Welded wire nests? Shelving from a store.

[kathyinmo]

Went to a garage sale today. I bought these shelves, that used to be in a, "Dollar General," store. Only $1. each for 4 ft long. The are 12" deep and have a 3" lip "U" on them. They are made of white welded wire, STURDY, you know the kind in all the stores. Would this work ok for nests? I know I would need to put straw or something for them to lay their eggs on. If not, I guess I could organize the garage, or my sewing room! (I bought tons of different styles! Flat ones, tall ones, some with dividers, etc . Guess I could open my own general store! ha) There has to be some way to use all of these great organizers! HELP!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I think welded wire would work well for the floor of the nest. The sides and top should probably be solid as the hens seem to prefer a darker spot to nest in, although that is obviously not a requirement as you can see from a lot of posts here. I'm not sure the 3 inches will be a high enough lip to keep the straw in. You may need to do something extra there.

I used hardware cloth for the bottom of my nests. I read somewhere that the wire would be a little flexible or springy and would not be as likely to break the eggs when they are laid. Of course, you still have to have straw or some nesting mateial in it. I'm not convinced that the wire helps in that way, but I figure the wire will make it easier to clean. I'm not sure it will help with air circulation in the hot sticky months since the nesting material will block air flow. Maybe some.

The best way to break a broody hen is to put here in a wire cage up off the ground so her undersides will get cool. You also want it to be very light, not dark at all inside. You may have your material for a broody buster. This can also be used to isolate a hen if necessary, such as if one becomes injured.

If you plan on having a broody hen hatch eggs and plan to isolate her, you may have some of the material for this. The cage for an isolated broody needs to be dark when you first move her so she will continue to be broody, but you could cover the cage with a tarp or something for the first couple of days, until she has fixed on this as home. (Remember to not let it get too hot. Shade would be important.) Then you could remove the cover to help her stay cool.

One of my projects in the next week or so is to build shelves next to the coop to store things related to the chickens. I converted the end of a shed into a coop so I have plenty of room under cover for shelves.

You could possibly use a section to raise the water to the height of their back to reduce fouling of the water. Any spilled water could go straight onto the ground and not get your bedding wet. I would not do this for food as I want them to have access to spilled food.

That's all I can think of chicken-related. Maybe someone else will have other ideas.

Good Luck!