Thank you Maicon for requesting this film! We have a lot more untreated pallet wood creations for chickens on Andy's channel, from hen houses/chicken coops to perches/roosts and broody coops. I will add links to the end of this film, hopefully today and also put them in this film descriptions. There are also more detailed written descriptions of these projects on Andy's blog The Green Lever, with step-by-step photographs. Happy woodworking! Sue
Very cute and simple. I will have to make one. :) I do have a question. have you ever experienced a rooster that picks on one specific hen? Not for breeding either, but like attacking. My sweet boy just turned on my favorite hen and I am out of sorts about it. :(
Hi April thanks! As this is just straight forward attacking, with no relation to courtship or breeding, then I have a few ideas to offer. One is that something has altered in your flock dynamics to cause this, so are you having any hierarchy changes, for example is this your dominant pair normally? The second idea would be that your rooster is under stress of some sort that you perhaps are unaware of. This can be through a perceived predator menace, this happened to me once when we had a rat in the outbuildings and one of my Cochins started to get very jumpy and with unusual behaviours, such as pecking and being aggressive, my guess is he felt he could do nothing about it so was just getting 'up tight'. Thirdly, it can be that your rooster is deficient in a particular nutrient and this is causing aggression. This does not mean he hasn't had access to particular foods it may just be that he has not been actively seeking them out. One of the most important nutrients for controlling mood, particularly aggression (and I know I keep going on about it!) is the amino acid L-methionine, this is found in invertebrate protein. For a quick fix I would take him away on his own and either give him a bucket of compost full of earwigs and woodlice (sow bugs) to play in or failing that give him half a hard boiled egg and if you have it some, organic raw coconut oil. This would also give him many of the B complex vitamins and in particular the very important and only found in animal sources B12 (cobalamin). This works in synergy with B9 (folate) and for this you'll need to give him some leafy greens. These two B vitamins in conjunction with B6 (P-5-P), which you can feed in the form of sunflower seeds are crucially important for both nervous system and motor function. Again nutrition is affected by stress, so you can get a vicious circle, in which he will either not be able to absorb nutrient because of potential stress or specific nutrients can actually be being flushed through stress. So my idea would be 'time out' for the rooster and a change in diet (leave out the grain because of phytic acid which prevents vitamin uptake). This way you will also see what goes with your flock whilst he's away. You will create a power vacuum, albeit for a short time but you will soon see if your hen is making a bid for complete power or more likely that some other bird may be and he is just taking it out on her. My other and final idea, again linked in with diet and stress, is that he is simply jealous, you say she is your favourite hen. So I am guessing that even more so now that she is being picked on you are quite rightly giving her a lot of attention and support but I would do it out of hie eye line! Big hugs all round also helps a lot I find!! All the best and hope this is of use, Sue
Pavlovafowl Thank you for this detailed response Sue!! He has been in time out now I will go about adding those things to supplement his diet to see what happens. We have had a long winter with snow on the ground for over a month and I tried to give them patches of grass to eat from, but I never thought much about bugs and things like that... thanks again!
Hello Sue. I just have a quick question. My bantam today has stopped walking. She seems fine and well alive but she has just stayed put where ever you put her. She is usually very skittish and so I don't know if this behavior is normal. I have a strong impression that she has a problem with her legs but I don't think that it is broken because she is not stood on one leg. She is one of my first chickens and so I really like her but would there be any possible problems and or natural cures? Thank you so much!
Hi Peter, Quick question - long answer - Is she laying? Is she about to start laying? Are you in the Northern hemisphere? All these three and combinations of the three can cause leg problems. Calcium is only part of the equation but try her first with crushed oyster shell, she knows what is wrong with her if she has an egg stuck, so will peck up the calcium. If you are in the North then, here we are only just getting into the good UVB light needed to produce vitamin D3 from the precursor 7-dehydrocholesterol, so make sure she has animal fat (wild protein or give her a little fish or boiled egg). If you are not getting enough UVB light yet, so the sun is not over 45 degrees (a quick check is to look at the shadow you cast in the sun - UVB = short shadows) then can you get organic grass-fed butter? This will contain some stored D3. Calcium is often a difficult mineral to balance correctly if you are feeding layer pellets, as the hen has no idea of volumes as the nutrients are 'pre-packaged'. If the hen has too much calcium and not enough D3, phosphorus and magnesium, then the calcium is not driven to the bones and thus the egg shell but to the soft tissue, this is why I like hens to be able to decide on their diet. As a quick fix, if you think this could be the problem, I would also get a home-made magnesium chloride 'oil' made up in a spray bottle and give her a couple of sprays on the skin under the wing and also offer phosphorus-rich foods. Thiamine, niacin and riboflavin deficiencies all cause motor problems that start with limping and quickly become worse, yeast flakes and sunflower seeds, but also wild invertebrate protein or egg/fish/beef liver will top up on these. Vitamin B12 - cobalamin (available in animal protein so as above) )deficiency coupled with B9 folate (green leafy veg and meadow grass) deficiency (they work in synergy) will cause motor and nervous system malfunction. Furthermore, get her off grain, particularly if you are feeding dry grain foods, which will be high in phytic acid and thus further prevent the absorption of minerals. Also if she has some sort of underlying infection which could cause this, so many bacteria and moulds/fungus, feed and multiply in an acidic aka sugar-rich environment and for grain read sugar! So I would do this with diet and get her out in that sunshine. Has she been run by your cockerels/roosters because if her bone density is low she could have been flattened she could even just be in stress or shock, so give her an electrolyte - use a few drops of raw organic apple cider vinegar in water and keep her out of the flock if you think this is the case but not caged as this is a serious hierarchy problem for hens and stress will deplete her vitamin and mineral content further. Try her on some citrus fruit or chickweed for Vitamin C as this is a vitamin involved in egg laying issues too. I would also up her beta-carotene (carrots, beetroot...) and I would give her some raw organic coconut oil as both an energy boost and as an immune system support. Hope this is of use. Let me know how you go on and I do have all sorts of nutritional stuff on my blog too. Also how old is this bantam and is she a particular breed or a cross? If you have crossed, short and log legged bantams, they can sometimes get leg issues, in youth and in old age. All the best, Sue
