DIY HEN-HOUSE
We had great fun building a smart new chookie penthouse in Chooksville, we decided this time around, that we did not want another eyesore of a chookyard, but a neat and tidy structure with easy-clean laying and roosting areas.
Built a series of nest-boxes about 10 cm off the ground all joined together, but with a dividing partition between each (for the girls' privacy whilst concentrating). The floor of the nests are bird wire, with a suitable curvature to hold plenty of fresh straw. With steep sloping-forward skillion roof on the nests, to discourage the girls from perching above and 'messing' into the nests. There are 10 cm wide ramps complete with tacked-on grips for nests.The hens have great fun trotting up and down these litle ramps.
The other bit of finesse is a lightweight shallow tray at ground level underneath the roosts, which is just the right size to catch all the droppings (we found the stainless steel tray at the local tip).It is easy to slide out and scrape or hose off the manure straight into a compost heap.We do this every 3 days, and the place is as sweet as a daisy.
The best part of all this new apartment construction was it only cost for the tray $5 from the tip and for a few nails and bolts. The rest of the material we re-couped from the old Chooksville. The chooks are let outside to free-range in the afternoon and love their new nesting boxes.
