Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Molpet]

My feeling when it comes to coops:

Well-ventilated, yes.

Bright, no.

Coops are bedrooms, meant for sleeping and nesting, both of which commonly occur in relative darkness. The rest of their run and the yard are for the daylight hours.

There is a streetlight on the side street that shines on the coop and indirectly into our bedroom. The moon also rises on a different side, shining into the bedroom. It’s lovely and all, but I’d really rather not be awakened at 4 by a shaft of moonlight!

My hoop coops are bright inside.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

The stench ran me out and hens in. They had it cleaned up and the hen was still sitting on uck covered eggs.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I have had persistent broodys that sit for months with eggs that blow up. Usually I can tell because the others are grabbing green uck from under her. One Time I was standing there telling her she needed to give up and hear a loud pop... The stench ran me out and hens in. They had it cleaned up and the hen was still sitting on uck covered eggs.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

My hoop coops are bright inside.
View attachment 4240395

I love hoop coops. I think that they are what helped me soften up my mental divide between coops and runs. Do you have much ambient light at night? I assume that you're in a rural area.

 

[BDutch]

So even though she booted a rotten one out of the nest she is most likely sitting on fertilized eggs and has been building the clutch since I got the new rooster.

Did she start brooding immediate or after a few days?
Bc I understood you (the broody) should wait at a few days - up to a week after the first mating to get fertilised eggs. But maybe I am wrong?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Did she start brooding immediate or after a few days?
Bc I understood you (the broody) should wait at a few days - up to a week after the first mating to get fertilised eggs. But maybe I am wrong?

I can really only guess. The first time I saw her with the rooster was about three weeks ago. I never saw them mate but she kicked all the hens off the feed bowl and let him eat with her. This happened almost every day. So I am assuming they mated. Since she has about 8 eggs under her I am guessing she has been building the clutch since about that time and is just now getting serious about sitting. But it’s possible those eggs are older than I realize and she has been sitting longer. I will just have to see what happens. My mom says broodies will boot bad eggs out of the nest when they get close to hatch time but I don’t know if that’s true. I have had several broodies but it’s been a few years and those were cooped chickens so very different. Also I had no rooster so I was buying fertilized eggs. This is all new to me!

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I can really only guess. The first time I saw her with the rooster was about three weeks ago. I never saw them mate but she kicked all the hens off the feed bowl and let him eat with her. This happened almost every day. So I am assuming they mated. Since she has about 8 eggs under her I am guessing she has been building the clutch since about that time and is just now getting serious about sitting. But it’s possible those eggs are older than I realize and she has been sitting longer. I will just have to see what happens. My mom says broodies will boot bad eggs out of the nest when they get close to hatch time but I don’t know if that’s true. I have had several broodies but it’s been a few years and those were cooped chickens so very different. Also I had no rooster so I was buying fertilized eggs. This is all new to me!

You get to guide us through this grand adventure!

 

[BDutch]

Bright, no.

Coops are bedrooms, meant for sleeping and nesting, both of which commonly occur in relative darkness. The rest of their run and the yard are for the daylight hours.

There is a streetlight on the side street that shines on the coop and indirectly into our bedroom. The moon also rises on a different side, shining into the bedroom. It’s lovely and all, but I’d really rather not be awakened at 4 by a shaft of moonlight!

45 minutes after sunset my coop is as dark as needed. I have no disturbing roosters and I like to check on the hens before my own bedtime, with a lantern.

During the day my chickens often come inside the coop to rest a bit when the weather is not nice or to take a sand-bath under the roost /poop board (sand floor).
This way the coop space is used effectively. They have more square meters to walk around.

If you don’t want the chickens in the coop during the day, there are no problems to go into a rather dark coop (after sunset, ) and you have enough vents its probably fine. But IMO, sunshine is great to break down/ kill viruses and it makes the red mites flee to the darkest corners of the coop, where a layer of DE, is waiting to kill the nymphs that hatch.

If you like to compare it with human bedrooms; in the morning I open the sheets and the curtains. I love it when the sun comes in during the day.

 

[BDutch]

My mom says broodies will boot bad eggs out of the nest when they get close to hatch time but I don’t know if that’s true.

Some seem to do so if there is no life in them. Some do if the eggs start to smell. Some kick out eggs with chicks in it that were alive just a day before the karate action.
Many broodies keep brooding all eggs until the first hatched chick is a few days old and they leave the nest.

Please keep us updated.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Solway.
View attachment 4239247

Is that their mesh (the original from Solway), or did you attach it somehow?

Once we're back in warm weather, I'd like to add some screening to either the door opening (probably simpler) or the back of the Nestera, but I can't figure how to attach it. Duct tape, I guess, but it sounds attractive to mites and whatnot.

(I realize that we're barely past the autumn equinox here. I'm just looking ahead!)