Hello Again! She had not yet started laying. I am in the northern hemisphere near France and the Netherlands. I will try giving her some oyster shell and crushed eggshell. I can get her some organic butter and will try to mix that with invertebrates and a boiled egg. We don't have any cockerels so that is not the problem but I really will try to get her out in the sun and keep her supervised from the crows. I went to the vet to get her checked up as well and they said she had cancer so she is now on pain killers and I will have to experiment with turmeric. She is temporarily quarantined from the flock in a small chicken tractor. She is 5 years old and she is a silver laced wyandotte. Wow! I really need to process that information you have given me and follow all the steps and I hope she heals! I hope you are doing great in Normandy ! Thank You so so much for the great info
Sure, the long sides that make the 'Vee' are 40 cms ( 16") long and then the two end pieces are just cut to fit (this depends on the width of the pallet plank). Each trough is made from one standard untreated pallet plank. If you want any help in sourcing and identifying untreated pallet wood and also in breaking it down for carpentry use, we have several articles on our site: thegreenlever.blogspot.com/p/using-repurposed-materials.html All the very best from Normandie, Sue xx
So simple and efficient! I'll build one this weekend. You are very good at giving instructions, by the way. Easy to follow - and calming too :)
Always the best good night story! thank you again for putting a smile on my face and have good dreams!
Hi there Ann and thank you for that lovely comment, appreciated as always. All the very best, Sue
*Thank you for sharing!*
Have a pleasant weekend🌹Greetings!
Thank you for your comment, appreciated as always! Greetings from Normandie, Sue
Thank you Andy !
Hi Jean, You are most welcome! All the very best from sunny Normandie, Sue and Andy
Thank you so much, I really appreciate! Now my chickens will have some nice feeders!
Thank you Maicon for requesting this film! We have a lot more untreated pallet wood creations for chickens on Andy's channel, from hen houses/chicken coops to perches/roosts and broody coops. I will add links to the end of this film, hopefully today and also put them in this film descriptions. There are also more detailed written descriptions of these projects on Andy's blog The Green Lever, with step-by-step photographs. Happy woodworking! Sue
Very cute and simple. I will have to make one. :) I do have a question. have you ever experienced a rooster that picks on one specific hen? Not for breeding either, but like attacking. My sweet boy just turned on my favorite hen and I am out of sorts about it. :(
Hi April thanks! As this is just straight forward attacking, with no relation to courtship or breeding, then I have a few ideas to offer. One is that something has altered in your flock dynamics to cause this, so are you having any hierarchy changes, for example is this your dominant pair normally? The second idea would be that your rooster is under stress of some sort that you perhaps are unaware of. This can be through a perceived predator menace, this happened to me once when we had a rat in the outbuildings and one of my Cochins started to get very jumpy and with unusual behaviours, such as pecking and being aggressive, my guess is he felt he could do nothing about it so was just getting 'up tight'. Thirdly, it can be that your rooster is deficient in a particular nutrient and this is causing aggression. This does not mean he hasn't had access to particular foods it may just be that he has not been actively seeking them out. One of the most important nutrients for controlling mood, particularly aggression (and I know I keep going on about it!) is the amino acid L-methionine, this is found in invertebrate protein. For a quick fix I would take him away on his own and either give him a bucket of compost full of earwigs and woodlice (sow bugs) to play in or failing that give him half a hard boiled egg and if you have it some, organic raw coconut oil. This would also give him many of the B complex vitamins and in particular the very important and only found in animal sources B12 (cobalamin). This works in synergy with B9 (folate) and for this you'll need to give him some leafy greens. These two B vitamins in conjunction with B6 (P-5-P), which you can feed in the form of sunflower seeds are crucially important for both nervous system and motor function. Again nutrition is affected by stress, so you can get a vicious circle, in which he will either not be able to absorb nutrient because of potential stress or specific nutrients can actually be being flushed through stress. So my idea would be 'time out' for the rooster and a change in diet (leave out the grain because of phytic acid which prevents vitamin uptake). This way you will also see what goes with your flock whilst he's away. You will create a power vacuum, albeit for a short time but you will soon see if your hen is making a bid for complete power or more likely that some other bird may be and he is just taking it out on her. My other and final idea, again linked in with diet and stress, is that he is simply jealous, you say she is your favourite hen. So I am guessing that even more so now that she is being picked on you are quite rightly giving her a lot of attention and support but I would do it out of hie eye line! Big hugs all round also helps a lot I find!! All the best and hope this is of use, Sue
Pavlovafowl Thank you for this detailed response Sue!! He has been in time out now I will go about adding those things to supplement his diet to see what happens. We have had a long winter with snow on the ground for over a month and I tried to give them patches of grass to eat from, but I never thought much about bugs and things like that... thanks again!
