Battery Pens,

[jeepsterwannabe]

anybody ever built their own battery pens? any good pics? I wan t to raise specifically for meat and i am considering all the options. even considering just buying finished birds from a local guy who raises for meat and flight conditioned birds for training.

 

[CharlieHorse]

 

I have no experience with them.

[Jake Levi]

I got a good buy on Havahart Rabbit hutches,30" and 36" by 30" pens, and those are my batterys, there are frame kits that allow them to be stacked 3 or 4 high, 3 high is good for me. Even though made in China     they are well made and there is room to slide a clamp on light holder with heat lamp on top of the cage.

I was going to build some hardware cloth wire pens on 2" by4" stands but for the time and price these came out about the same, I'll use the bigger ones to hold some Bobwhite breeders over next winter in my garage.

[aKirA]

There are quite a few schematics and pictures posted here in this section. Just do a search.

Here is one by JohnInDixon: http://www.thatquailplace.com/smf/index.php?topic=3092.msg15548#msg15548

[CharlieHorse]

sumpin gotta give.

Yeah.........that "sumpin", is goin' to be you and me!          


The takers are outnumbering the givers.


        

[Byrd]

Did I miss something, I was trying to read, and learn about the pens?

[gsc]

I've built my stack cages out of welded wire and just bent them by hand over my table saw edge.  I used 24" wire and make two pens 12" by 24".  I have them stacked 6 high in my garage and keep 4 hens with one cock.  I also bent a tray above the egg tray and use 2" ABS pipe for a feeder.  Keeps everything outside the pen and is cheap to make.

I made the trays from the bathroom wall board, 1/8" stuff, runs about $13 a sheet.  One sheet makes 8 of them.  They are edged with the plastic edging they sell for that stuff, stuck on with caulking.  If I remember, the total was about $30 for all the trays.  I've been using these for 8 months now and they are holding up better than I expected.  I thought about the fiberglass composite board they sell for $35 a sheet, but the cheap stuff hasn't given up the ghost yet.  Doing it this way, they cost about $4 per pen and you can decide what size you want.  I didn't find anything pre-made that could be adapted for anything close to that cost.  I sprinkle a little cedar shavings to catch the droppings and make clean-up easier.  Also helps with the smell.  I clean them about every 5 days or so.  I have pushed it to 7 or 8 on occasion, but by then, they are smelling pretty good.  I have extended them by sprinkling a little lime over them at about 4 or 5 days and they will go longer if needed.

[gsc]

Here's a couple of pictures of pens JohnInDixon build using my plans.

[Byrd]

Looks to be easy enough to make up.    I noticed plastic wrapped around them in the first pic.  Is that to hold in generated heat from the birds? Or to keep droppings confined, or something else?   

[gsc]

I encolsed a corner of the garage.  The plastic kept the poop off the drywall.  Made cleaning a whole lot easier.

[chewchew]

hi, I'm going to keep about 6 quail in a shed this spring for breading, with good care of cleaning up after the little guys, what kind of smell will come about? i Had 50 bobs in the same shed for about 7 weeks and it wasn't too bad.. well my mom would not go in there...lol( tips??)

[lglenn]

hi, I'm going to keep about 6 quail in a shed this spring for breading, with good care of cleaning up after the little guys, what kind of smell will come about? i Had 50 bobs in the same shed for about 7 weeks and it wasn't too bad.. well my mom would not go in there...lol( tips??)

  A product called Nature's Deodorizer works very well.  I've also used apple cider vinegar (probably the main ingredient in the deodorizer).  Retards (can we use that word?) the formation of ammonia.

[labmancan]

Iglenn
Would you sprinkle it on pine shavings or mist it in a spray bottle. I am asking because I moved my Quail into the garage (attached to the house) and everytime I go in or out to my birds, the wife and kid complain. I have a 6" deep tray under my pen with Pine shavings in it and only 6 birds have been  in there for acouple of days. I can't smell it, but they rule 2 votes to 1 

[Byrd]

I remember reading about this in the archives.     Someone puts a little apple vinegar in the birds water.   And thats suppose to help with the smell.   (  I haven't tried this  )

[chewchew]

its this the stuff you are talking about?

thanks
sam