Chickens

[bankedout]

That looks very nice! If chickens get legalized here I would like to know more about your design. I'm sure the girls are happy and will reward you with many good eggs!

[dg]

no problem. I took a photo of every house panel, plus views of the house closed and opened, and even two views through the utility door in the back showing the interior. The house is even equiped with a surge protector set of electric outlets for nite light, heat lamp and/or water defroster.

The house interior has three levels: the removable tray floor cover basement (filled with wood shavings), a three bar perch assembly and an upper tier of nests (also filled with shavings) with perches; the latter mounted adjacent to the opening upper half side panel for easy egg removal. And hanging within easy reach is a secondary feeder and water supply.

It's funny, but I can tell when a hen is about to lay an egg. All of a sudden, the hen in question starts acting like a little girl that needs to pee with no bathroom in sight. She begins to cluck non stop and do the "pee dance." About 15 minutes later, she has calmed down and there is an egg somewhere to find. (9 now)

[dg]

update: 9/14/2011

I nixed my plan for constructing a second cage module. Instead, I decided to construct a low security pen that would give access to more land and be easy to modify as needed.

First I wasted $140 buying 14 ten foot sections of premade garden fencing. They were difficult to push into stony ground. They were quite flimsy. And the chickens quite easily managed to squeeze between the bars. Idea abandoned.

Then I remembered the panel and rod connect system that I used to construct a compost bin decades earlier. Since they were in use (sort of), I looked up on the internet where I could buy more. Gardeners Supply sold the ones I had (advertised as wire bin composters) and I looked to order some more.

Unfortunately they have since ruined their design concept; and I wouldn't buy their new design. The old design used a steel pin that was inserted at the corners that made set up quick and easy. Their new design has replaced the pins and the bent end panels with straight panels and spiral thingies to hold panels together and requires ground staples to secure to the ground. Ugh! Reviewers hate the new version. Me too!

Thus I tore down my ancient compost bin to recover the pins and panels for constructing a quick set up chicken pen. Not an easy task of rescue since all panels were now firmly anchored to the ground by years of root growth. I still have two unmoved with a small tree growing through them.

Nevertheless, I salvaged what I needed for now and quickly set up the pen you see pictured below. Note that I covered the top with plastic mesh netting. Also note that I laid an extra panel on top of the mesh at the right forward corner so you can see what an individual panel looks like. I can rearrange the pen at will in about 10 minutes whenever I want.

I plan to enlarge it after I cut the tree apart that holds two panels captive. And I will devise a gate panel so I don't need to step over it to get access to the coop and house. Here's the setup for now:



btw, I'm now getting 5-6 eggs per day. Also look at how fast 7 chickens can damage 65-70 square feet of lawn section (in 2 days).

[bankedout]

Excellent dg!

Your ladies are starting to produce. Another idea would be a chicken tractor. Basically it would be a movable pen with no bottom. Some have nest boxes up above in case you don't have a coop. You wouldn't need that. You could roll the chicken tractor to a new section of lawn every day or two. They could be your new lawn mowers!

I'm not a big fan of lawns so if chickens become legal I will make a chicken tractor and encourage my ladies to destroy my lawn.

Enjoy your eggs.

[dg]

I'm with you. I like trees and shrubs and gardens. Lawn to me is the absence of trees and shrubs and gardens. It seems that everyone is in a big hurry to cut down everything and become lawn worshipers. Yet afterward, you hardly ever see these people actually using their lawns for anything. The only times when they are actually seen in their yards, they are mowing, liming or fertilizing and watering their grass.

[dg]

My chickens recently became egg eaters, so I modified their nests to ramp eggs away from their perch entrance and into a sunken padded channel at the back (next to my egg harvesting door).

The chickens initially put up a fuss at the change; but now I'm getting all the eggs again (I think). At least I saw no egg damage or residue today, and got 5 eggs from the 7 hens. Knock on wood!

Of course they could foil my attempt by laying their eggs on the hen house floor instead of using the nests. But so far, so good.

