Specialty Nest Boxes

[MyriamKP]

Hello Everyone,
I am hoping someone will be able to help me. I am looking for a type of chicken nest box that locks the hen into the nest. She is not able to get out until someone releases her. This is so we can know which hen laid which egg. We need to do some genetic selection with our free range chickens.
I know these types of nest boxes exist, but I don't remember what they are called. My search results are not specific enough and with so many articles and nest types out there, I am ending up with 100,s of pages to look at and not what I need.
Thanks for the help
Myriam

 

[Joeschooks]

I haven’t heard of these nest boxes but I can help with the knowing which hen laid which egg... pop a little food colouring on their vents (different colour for each hen) and the colour will transfer to the egg when she lays it

 

[Magicque]

I haven’t heard of these nest boxes but I can help with the knowing which hen laid which egg... pop a little food colouring on their vents (different colour for each hen) and the colour will transfer to the egg when she lays it

Cool !

 

[MyriamKP]

Interesting Idea, I have about 40 hens in the flock. Not sure if I can come up with that many colors. How many days do the colors last?

 

[Mrs. K]

I have heard lipstick too. No need to do all 40 in one night, do several one night, figure out their egg, so forth.

Or better yet, I am assuming that you only want eggs from certain birds. Well just do those birds, and collet any egg with color on it.

Mrs K

 

[MyriamKP]

I have heard lipstick too. No need to do all 40 in one night, do several one night, figure out their egg, so forth.

Or better yet, I am assuming that you only want eggs from certain birds. Well just do those birds, and collet any egg with color on it.

Mrs K

My hens are not for selling eggs. They are for producing chicks for meat birds. SO I do need to know all 40 and I need to follow the eggs to chicks to growers and processing.It would be nice if the chicks came out colored too.

 

[Foster's Freehold]

They are called trap nests and you can find threads on here and lots of vid on YouTube. Only real way to know for sure. It is pretty easy to do and doesn't hurt them at all.

 

[Mrs. K]

oh - I misunderstood. But I am curious, do you mean to hatch out chicks from all 40 birds? I guess I assumed you would want chicks from your heaviest birds, or your best birds, for whatever you were collecting the eggs for.

oh well

 

[aart]

They are called trap nests and you can find threads on here and lots of vid on YouTube. Only real way to know for sure. It is pretty easy to do and doesn't hurt them at all.

Yeppers!

Here's a thread search on trap nests:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/search/20841058/?q=trap+nests&t=post&o=relevance&c[title_only]=1