MtViking- A little piece of paradise.

[Baymule]

Those babies are pretty special, they have all of us on their side for them to survive and thrive. Tell them their Aunt Baymule loves them!

 

[MtViking]

the little buggers are doing good, bellies are full momma is pretty proud. She doesn’t mind me checking out the kits and comes over to me for love after I’m done. She then checks on the kits right after. I’m more confident that she’s doing all she needs to do and is going to be a good mamma now and in the future. I am going to have to build her a different style nesting box since she doesn’t like the traditional ones I built, but that’s no problem, it’s totally worth it to have a good breeder and mother.

 

[Baymule]

That makes me very happy for you.

 

[MtViking]

Thank you everyone for all the help,advice, and support in my new endeavors to became a homesteader or mini farmer. It really gives me more confidence to keep going and to strive for more. Next in the game is going to be getting laying chickens. Ground froze before I go posts driven for the run and I didn’t get the nest boxes built yet I’ve been researching different options for those. I’m kind of liking the 5 gallon bucket nest boxes. Any thoughts from any one is always very much appreciated.

 

[farmerjan]

Great to hear she has figured it out and is doing a good job.

Just to get in a little "jab"..... I sure hope you aren't going to "be laying chickens"...... I just had to say that......I chuckled at that.
If you have a source of 5 gal buckets, then go for it. I like the standard size wooden or metal nest boxes because I like to hang them closer to the wall than a 5 gal bucket will stick out. But they work good. They are also very "cleanable" .

 

[Bruce]

Next in the game I’m going to be laying chickens.

Wow, you have skills WELL above the rest of us. I have to order mine from a hatchery

I made my nest boxes with plywood. Easy enough to do - bottom, sides, low front piece for nest depth. Mounted to the plywood wall of the coop.

I know some people use cat litter boxes or buckets or whatever so they can be taken out and cleaned but I've never had any need to clean mine other than toss the old shavings on the floor a time or two a year and add fresh. My roosts are at 4' and the bottom of the nest boxes is 18" so the girls sleep up and not in the boxes so no poop to clean.

 

[Baymule]

I used buckets and did not like them. The hens used them, but the round inside didn't give them a good footing. Put yourself in a big bucket and try to stand and move around. Build a good size nesting box with room for the hens to stand up and move around. Then take some old blue jeans, cut the legs off and nail up a "curtain" for their privacy. They love cozy, dark places to lay their eggs. Leave a gap in the curtain for entrance. You can build a half dozen nest boxes, then they will pick their favorite one or two. I've had hens stand outside a nest box on the perching rail, yelling their lungs out because there was another hen in the box!

 

[Bruce]

How do they know there is another hen in the box if there is a curtain?

I have a "bank" of 3 open nest boxes in the coop and a 4' closed community box attached to the outside with 2 holes in the coop wall for hen access. My girls choose between the 2 types and I have NEVER seen a given hen use the type that is not her favorite. Then of those that like the open nests, they have their favorites and yep, get all bent out of shape if someone else is in THEIR box when they want to lay. Of those that lay in the community box they almost ALWAYS lay at the north end even when there are only 2 plastic eggs in the box, one on the north and one on the south end. They will sometimes move the egg from the south end to the north end.

 

[Baymule]

How do they know there is another hen in the box if there is a curtain?

They PEEK behind the curtain!

 

[Bruce]

My girls kick a HUGE fuss if another bird even gets on the access perch. Can't imagine what they would do if another hen stuck her beak in to the private area behind the curtain.