Temporary Breeding Pens Within the Coop

[Katy]

Yes, to me anyway that's too small. I'm envisioning 6 of my orps or Marans confined to an area that size. For bantams or small breeds it would be fine, but for your brahmas or orps they're going to be pretty tight.....especially without outside access.

 

[Diavolicchio]

Quote:
The incubator/hatcher I'll be using will do all of the turning for me. It also has a separate area where the first week's worth of eggs could hatch while the other two week's worth are still incubating.

I'll have to look more closely into it to make sure I'm not overlooking something. I appreciate you bringing it to my attention.



John

 

[patandchickens]

If there is no run access, 4 sq ft per chicken is pretty tight, at the very least you should expect your hens to get bare-backed, hopefully it would stop there. If you have runs going out from both sides of the building, and could subdivide *them* too so that each breeding pen has a run, then no problemo.

The general concept of removeable dividers is sound -- I use that a lot in my own coop. I have a long row (6-7' wide, the length of the building) on either side of a center aisle, and I have removeable partitions that I can insert where I want them. In the case of the E side of the building, it is a floor-to-ceiling divider of chickenwire stapled to 2x2s. Along the W side of the building, the "pens" are actually 4x6' chainlink dog pens from when a previous owner of the property had the building set up as a kennel; I've removed the bottom half of the dividers between adjacent pens but left the top half, so my removable dividers only have to be half-height.

Because of the structure of my building (and I'm not sure that anyone else *except* me is using a converted dog breeding/boarding kennel for their chickens, so it is probably not widely applicable

) it is super easy to put the partitions in and out, and I don't need to worry about doors b/c a whole row of doors is already built in there, all along the aisle.

However, for what you describe, you will have to put some thought into how to engineer things so that the doors (in particular, although the rest of the structure too) are strong and rigid and durable enough while still having the panels easily set up and removed. My best suggestion would be to *permanently install* two 4x4 posts into that pen, located at the junction of two adjacent doors for the breeding pens. This will give you hard structure that your divider and (more importantly) door panels can be attached to. It will be much more stable, and last a lot longer without getting wibbly, and be much easier to construct, than if you were trying to make it all free-standing. I can't see that the posts should be a problem when the dividers are not installed, you and the chickens will just have to walk around them is all

You may well find that you need to make the bottom 3' or so of the pen dividers solid (I just staple on old opened-out plastic feedbags

) so that adjacent roosters don't get crabby and belligerent with each other... although it depends on the temperament of your particular roos.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Diavolicchio]

Quote:
Out of curiosity, where does the 4 sq ft / chicken rule apply? Everywhere but the breeding pens? I'd already be allowing each chicken 5 1/3 sq ft each in the breeding pens. How much is really mandatory for the three weeks they'd be in there?

In a couple of designs I've seen for breeding pens, an area measuring 2' x 6' was allocated for a standard breeding pair. This is slightly larger than I'm proposing (6 sq ft / chicken vs 5 1/3 sq ft). I wouldn't change the size of the pens, but I could always go with one less hen per pen if absolutely necessary, which would give them 6.4 sq ft / chicken.



John

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Not sure what you mean "mandatory". You're getting input on what WORKS, from someone (Katy) who has a great deal of experience in this regard.

The more space you provide, the likelier to avoid injured chickens and/or sometimes-permanent picking problems.

Can't you jigger together some way of providing them with run space, perhaps carved out of existing outdoor runs? It is not hard to cut popdoors

Of course you can do it any way you like but isn't the purpose of asking people with chicken-breeding experience what they think, to *benefit from* the information they give you?

BTW, this building... this isn't going to be one of those open-front 'fresh air' style houses you have been planning for in your other threads, is it? I am just asking because the utilization of space you describe is not really compatible with the open-front design. You probably already knew that, of course, just throwing it out there just in case.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Lollipop]

John, I understand the concern some have for space, but I agree that you should have plenty, especially for only 3 week periods. Loks like a really good setup and my only concern at this point is the rooster issue. Lots of folks stagger their hatch dates and your bator is set up for that. Good luck..........Pop

 

[Diavolicchio]

Quote:
Not sure what you mean "mandatory". You're getting input on what WORKS, from someone (Katy) who has a great deal of experience in this regard.

Pat,


Please don't jump to conclusions that I'm disregarding any advice that I'm being given by anyone. I'm simply asking questions and asking for clarification.

How can I know what WORKS, if that still hasn't been quantified? Katy has told me that the breeding pen size I'm going with is insufficient for the number of hens and roosters I thought I could comfortably accommodate. Great. Not a problem. I've learned something. That information is really helpful. I need a larger breeding pen, or fewer chickens within it. Got it. It's all good.

But I still haven't gotten any specifics about what WORKS; just that my plan currently DOESN'T. Do you follow?




John

 

[Diavolicchio]

Quote:
Yes, I'm going with the open-front design, with the height of the 'roof' of the breeding pens at the same level as the bottom of the opening on the front of the chicken house.

Out of curiosity, how do you see this design as incompatible with an open-front chicken house? Most of it is extrapolated from a design in Woods' book:

John

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Out of curiosity, where does the 4 sq ft / chicken rule apply? Everywhere but the breeding pens? I'd already be allowing each chicken 5 1/3 sq ft each in the breeding pens. How much is really mandatory for the three weeks they'd be in there?

In a couple of designs I've seen for breeding pens, an area measuring 2' x 6' was allocated for a standard breeding pair. This is slightly larger than I'm proposing (6 sq ft / chicken vs 5 1/3 sq ft). I wouldn't change the size of the pens, but I could always go with one less hen per pen if absolutely necessary, which would give them 6.4 sq ft / chicken.



John

To me the 4 square foot is ok if they also have access to an outside run with about 10 square foot per bird, but too small if they don't. Will they die from having them in that small of area for that time period, not likely, but they also aren't going to be at their best either. Don't forget that you'll be needing some of that floor space for a feeder, waterer and nestboxes. If you would just envision 6 of the large size birds plus accesories sitting on top of a 4X8 sheet of plywood there is not going to much space for them.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I'm assuming you mean the long ("south" facing, if 'up' on the page is north) wall to be the open wall? If that is the case, you've got a 20' deep, 24' wide open area as your 'hen pen'. That will work poorly, open-front, because it will be drafty, not to say *windy*, on account of being so wide and shallow-relative-to-width. The wind will swoop in and swirl. To keep the air quasi still -ish in the house, you need it to be narrow and deep. This is not theory, this is description of what actually happens in such buildings.

If I'm interpreting you wrong, and it is the left short side of the bldg that will be the open wall, then there's still a problem.... you can't have the rooster pen walled off like you describe wanting (it will block air flow), and the environment in your 'hen pen' will be less than ideal much of the year unless you have large openable panels on both long sides and adjust them daily and in storms.

Note that the plan in Woods' book is actually much different from either of yours... there, it is a *narrow deep* house (you really do need this, or a long house broken up into narrow deep segments, for the whole thing to work), and nobody is stuck for long periods in the back half of the house, and there are no significant obstructions such as solid walls between the open front and the further-in parts of the house.

Just sayin',

Pat