Straw bale meatie pen; it's a bit rough but will it still work?

[carress]

My bales are $6 each. It still seems pretty cheap.
I built a ROUGH pen today using bales I pulled from my in-garage pseudo coop.
i used 6 bales - two on each side, and covered one side with lattice. I built a top out of welded metal fencing and 1*2s that I had already. I threw two pieces of lattice over part of the top to provide extra shade. I had one piece of corrugated roofing to provide a dry space in case of rain.
I stuck 16 cornish in there, and they seem pretty happy.

As soon as I can find a minute, I will drive to the farm for more bales to I can build this thing right.
I'll update on any problems I encounter.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I have done the same thing before and it does work.
Let me tell you what the probelm is though; mold. Wet, & poopy wet, straw bales mold . . . in between and underneath. Mold + chickens = dead chickens.
I still use them in the barn for a meatie pen while they are little, but once they are big enought to need the poop sprayed out they need to go to an easier to clean invironment.

 

[carress]

Uh oh..
I've done it inside as well- and since it worked well, I jumped on this idea.

How often did you move them - would more frequent moves have helped? What about turning the bales at each move so the birds wouldn't be in contact with the same side of a bale twice in a row?

 

[Bossroo]

Using straw bales may sound good, however in real world practice it can turn out to be much worse healthwise (harbors mold, decease, mites, pests, manure, dampness, decomposition gases, etc.), in a heartbeat, than the commercial operations that many here revile about.