Nesting Boxes-Success!

In my last post, I mentioned that the redesigned nesting boxes hadn't caught on like I'd hoped with the new chickens.  They were making a nest out of the hay bedding I was using in the tractor over the winter months.  Once I started moving the tractor again, they kept using the back corner--and the middle of the tractor--for their eggs.

In the last few days, I'm seeing signs of hope:

 

One day I found three eggs in one nesting box and two on the ground in the tractor; within a couple of days, both boxes were in use.  For the last two days, all eggs have been laid in the boxes. Success!

I usually have to open up the tractor, anyway, because I have two feeders.  One is a tray on the ground, which they often knock over and kick around, so it might be unreachable from the front door.  I also will probably always have to check for eggs on the ground inside, because moving the tractor with an egg on the ground would probably break it. But this is definitely an improvement.

The Ignored Nest Boxes

 I explained in some detail previously that for my second chicken tractor, I lowered the nesting boxes. As I noted in another post, the original plans have the nesting boxes relatively high in the tractor which made them the go-to roosting spot.  To this day, my older birds try to pack themselves into the two nesting boxes each night to sleep.  That's problematic on a number of levels.  First, it has dissuaded them from laying eggs in those boxes.  When they started laying, I put another nest box on the floor of the tractor and they have mostly used it.

Another problem is that there's a lot more stress on the nesting box framework than anticipated.  It was really only designed for one or two chickens to be there simultaneously, and for relatively short periods of time.  Instead, it has 50 pounds of chicken sitting on it all night, every night.  I added some bracing but it's holding up relatively well.

So those were the factors that led me to modify the second tractor.  I introduced a lot of complexity but can confidently say I successfully removed the nesting boxes as a roosting spot.  I kept the boxes closed off until the new chickens started laying, but now that I have opened them up, there's very little evidence they have been used at all.  I have only gotten one egg in the boxes.  The rest end up like this:

You can see that they have all decided to use the same spot, back in the sheltered corner under the nesting boxes.  You can also see hay, which has been used to hollow out the nesting spot.  I've been using hay for bedding in the tractor for the last few months while everything has been dormant.  I can't move them around on the grass when it isn't growing, or they will over-graze it.  Hopefully, once things start moving and they are on grass, they'll decide the nesting boxes are a better place to lay eggs.  If not, I'll be 0 and 2 for nesting box placement.

Overall, despite the spot being relatively tough to reach, it's working pretty well.  

 

Update: In the last week, I have started rolling them around the yard again.  They are mostly still using the same spot, in the back corner sort of under the nest boxes, but there are usually one or two eggs out in the middle of the tractor, too--that's bad, because they're susceptible to getting broken. Sigh.

 

Splitting Next Year's (or Later) Wood

 Very generous friends dropped a red oak tree last week and gave me the wood.  It was medium-sized.  It fit (barely) in the bed of the truck.

The relatively small branches I set aside for the moment, and started on the larger sections of the trunk.  Although fresh, it split relatively well, with exceptions.  I have had problems with some varieties of oak when newly-felled.  These pieces tore in places, and some were very hard to fully separate, but over the course of about three hours, I got it all done.  Some I stacked on a pallet:

And some I put on a linear rack under cover.

In the picture above, the new wood is to the left; on the right of the rack is an eclectic mix of maple, poplar, and red oak mostly cut down in 2020.

The two pictures show about two-thirds of the wood from the truck bed. In terms of volume, the truck bed holds about 52 cubic feet; a cord is 128 cubic feet.  When split, the 52 cubic feet would expand somewhat, but it is still probably only about a half cord.  More will be needed for a season's heating, but this is a nice and welcome start.

Some say that oak needs to season for much longer than part of a year: November is only eight months away.  I have burned oak that seasoned for about eight months, and more that has been older.  The longest recommended interval I have found online is three years (here and other places). Many sites suggest two years.  Most sites agree at least that it seasons quicker when split.

I have other wood to burn before this, but will most likely begin burning it sometime next winter.

Contrasting Egg Sizes

I have two batches of Barred Rock chickens, from two different hatcheries.  One bunch hatched in early May, so they were coming into maturity (insofar as egg-laying capability goes) after the fall equinox when days were getting relatively short--and declining.  They didn't start laying until after the winter solstice, at about eight months of age.  The second group was hatched in late September, so they hit maturity after the winter equinox when day length was increasing.  I started getting my first eggs from them at five months.

I realize that, despite the nominal breed being the same, the two groups of birds might be different in important ways.  However, the age gap is interesting, as is this:

The one on the right is from the second group, while the others are from the older chickens.  The bunch that waited eight months before beginning to lay eggs has laid full-sized ones from Day 1.  They have all been about 52-64 grams, or large to extra large.  The one on the right is 37 grams, aka peewee-sized (which is not uncommon for young birds just beginning to lay). Hopefully they increase in size soon.