New Laying Boxes

I’ve had my mobile chicken coop setup for a while now, but I have not been pleased with the laying boxes.  They were too close to the floor and made it too easy for passing chickens to peck at the eggs.

This week I decided to redo the laying boxes by making them higher, deeper, and wider.  Hopefully that will discourage the “egg pecking” and set me up for the new crop of laying hens that I’ll be adding.

Here is the outside view.

New Laying Boxes Outside View

New Laying Boxes Outside View

I was able to reuse the board from my old laying box lid.  I put some new metal on it, and added a scrap trip piece above it for a “drip edge”.

The Lift Lid

The Lift Lid

Here is the inside view of the laying box.  They are about 3.5″ deep.  Inside I’ve put a thick layer of shredded paper.

Inside View

Inside View

Here is a happy hen getting settled in the new box.

Happy Hen

Happy Hen

Hopefully this will help my egg production go up a bit. I’ll be moving in new hens in the fall, and culling out some old ones.  Some roosters are going away this weekend, hopefully.  Can you say “Chicken and Rice” 😉

– Stan

Lonely rooster

All but one of my free range chickens have been killed by the evil opossum clan.  (We have been in an ongoing feud for a while.)  I think he is getting lonely because now he has taken to hanging out on the porch with the cats.

Lonely Rooster

Our last free range rooster hangs out on the porch with the cats.

The Farm this week ending 9/22/12

The drought this year hit us initially, but we had a break from it earlier than others.  Even though the drought was not “terrible” for us, our pastures really needed a good jolt of rain.  That came this week and it was beautiful!

Rain Yippie

Rain. Yippie!

The pigs are doing great.  They used to run when I came out, now they run to the corner of the pen waiting for me to come in.  If I don’t hold the bucket, they knock it over and start fighting over who gets the first boiled egg.  (I give them two boiled eggs per day to help with protein, etc.)

Growing Pigs

Growing Pigs

Lucy and Limpy hanging out to together while the cows eat. (I try to give Lucy a little treat in the goat shed where the cows can’t get to her)

Lucy and Limpy

Lucy and Limpy

All of the cows crowd in and chow down.

Cow Crowd

The cows crowd in for feed

I’ve changed the way I feed the chickens.  I bought a HUGE back of poultry pre-mix, enough to male a ton of feed.  I’ve been mixing that into my feed base 50 lbs. at a time and trying to keep the laying hens supplied with that in addition to what they get from free ranging.  I think the egg quantity is starting to pick up a bit.  They quality was never really bad, I just need this to “perform” a bit better in order to earn their keep. 😉

 

More Eggs

More Eggs

I let out the free rangers every morning.  Lately they have started snacking on the cats food before the cats can eat it. … Therefore, I moved the cat food to a higher location in the bar, feed the cats first, and also put out some mixed feed in the middle of the barn to keep them occupied until the cats finish.  It kinda works…

Free Rangers

Free Rangers chowing down in the barn

Typical Minnie Mae

Typical MM

Typical Minnie Mae

These girls don’t get much photo time on the blog, partly because they are a bit boring, and partly because they look rough due to an overaggressive rooster.  However, these are my main laying hens right now, even though the “free rangers” are giving them a challenge in the quantity department.

 

Laying Hens

Laying Hens

These are the “Jr birds”.  They are not laying yet, nor have they been merged into the laying hen flock yet.  Eventually… (sorry about the photo quality)

Jr birds

Jr birds

Well, that is the week wrap up.

– Stan