The Trap Nesting Thread

[MANOZ]

the diamond hole evolved because i dont own a jigsaw to cut a circle lol

after they lay they come to the front and stick their head out the hole.....until then you just hear them clucking and see the door closed.....

 

[MANOZ]

using grid paper i made a chart and when a particular hen lays i mark a box off for that day.in this way i can tell as of right now the barred rock with 2 yellow rings on the right leg is a better layer than her other two sisters.....this is how simple it is to do ,really nothing to it......not only do i know which birds are laying .....but i know who's the better layer as well....handling a bird will not tell you if she is the best layer......trap nesting will find out who it is with ease though......i love it

 

[Nonny]

What an interesting way to see who is laying! It looks like a project I'd enjoy trying (making the boxes work, that is) but the thing that turns me off it is the thought of what would happen if for any reason I couldn't get out to release the hens from their nests... do they have any access to food/water in there? What if you have an accident or illness or your car breaks down or something?

 

[Lollipop]

Quote:
You make a good case for your trap nests, MANOZ. I can see the bennefits of such a thing for those who have birds that can coexist in a group or flock. I have some reservations, like all the variables that affect a laying hen, some of which are broodiness, moulting, stress from many sources, and any number of other things. The fact that you have to keep your records for a year, at least, to get a running average of each hen, plus the fact that they are getting older as the year progresses and likely to not lay the same in subsequent years, is also in question. But ya know what? If that`s what pleases you, then I`m all for it. We all have our reasons and yours is a worthy cause.

My passion is Oriental gamefowl and trap nests just won`t work in my environment. I seldom have two hens that can live together and, as you pointed out, they aren`t good layers. Since we both live in the south, we can avoid the "coops" that are needed in harsher climates. My setup consists of "pens" with shade and a windbreak. Usually one hen in each pen and the cocks are penned alone also, except for breeding purposes. Extreme record keeping is also part of my life.

We both arrive at nearly the same goal, but go at it from different perspectives. I am interrested in whatever data you glean from your project and look forward to future reports........Pop

 

[MANOZ]

yeah thanx for that encouragement pop....curious to know if u got some raja murgh azils on your yard......also i would like to know how you keep your records .......your hens must be real game,a friend of mine just gave me a blue azil roo and 1 black one with a blue hen and a wheat colored hen,he said they were 3/4 azil 1/4 spanish.....but i want the one thats worth its weight in gold [raja murgh].....azils are taking over here in louisiana.......awesome breed


nonny...if i think about all those what ifs, i would never complete my task, on the other hand i'll just have to cross that bridge when i get to it

 

[MANOZ]

trap nesting may not be for everyone but it does have its good merits.....who is laying the bluest egg? who is laying the brownest egg? who is laying the largest egg? where are the speckeled eggs coming from? all these ?'s can be answered with the trap nest.....before the trapnest i had no idea who layed what.....now i have a better understanding of my flock

as of today i will be going with the belgian style trapnest......the one i built with the lil upright arm seems to fall from its own weight.....so belgian stlye it is....its the easiest to make and it has less parts to fab.

i didnt like the rocking nest box anyway.....lol, all a part of troubleshooting i guess

 

[MANOZ]

then again maybe if i make a lighter box maybe it will work better......but i have been leaving it up to the hens though.....they seem to like the boxes without the see-saw nest......

nonny ..........after thinking more about what you said..... i would never leave my girls unattended like that.......if i had to be some place else i wouldnt leave my boxes operational.....thus the open back serves this purpose well.....i would close the belgian doors,pull the crates out the back and turn them around.......so there is no trap nest active

or i could supply feed containers to the back side of the milk crate..something i dont wanna do because i dont want them looking for food in the nestboxes.....

 

[Nonny]

Good to hear there's a way to deactivate them if you need to.

It would never work for me - my hens often have to fend for themselves for the day because of various commitments with the kids or if I'm having a "can't get out of bed" day, and in this climate (and lacking a nice big airconditioned and weather proof coop and run) they'd be toast in a matter of hours locked in their nests without access to water.

If I want to know who is laying what it's pretty easy and I only have 3 to watch and I just feel for the warmest egg when one exits the nestbox.

 

[MANOZ]

i found the subject matter very interesting as well as encouraging enough for me to partake in my own experiment.From the onset i knew i would recieve different opinions but the research is valid and rewarding, in order to get precise information about every bird or as close to precise as can be, i have found no other way to do this but for the way that lollipop mentioned and that is to have each bird seperate. i cant go that way with my setup so i thought i would try trapnesting. i can say that the nonlayers are being exposed! the statistics dont lie thats for sure. i have barred rocks,rirs,australorps,sexlinks ,and wyandottes. right now the wyandotte is looking more and more like a gumbo.......lol

 

[MANOZ]

nonny- i looked at your coop and its very nice.......hmmmmmm gave me another idea lol

pop-you need to post your setup and share the knowledge