Chickens for bug control and food recycling.

PennyJo said:

ah but no other use for buckets with holes in the sides right

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Don't know what size chickens you have, but I've tried the buckets....too squeezy for large hens to turn around in and eggs get crushed as a result, particularly when two hens are trying to use the same nest, which happens most every day.

Might work with skinny little hens, though.

I get 2 gallon and 4 gallon plastic buckets free at the bakery at a local grocery store. Deli's might have then for free too.

I use these for feeders. The holes are abut 2-1/2" across and maybe 3" high.

Still getting good laying here, which is surprising with the high heat and humidity and birds molting. This has truly been the best laying year I've ever experienced with a flock of chickens...they've laid steadily and well all winter, spring and summer.

Ridgerunner said:

I get 2 gallon and 4 gallon plastic buckets free at the bakery at a local grocery store. Deli's might have then for free too.

I use these for feeders. The holes are abut 2-1/2" across and maybe 3" high.

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do they ever get that food bucket a swaying a bit but ya I have 19 in one coop

Beekissed said:

Don't know what size chickens you have, but I've tried the buckets....too squeezy for large hens to turn around in and eggs get crushed as a result, particularly when two hens are trying to use the same nest, which happens most every day.

Might work with skinny little hens, though.

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no skinny little hens here barred rock EE OE ameracauna all normal sized birds to large

PennyJo said:

do they ever get that food bucket a swaying a bit but ya I have 19 in one coop

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Yep that bucket does sway. Sometimes it's the wind and sometimes it's the chickens causing it. Baby chicks with a broody hen will fly up in it to eat.

I used a cat litter bucket for a nest one time, the bucket the litter comes in, not the pan. I set it at a 45 degree angle, tilted so it would hold the bedding in. The top was 7-1/2" x 11-1/2". My full-sized hens laid in it OK but I don't know that I ever saw more than one in it at a time. I often see three in the same nest wit my 16" x 16" nests.

I quit using it though. I let a broody hen hatch in it and the chicks kept falling out. The early ones would climb up on her back and fall off. That nest was so small the chicks missed the nest when they fell and went all the way to the coop floor. I tossed chicks back in the nest four times before that hatch was over. I never have that problem with my bigger nests.

Bee, I'm only getting 1 egg a day from my 3 hens. It seems that they weren't happen when I left for vacation and have slowed down. I was getting 3 a day before. There's no feathers in the coop so they haven't started molting yet. Since they are new layers, (hatched last Oct.) I was hoping they would continue laying through the winter but nope.

Mary

ninnymary said:

Bee, I'm only getting 1 egg a day from my 3 hens. It seems that they weren't happen when I left for vacation and have slowed down. I was getting 3 a day before. There's no feathers in the coop so they haven't started molting yet. Since they are new layers, (hatched last Oct.) I was hoping they would continue laying through the winter but nope.

Mary

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shouldnt have left them

R u sure that you don't have an egg eater now?

seedcorn said:

R u sure that you don't have an egg eater now?

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Pretty sure I don't. I'm constantly checking all day long and only my Rhode Island is laying. The other 2 are not going into the next box at all. I also scrape the poop board daily and there is no residue of an egg. I check the floor of the run too but nothing.

Mary