21st of this month. 3 Silkies who have been in broody breaking prison for at least 5 days and aren't giving up yet. The Silkies commingle with the rest of the flock and the sumatra are used to ignoring them unless Silkie hens brood or lay in whichever is the favorite nesting box of the day. I have 5 1.5 week old Sumatra I ordered from Ideal(Comfort, TX) as I find them much more heat tolerant than the Polk, OH Meyer's stock. And the weather for this week says a huddle box is all they need to my eye.
So we decided we will play "Lets see who wants to be a mama" tomorrow(17th). DW did a well needed mucking out so I would get off BYC and build the dang thing. No new materials were used in this build just stuff out of my one of my sheds. One exception to this was I spent $7.99 for 2" wood screws because I didn't want to use my expensive 2" ones for the hurricane shutters. If you look at the bachelor pad door you can see what those look like, and that is a combo washer+lock nut wood screw.
The goal of the current build out is to give the broodies a chance to meet the kiddos, the kiddos the chance to escape either the heat or unwelcome attention from the broodies. Additionally, I want hay under my poop machine Sumatra and to deny bedding materials to the broodies. Here is my weather forecast and modifications made this afternoon:
It seems obvious to me they are going to survive the overnight lows for the future, and who knows a match could be made.
I have 2 Silkie hens that are sharing 5 eggs with my broodzilla Sumatra who will probably kill the "helpers" once hatch out occurs on the 19th-21st of this month. 3 Silkies who have been in broody breaking prison for at least 5 days and aren't giving up yet. The Silkies commingle with the rest of the flock and the sumatra are used to ignoring them unless Silkie hens brood or lay in whichever is the favorite nesting box of the day. I have 5 1.5 week old Sumatra I ordered from Ideal(Comfort, TX) as I find them much more heat tolerant than the Polk, OH Meyer's stock. And the weather for this week says a huddle box is all they need to my eye.
So we decided we will play "Lets see who wants to be a mama" tomorrow(17th). DW did a well needed mucking out so I would get off BYC and build the dang thing. No new materials were used in this build just stuff out of my one of my sheds. One exception to this was I spent $7.99 for 2" wood screws because I didn't want to use my expensive 2" ones for the hurricane shutters. If you look at the bachelor pad door you can see what those look like, and that is a combo washer+lock nut wood screw.
The goal of the current build out is to give the broodies a chance to meet the kiddos, the kiddos the chance to escape either the heat or unwelcome attention from the broodies. Additionally, I want hay under my poop machine Sumatra and to deny bedding materials to the broodies. Here is my weather forecast and modifications made this afternoon:
It seems obvious to me they are going to survive the overnight lows for the future, and who knows a match could be made.