Hello Sue.
I just have a quick question. My bantam today has stopped walking. She seems fine and well alive but she has just stayed put where ever you put her. She is usually very skittish and so I don't know if this behavior is normal. I have a strong impression that she has a problem with her legs but I don't think that it is broken because she is not stood on one leg. She is one of my first chickens and so I really like her but would there be any possible problems and or natural cures?
Thank you so much!
Hi Peter, Quick question - long answer - Is she laying? Is she about to start laying? Are you in the Northern hemisphere? All these three and combinations of the three can cause leg problems. Calcium is only part of the equation but try her first with crushed oyster shell, she knows what is wrong with her if she has an egg stuck, so will peck up the calcium. If you are in the North then, here we are only just getting into the good UVB light needed to produce vitamin D3 from the precursor 7-dehydrocholesterol, so make sure she has animal fat (wild protein or give her a little fish or boiled egg). If you are not getting enough UVB light yet, so the sun is not over 45 degrees (a quick check is to look at the shadow you cast in the sun - UVB = short shadows) then can you get organic grass-fed butter? This will contain some stored D3. Calcium is often a difficult mineral to balance correctly if you are feeding layer pellets, as the hen has no idea of volumes as the nutrients are 'pre-packaged'. If the hen has too much calcium and not enough D3, phosphorus and magnesium, then the calcium is not driven to the bones and thus the egg shell but to the soft tissue, this is why I like hens to be able to decide on their diet. As a quick fix, if you think this could be the problem, I would also get a home-made magnesium chloride 'oil' made up in a spray bottle and give her a couple of sprays on the skin under the wing and also offer phosphorus-rich foods. Thiamine, niacin and riboflavin deficiencies all cause motor problems that start with limping and quickly become worse, yeast flakes and sunflower seeds, but also wild invertebrate protein or egg/fish/beef liver will top up on these. Vitamin B12 - cobalamin (available in animal protein so as above) )deficiency coupled with B9 folate (green leafy veg and meadow grass) deficiency (they work in synergy) will cause motor and nervous system malfunction.
Furthermore, get her off grain, particularly if you are feeding dry grain foods, which will be high in phytic acid and thus further prevent the absorption of minerals. Also if she has some sort of underlying infection which could cause this, so many bacteria and moulds/fungus, feed and multiply in an acidic aka sugar-rich environment and for grain read sugar! So I would do this with diet and get her out in that sunshine. Has she been run by your cockerels/roosters because if her bone density is low she could have been flattened she could even just be in stress or shock, so give her an electrolyte - use a few drops of raw organic apple cider vinegar in water and keep her out of the flock if you think this is the case but not caged as this is a serious hierarchy problem for hens and stress will deplete her vitamin and mineral content further. Try her on some citrus fruit or chickweed for Vitamin C as this is a vitamin involved in egg laying issues too. I would also up her beta-carotene (carrots, beetroot...) and I would give her some raw organic coconut oil as both an energy boost and as an immune system support. Hope this is of use. Let me know how you go on and I do have all sorts of nutritional stuff on my blog too. Also how old is this bantam and is she a particular breed or a cross? If you have crossed, short and log legged bantams, they can sometimes get leg issues, in youth and in old age. All the best, Sue
Hello Again!
She had not yet started laying. I am in the northern hemisphere near France and the Netherlands. I will try giving her some oyster shell and crushed eggshell. I can get her some organic butter and will try to mix that with invertebrates and a boiled egg. We don't have any cockerels so that is not the problem but I really will try to get her out in the sun and keep her supervised from the crows. I went to the vet to get her checked up as well and they said she had cancer so she is now on pain killers and I will have to experiment with turmeric. She is temporarily quarantined from the flock in a small chicken tractor. She is 5 years old and she is a silver laced wyandotte. Wow! I really need to process that information you have given me and follow all the steps and I hope she heals!
I hope you are doing great in Normandy !
Thank You so so much for the great info
Can you please give me the measurements of this project? 💙
Sure, the long sides that make the 'Vee' are 40 cms ( 16") long and then the two end pieces are just cut to fit (this depends on the width of the pallet plank). Each trough is made from one standard untreated pallet plank. If you want any help in sourcing and identifying untreated pallet wood and also in breaking it down for carpentry use, we have several articles on our site: thegreenlever.blogspot.com/p/using-repurposed-materials.html All the very best from Normandie, Sue xx