Wednesday, March 24, 2010

inside the coop

The area of the coop is 10 ft by 16 feet. Initially I was going to pour a concrete floor, but instead of that i'm going to put tiles down. It'll be about the same price and hopefully make it nicer inside.
Yesterday I talked about whether or not to brood in the coop but today I'm worrying about something else

Where to put nests and what they should be
First off, I understand that laying hens need about one nest per 4 or 5 hens. If you think that is wron, let me know. I am starting with a dozen hens, and I'm planning on having 4 nest boxes. Here's a picture of a tradional nest....


Since a lot of what I'm reading says, clean - clean- - clean-- I thought that maybe a wooden nest might not make the most sense. So, I bought a pre-fab nest on-line and my wife and I assembled it last night. Here's what it looks like in our dining room....



The floors of the nest are made of plastic and come right out. The whole thing can be hung from the wall and those little floor roosts, deck or whatever you call it, actually fold up and out of the way. I think ths will help me with my efforts to keep the whole thing clean. . . . You know like a maternity ward.



not like a factory


4 comments:

Greg Hunt said...

ha, good to know the girls will be comfortable.

Denis said...

A happy chicken lays delicious eggs

Unknown said...

O! I like that set up, fancy stuff! Ladies livin' in style!

kat1689 said...

have you gotten your chickens yet?