[Stereo]

I'm looking at our poultry operation and planning to improve it. Basically last year we upped the number of hens and bought a big old shed which I converted to a chicken house. Fine for a while but then the bad weather came and it turned into a desperate mud bath. It was depressing. We have access to loads of clean grass but because the house is big, we couldn't get the hens out of the mud. Cleaning out became a regular, expensive and nasty business. Eggs were filthy and unsaleable.

So, I'm considering breaking the flock down into 2 gangs of 20. Each will have a 50m electric net in the field with is surrounded with multi strand electric fence. The houses I am planning will be basic prism shapes with an onduline roof and roosts across it. I plan to be able to drag these around onto a fresh piece of grass each day with the night time 'deposits' going directly onto the grass. So a bit like Salatins egg-mobiles.

The problem I have is that the field is steep and has various gradients. Shouldn't be a problem for the house as long as the roost are level horizontally. The problem is the keeping the nest boxes level. So I was wondering about building a seperate nest box house away from the night time / rain shelter They won't be shut in at night so can access it early in the morning. I was also thinking this might help with broodies or hens sleeping in the boxes as they will want to be with the flock.

Anyone do this?

[HesterF]

No, would be interested to see whether it works though. My layers have access to a field shelter, a shed and (currently) a smaller house. They have occasionally laid in one of them but they do tend to return to their own house and nestboxes to lay so I wonder how easy it would be to train them to lay somewhere else (and how you even go about training them!).

[hughesy]

Ours haven't had nestboxes for quite a while. Half of them make their own nest from straw in the corner of the house and lay in it. The other half walk over to the duck house and pop them out in there.

[Stereo]

I'm thinking the main house will just be a shelter with roosts so no place to legs eggs (other than the ground). Surely if there was a little house with only nestboxes and no roosts, they would soon find it and lay in there? Have to try it I suppose.

[Marches Farmer]

You could try putting in some china eggs to give them the idea.

[Stereo]

Good idea, thanks.

[goosepimple]

I've always found that they like the corner furthest from the door and in the darkest bit, nice and secret in other words.  Usually up highish off the ground is best, they queue up for it often squeezing 2 hens laying at once even though there are other boxes to lay in.


I think you may find you go to a lot of bother and they won't do what you want them too.  Those balsa wood veggie boxes the local veg shop throws out are ideal and you can make a small tower so they are over a meter up and fill with hay rather than straw (for extra comfort). 


A few 'towers', some big branches (windfalls) to naturalise it all and to allow them to 'hop' up, all surrounded by a simple but windproof structure should get them going.


But I don't think you'll get them to sleep in one house and lay in another.  They're a bit cat like in that sense, just doing what they want, you're just the staff that put out the clean towels 

[lord flynn]

its probably of no help but I have had hens use: a covered cat litter tray in a garden sack do keep it rainproof/dark as a laying box and an iron dustbin on its side-they seem to love both. They'll lay anywhere as long as its quiet and dark.

[madchickenlady]

I have two hen houses with nine nest boxes between them for 18 hens, sometimes they will lay in the boxes in their own houses, sometimes in the other house, sometimes in one or both of the duck houses and sometimes under the hedge (one built the nest, the others share it)! So all things are possible! I would say try anything but as a prototype, don't spend a lot of money until you know it works! PS I am no expert!

[Stereo]

It will all be knocked up out of old pallet planks etc. so no huge expenditure. One thing I have learned is that hens are not fussy about style or design. Function is everything.