Looking At Poultry Breeding Pens

Breeding pens are specialized coops that helps chicken owners breed poultry correctly. During the breeding season, poultry of breeding age are picked and cooped together in the breeding pen to facilitate the correct combination of chickens that will breed strong, healthy eggs and chicks. Just like any other coop, breeding pens should be made of sturdy materials that will prevent predators from wreaking havoc with your chicken, as well as disrupt the breeding process.

When breeding there are basic rules you have to adhere to if you want to produce a good, healthy brood.  The birds should not be closely related, boost up their nutrition and separate them from the other chickens in a separate breeding pen.  When breeding, you actually have two options to help you get a good set of broods.

Best to Best

Depending on the results you want to achieve you can breed the best rooster with the best hens and heighten the odds of those traits getting passed on to the next generation. When you are selecting chickens to breed, you look at their physical traits to make a decision.  Egg laying poultry often have thin skeleton and smaller frame, they are boxier in shape and has a deep and soft tummy.  Meat types on the other hand would have thicker frames, this is so they can support thicker musculature, they will be more round in terms of shape and would have a tight tummy.  In selecting breed conformation, you will need to closely look at the physical traits of each poultry like body shape, skin color, color and pattern of the plumage as well as the shape of the comb.

Offsetting Faults

Another way to choose breeding structures is by offsetting faults, this helps in improving the breed. Remember, it is rare to have a perfect specimen, especially at the beginning but it is not ideal to have imperfections and faults to imbue the entire line. So breed those with faults to those without any, this way you can offset the fault and you will have a better chance at having chicks that doesn’t have the same fault.

Breeding season is just around the corner, make sure you get your breeding pens ready for your chickens. Get your readymade breeding pens or get your premium supplies at your friendly poultry supplies store now.

Cleaning Out Your Chicken Coop

Cleaning your chicken coop can be a major ordeal, especially if you already have a good number of chickens but a few ‘tricks’ can make the work a lot easier.  Here are a few that might help you with your coop cleaning chores. 

Droppings Board

These boards are generally designed to gather the poop your chicken deposited overnight, most barnyard chickens are allowed to run freely during the day, so the poop on the board will usually be from the nighttime when the chickens are on their roosts.  Having a droppings board help keep the coop generally droppings free by allowing you to collect the poop directly from the board and not all over bedding cleaner that leads to less litter changes and some savings in term of expenses. 

Removable Roosts

Removable roosts allow for easier cleaning outside of the coop, you can easily scrub the roost thoroughly if they are outside the coop rather than scrubbing inside the coop.  It is also easier to scrub the inner wall of the coop without the roosts there. There may be some coop that are available with removable roosts but if not, you can easily install removable roosts in your coop. this will be easier if you will custom build your coop and ensure that the roosts are removable.  

Sand In Your Beddings

Instead of pine shavings or straw, you can use sand in your beddings instead.  You just need to sift the sand once a day to remove any droppings. It’s really a very easy way to clean out your chicken coop, plus, it is really quite cheap as well.

Dust Your Coop

You will realize that as you take care of your chicken coop, that they are dusty. Regardless of the type of litter you choose, they will generate a lot of dust, so dusting every now and then will help save you a ton of time when you do general cleaning of your chicken coop.  

Taking care of your chickens and ensuring their coop is clean is a task that you shouldn’t handle lightly.  Ensuring cleanliness within the coop also helps ensure that your chickens are healthy.  If you need poultry supplies for you chickens, then you can easily order online through your favorite online poultry supplies store, visit their website now to see their latest offerings.