New shed ready for the next flock

A rollaway nesting system being assembled for the next mobile chook shed.

I'm putting the finishing touches to a caravan being modified to accommodate a small flock of hens - 200 pullets. Most of the floor has been ripped out and steel mesh installed to allow manure to fall through.

Perches have been set up and an SKA rollaway nesting system has been fitted - even though I'm not sure it is an improvement on traditional nest boxes with wood shavings.

We will see how it goes but I won't be surprised if after a couple of months I pull out the flash nesting system and put in normal nest boxes.

A day in the shed - welding

Apart from the usual egg collecting and checking on the hens, I spent most of today in  the machinery shed welding up skids for one of our mobile hen houses.

A new small flock of 200 pullets will arrive next month and I need to get everything ready for them. The nest boxes are OK but I need to do a bit of work on the hen house doors and I need a couple more feeders.

Everything will be in place by the time they arrive.

New sheds and new chooks

Here are some of our latest Isa Brown pullets in their new shed. This flock is 280 birds and will help us to keep up with local demand for genuine free range eggs - not the version the Australian Egg Corporation wants you to have!

And this is their shed - but they will only go in there when they want to. They are shut in today because they have only just arrived and we have found that by keeping them in the shed for 24 hours or so, they get to know that is their home. (If you look closely at the picture on the right you can see some of the pullets under the shed - it has no floor so even when they are inside they have access to grass).  From tomorow they will be out grazing and chasing bugs! We won't ever lock them up again. The shed has nest boxes for them to lay their eggs as well as food and water.
As with all our sheds, it is on skids so we can move it around the paddock to ensure the hens always have access to fresh pasture.
This is one of the two new sheds we have bought to increase our flock numbers in the face of insatiable demand for real free range eggs. We still have no intention of chasing the mass market and we will maintain our food miles policy of only delivering within one hour of the farm.

New skids on one of our chook sheds

I've finished putting newskids on one of our mobile hens houses. The old skids collapsed a while ago and I asked a local welder to make up a new set which I could then fit.
It took awhile ... but eventually I was able to pick them up and it took me half a day to weld them to a frame, jack up the shed and slip them under.
Thankfully it works well and that shed is now much easier to pull around as the skids are made of tubular steel rather than flat iron. I'm now getting another set made and I may change over the skids on all of the sheds.