The Plymouth Rock Breeders thread

[Yard full o' rocks]

He looks lovely Scott. He appears very tall too, but that could just be the picture.

He is tall....thanks

I like a Rock that is well up on it's legs

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Trying to make breeding season a tad easier here. I'm about 3/4 done with a set of three breeding pens. Each one is 3ft wide and 8ft deep

 

[Beekissed]

Nice!!! I'm building two extra pens to total 3 but they sure won't look as nice as that unit you have there! I'm just scrapping together some pallets and making breeding "huts" more than pens, but they will have attached runs. I'll NOT be posting pics, though.....

I would if they looked as nice as what you are building, though. That's a beautiful build going on there.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I guess it was YellowHouseFarm who said, "The good thing about having stuff just kinda junky and thrown together is that along the way you learn what you really want to build."

I thought that was a good point. A lot of folks starting out spend a bunch of money on fancy stuff they see online or wherever and then find out, that stuff doesn't meet their REAL needs.

I've had some waist high pens floating around in my mind for a year now. Come the warmer days of early summer, I'd like to build them.

Great looking pens there, Scott.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote: The Welsummer cockerel I'm keeping is also tall in the legs.

Trying to make breeding season a tad easier here. I'm about 3/4 done with a set of three breeding pens. Each one is 3ft wide and 8ft deep

Very nice! Will some of it be closed in?

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

The Welsummer cockerel I'm keeping is also tall in the legs. 

Very nice!  Will some of it be closed in?

The sides without the doors will have siding up 4ft. If needed, I'll use clear plastic above there should temps be too low. Doors are facing almost due south

 

[Beekissed]

If/when you use multiple males, will you put dividers in between the pens so they won't be fighting through the wire? Or does that even happen with males that are raised together....mine raised together don't normally fight, as one is dominant and the other is subordinate.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Not sure what Scott's plans are. However, the males will indeed fuss with their male competitors, but if you use 1/2" hardware cloth as a barrier, there's not much they can really do to each other anyhow through fabric that tight.

Also, a pen grouping such as Scott showed might merely contain females and the male gets rotated around the pens every other day or every 3rd day. So a series of pens like this can be used several ways, of course.

If one were to have a waist high "shelf" or floor designed to be installed into these pens? Now imagine how they might be multi purpose. I can envision brooding in the right weather, juvenile groupings, or with waist high floors, could be conditioning pens as well. The only limitation is one's imagination and design/construction abilities.

 

[chicken pickin]

Trying to make breeding season a tad easier here. I'm about 3/4 done with a set of three breeding pens. Each one is 3ft wide and 8ft deep

This is going to be a great set up. Well done. I hope you post pictures once it is complete and in use.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm designing mine similarly to what you describe, Fred, as multipurpose pens that can be used to house broodies and family, bachelor pen, holding prior to cull, holding outside birds prior to butcher, etc. They will have outside access nests, roosting for just 2-3 birds, a hinged roof or back wall for removal of birds from the roosts....but all in a minimal way. Just pallet high and wide "huts" to house the birds.

Nothing fancy and will probably be a pain in the tookus for being something I'll have to bend over or kneel to collect eggs, check broodies, or clean out for any reason. Much nicer to have things at waist height like you describe.