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October 13, 2008

Chook house modifications

Well, we are due to go away for 4 days before the end of the year and I've been concerned how to manage things with the chickens.

In the past I've had a friend or my mum come by to collect eggs (if there were any) and to give them some fresh scraps and check water if we've been going away for more than a few days (and leaving them enough pellets inside to help themselves).

However, last time we went away for 10 days back in March one of the chickens freaked out at my friend, flew past her at the door and over into the neighbours backyard. So, my friend isn't keen on collecting eggs any longer and it wasn't an issue over winter when they were off the lay. But, now that I'm getting 2-3 eggs a day and we'll be gone for 4 days - that's a lot of eggs to just let accumulate. I'm worried that they'd get squashed and turn my hens into egg-eaters.

So, Simon's planning how to make a little access hole in the side off the coop, and then a hole in the nesting box to reach through and collect the eggs without having any escape artists! Should be an easy job.

3 comments:

Inch by Inch said...

My grandma did that with her old hen house that she used to have! :-) We kids used to collect the eggs very easily that way. We often had to gently shoo the hens off the nest. Usually they would get off if we just knocked on the door first. The doors were hinged and locked from the outside. She also had a hinged door on top of the main enclosure where we could throw in kitchen scraps without risk of some escapees or the child-eating rooster that we were all afraid of.

Nik said...

LOL, thankfully no child-eating roosters at this house!

Chile said...

Sounds like a great solution.