San Diego Chicken meetup and Chat thread

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

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Hi Nancy! Nice hearing from you! Have things calmed down a bit on your end?

I think just about everyone's chickens are on strike right now. I am just getting a few eggs here and there from my Ameraucanas and no one else. NONE from the EE/ OE pen!

Haha so none to eat for me! BUT on a good note I finally got the roll-a-way nest box built. I remember we were talking about them for the egg eaters... I'll go out and get pics of it in a few minutes for you to see.

I am pretty sure he's a boy... like 99% sure. He acts like a boy and is VERY hefty and has huge legs. I will post some pics for you now, it was weird out of all those eggs you gave me only 2 hatched.

I have Blondie's son and another one that is black that I am pretty sure is a female. She is cute, I just hope she ends up with a beard!

And here they are! Any guesses on who the father is for Blondie's baby, and the mom and dad of the black one?

The boy; He was born yellow and black striped, and is now feathering out, what looks like, black, white, and partridge...

The girl; She's all black with a little bit of white, I don't know if the white will stay after she gets her adult plumage though...

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Here is the roll-a-way nest box. You start by putting hay in it like normal, to teach them that is where they are supposed to lay. Then you slowly take the hay out little by little, until you have a bare floor (which we will be putting kitchen shelf liner on) and then when it's bare like that, once laid, the egg rolls out the back to where they can't reach it... and thats where you'd reach down in there to get them. It's the only solution I've found for egg eaters.

Our first one/ prototype... Hopefully it works right!

 

[All-American-Chick]

that is so smart.way awsome


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[flower]

Cute chicks WMR and nice nesting/eggs box. The slanting slope is used in bigger and commercial flocks but they use wire floors. I found that eggs laid with little or no padding are prone to cracked shells.

I think I am going to have a bountiful egg winter season. My two Am pullets and one LF NN have just started laying and have been very consistent. Also my two year old EE laid even when growing in new feathers. That gal is something ! Nice large sage colored eggs. Lucky me.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Thanks Renee!!!

And Flower, I agree.... that's why I think a layer of the soft non skid puffy kitchen liner stuff will help... that's what others have used and I think they said it works well. We will see!

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Nice nest boxes Cari.

I got one egg today and I dropped it.

Wind is frigid, can't even tell which direction it's coming from, it just swirls all around us. GO AWAY WIND!!!

 

[OvertheHenHouse]

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Oh, yeah - hating this wind right now. Blanketed the horses and shut down the coop at 4 this afternoon. Talk about wind chill!!! Sorry you dropped the egg -

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

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YES! Go away wind! It's been so strong here it knocked a bunch of our plants over and is blowing my rabbit tarps all over the place!

 

[SD_Paulo]

Cari-

That nest box idea is brilliant! Did you try the ceramic egg trick? Which has always worked for me in the past.

I have some thoughts on the egg rolling nest box concept though? I dont know if you guys made it or purchase it so bare with me.

It still seem like they would be able to peck at it if they really wanted to. Only because the rear opeing where the eggs into seems: 1) the rear gap seems to wide, 2) the rear holding area seems to shallow (depth wise). But perhaps its just the photo?

Now that I am thinking of it.... there probably needs to be a far amount of pitch to that bottom. Most eggs wont roll straight so the pitch would need to compensate for when the egg rolls into the wall, then down into the rear trough. Anyway, just some thoughts.....

 

[flower]

And not to discourage you Cari but to add to the information. I tried to use the padded kitchen shelf liner and my birds scratched it and pushed it aside. So you might need to make sure that it adheres to the bottom of the box. I really wish there was a solution to nesting box issues. For me no matter how much space they have to roost, some one always want to roost in the nesting boxes and poops in them. I hate that because if they didn't roost in there I wouldn't need to clean them out so much.