It kind of puts new meaning into the phrase: "inclined to lay an egg." HE HE HE

[bankedout]

I'm glad your solution worked. I don't know how they develop those bad habits.

[dg]

I don't know yet if it worked or not. Today I found 5 eggs: 1 in the nest, 3 on the floor and 1 on the shelf formed by the three nest roof.

One thing I'm convinced of -- they definitely don't like the ramps in their nest boxes. Time will tell.

I suspect that they develop the egg eating habit after accidentally breaking an egg, then discovering that its good to eat.

One person told me that he broke the egg eating habit by feeding meat protein via dog food. So the last two mornings, I gave them a couple of meat ball sized pieces of raw hamburger (in addition to their organic layer pellets). At least I saw no egg shells. But until I get back to 7 eggs per day, I won't know for sure that they've stopped their egg eating habit.

[bankedout]

I don't know how I forgot to mention this but the Village has legalized chicken keeping. We can have up to 4 hens. However when they passed the law they had a maximum coop size of 16 square feet, which I told them was too small, especially in Winter when hens want to stay indoors. This Saturday I met with them and they are going to increase the maximum coop size to 64 square feet, which is plenty big in my opinion.

There are various restrictions. Basically no free ranging, and the coop can't be near a lot line or neighbor's house. However I think the rules are good enough that I will give it another go.

I just thought you would be interested.

[dg]

I'm happy that you will soon have hens and eggs. I'm getting three more chicks this mar/apr to keep my flock young (3 new per year).

I'm currently rebuilding my pen (8 ft x 8 ft) very sturdy -- even metal mesh underneath. My house is a 4 ft cube 4 level (floor with removable tray, main perches, nests and nest perches and nest attic area (very popular)). My coop is 4 x 4 under the house plus 4 x 4 beyound house. My 7 hens seem to have plenty of room. Thus my footprint is 8 x 12 = 96 sq ft. I should have 10 living there together by fall. (I won't be able to put the new chicks with the others until they are large enough to defend themselves from the older chickens.)

Were I meeting with your board, I would fight for at least 6 hens, 100 sq ft and free ranging if supervised by owner. Just a thought. I'd sell them on the idea of gifting the neighborhood with free eggs as justification. My neighbors are very happy that I have hens.

[bankedout]

The attic is the most popular because the highest spot is the most desirable to chickens. If you want equality, they have to perch at the same level. Otherwise the pecking order will establish things.....

Perhaps in future years I will approach the board about expanding the chicken law. I think right now I have to be happy that they are willing to go at this level. Perhaps if other citizens get chickens, we can band together for future rule changes.

I want to have a chicken tractor that I can move around the yard. I'm thinking a permanent coop for them to sleep in at night also. We'll see what I can come up with.

I'll share any extra eggs with my neighbors. I think even at a limit of 4 I'll be able to spare a few here and there.

[dg]

my basic thought is this: the basic family unit is two parents and three children. If each had one egg per day, that would require a minimum of five hens. And not every hen lays an egg every day. Thus the family would probably require 6 hens in order to each have one egg per day.

My dog and I wipe out about a dozen per week.

Ironically, in my state it is actually a law that one must buy a minumum of 12 chicks at a time. (we tend to ignore it however).

[dg]

I just bought 5 more chicks yesterday, bringing my total to 12. These girls are red sex linked products (which means rhode island reds crossed with something else I forget). SO 5 months from now, I should get approximately a dozen eggs per day. My neighbors will be happy.

(photo tonight)

[dg]

here are Heidi, Irene, Julie, Karen and Lousie:

[bankedout]

They are cute!

When I had to give away my chickens I gave them to my mail carrier. His family really liked having them, until a weasel broke in to their coop on wheels and killed the chickens.

Anyway they ordered 16 chicks and raised them, plus he built a seemingly impenetrable coop for them. This afternoon I got to spend some time with the chickens as they roamed around his backyard. It was fun to be around them when they are free ranging like that. He lives outside of a village, so there aren't really any laws against having them run around your yard.

Enjoy your birds & eggs!