Re: nest boxes and chicken facilities.
- From: "IAN HUNTER" <IanK.Hunter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2005 09:34:04 GMT
Hi Diddy,
I too don't have regular nest boxes and just use shelves made from scaffold
boards; these have a good thick layer of straw. The girls make nice round
depressions creating the nests where they lay. The main advantage of using
a commercial nest box is that it helps keep the eggs clean. Since the 1st
June this year in the UK egg producers are not allowed to wash eggs. But I
find that its only when its very wet outside, that I occasionally get muddy
foot prints on the eggs.
Regarding your use of the cardboard boxes, I would compost them rather than
burn them, but by burning them you are possibly helping to keep parasites
(red mite) under control.
I would install perches; they only need to be lengths of timber secured
across the hen house, for the chicken its like roosting in trees. As your
girls are exploring all around the farm/barns then perches in the other
barns could help too.
I do understand your points regarding the costs, my chickens are free range
and I sell the eggs at a price that reflects that. Even though there are
shops selling cheap eggs, and mine are more expensive, I normally find I
have more customers than eggs.
As for keeping them over winter, as long as they have good warm shelter then
your birds should be fine. During the coldest part of last winter, the
biggest problem I had was keeping the water from freezing.
While I realise that it can be easier to cull off the large portion of the
flock in one go, filling the freezer, you could keep some back to cull off
as and when you fancy a fresh chicken dinner.
Also some breeds are better suited to cold conditions too.
Hope this helps
Ian
"diddy" <diddy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns96A09BA2011B7danny@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> I don't have regular nest boxes. Simply shelving. I get big cartons from
> Aldi's (discount market) that hold 10 boxes of cereal in them. They
> entirely fill the shelf if you place two side by side. So each set of
> shelves holds 6 hens. These cartons are disposable. So if they get
dirty,
> I burn them. the shelves themselves never get dirty and are as clean as
> the first day I put them in there new. When I clean i either dump the
nest
> box (contents become mulch for the garden) or burn the nest box replacing
> it with a new one. I fill each nest box with shredded papers that have
gone
> through the paper shredder. it makes a nice cozy and dry litter for each
> box that's easy to clean and maintain.
> I don't have perches in my chicken house, but then the chickens never have
> any problem getting to where they want to be. Each chicken has a self
> assigned place every night. The roosters have chosen their own roost, and
> the bachelor group doesn't sleep in the hen house. The only rooster who
> sleeps in the hen house is K'Lamity Klem. The rest sleep in the very top
> beams of the hay loft. (three stories up) They climb the ladder in the
> early evening, and then fly across to the beam they roost on. This seems
> as solid and a good a place as any. Nothing can reach them there.
>
> My husband was worried about finding nest boxes when we first got the
> chickens, and every one of them cost more than I wanted to spend. I'm so
> happy with the cereal box cartons, that I'm not even looking any more.
>
> Is there a reason that I should be?
>
> I have three large barns that the chickens lounge in during the day. One
is
> a horsebarn. One is an indoor riding arena (for the horse), and one is a
> large equipment barn holding tractors, trailers, and much large machinery.
> i maintain a waterer in each barn, and a feeder in two of these barns with
> a feeder also in the hen house (and waterer there also)
> The hen house holds 24 hen boxes. I have 60 chickens with the intent of
> butchering all the roos except one or two in august. Keeping 10 hens + 2-3
> roos over winter (I currently have ten hens.. all the rest are roos
> destined for the freezer)
> The chickens would be very cramped in the hen house if kept up 24/7. It's
a
> very small hen house, once being a childs play house. But they have ample
> other places to lounge, stay in the shade, and get out of the weather.
I've
> never kept chickens in the winter. Will these facilities be adequate to
> winter over a dozen chickens? My husband thinks we should plan on
> butchering them all and starting over in the spring. I'm not so sure. I
> love a fresh supply of eggs. But it certainly isn't cost effective. I can
> buy eggs for 69 cents a dozen at the store. I spend more than that feeding
> my chickens each week. I get a lot of entertainment watching my chickens,
> but may not enjoy them so much come winter. If they get tedious to tend, I
> assume a freezer is waiting for them, so it doesn't hurt to try to keep
> them over. I'm just wondering what to expect come winter, and if my
> facilities are adequate?
.
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