Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
an ingenious system of old wooden drawers raised slightly above the bedding by
the occasional cinder block. I use old wooden crates screwed into the walls of the
coop, about 3 feet off the ground. Some people attach square 5-gallon plastic cat-lit-
ter buckets to their coop walls—they are dimensionally perfect for a proper nest. If
that sounds somewhat odd, hey, we'll take inspiration and instruction wherever we
can find them—even the most unlikely of places.
Of course, farm catalogs have great prefab wall-mounted nesting systems, but
they're extremely pricey. True, investing in them means having the certainty of a
proper setup for your birds, but chances are you can look at the catalog photos and
realize that the plastic crates holding your old disco records can be reincarnated as
nest boxes with just a few minor adjustments and a power screwdriver.
From Chicks Chickens
MONTH 4
Manure Happens
Each of your hens will produce—get this—45 pounds of poop a year. That is a lot of
free fertilizer, and if you play your cards right it can be the manna from heaven your
tomatoes have been begging for.
