The first adjustment was to stagger the heights of the roosts. The rational for this is simple, the old roosts were at the same height, but they were higher on one end than on the other. This caused the chickens some distress when they attempted to roost because they wanted to be on the high side, but had trouble settling because the roost was uneven. This made for a very cute sequence of events when they ALL tried to be at the top. Funny chickens! I also thought it would be helpful to give the ladies a more step-like system to get to the highest roost.
I have to say this is what was originally recommended, but we didn’t want to create division in our flock so we resisted. Our roosts are, however, long enough that all the ladies can fit on a single roost. Consequently there is rarely pushing or fighting over the “top spot” because their really isn’t a “top spot”! Perhaps I am too optimistic, but I have to say that although all our girls have different and unique personalities, there doesn’t appear to be a defined pecking order. The order seems to change daily, and they seem to share the responsibility rather than fight over it.
Another adjustment:
After some reading I thought that perhaps our nesting boxes should have a cover on them. The literature suggests that they prefer a space that is dark, and because there was a window directly over the nesting boxes it would be rather light in there- perhaps too light for laying. We wanted to make sure that even with the cover the hens still had plenty of room inside and that the lid could be opened from the back (where the window opens for egg retrieval).
The result very much resembles a Tuscan villa. If that doesn’t encourage the hens to lay I don’t know what will! We’re looking forward to finding our first eggs nestled in the hay.
Also notice we've upgraded the ladies to an adult waterer and feeder. We decided to go with metal- mostly because we are trying to get away from using plastic, but also because I had heard that metal is preferable for several reasons.
1) Metal is more durable. Many people say that their plastic feeders and waterers fall apart after a few years. Handles break, closure don't fasten correctly, etc...
2)Metal doesn't allow light to get in. This is important for the waterer, because if light were to penetrate the waterer there is a good chance the waterer will soon be filled with algae. Not impossible to clean, but kind of a pain.
We chose a feeder and waterer that is large enought to feed and water our hens for 2-3 days without needing to be refilled. Note: one reason we loved the idea of chickens was that we could go away for a few days and not have to find a babysitter for them.
Also of note: Instead of purchasing the $30-$50 water heater for below the waterer, we will be attempting to use a bird bath heater (cost=$7)directly below the waterer bottom. We'll let you know how this works once it is up and running. We are still quite warm in these parts.
All that said, we decided that the chicken nipple waterer was NOT a success: some of the ladies loved it, others refused to use it. Lets face it- it is not natural for chickens to drink this way! We did decide, however, to keep the rabbit water bottle up and running in the run. All the hens use it without complaint and it provides them with another source of liquid while they are not in the coop.
No comments:
Post a Comment