Conditioning housing for prospective show birds

[Susan Mouw]

Susan:
I do not have a large barn with space for conditioning pens, so here's what I do.  I have three separate coops.  I built this one (my wife calls the two-seater) primarily for use as conditioning pens/coops.  It is 4 ft x 12 ft, with a divider down the middle to create two 4'x6' coops.  A month or more before a show, I transfer 3 or 4 potential female contestants into one side, and typically a cockerel into the other.  Whether I let them outside depends on how wet the ground is.  I usually don't let out the cockerel because free rangers from the other coops may want to pick a fight from the other side of the run.

When not in use for show birds, the structure is quite versatile.  I use it to grow out chicks in the spring, as housing for cocks (with a cardboard divider between the sections so that they can't see each other) or for a larger group with the middle divider removed.

Several days before the show I bring the ones that I intend to show into the garage for bathing and final conditioning.  Ideally I would get them cage ready  earlier than this, but I work with what I have.
Duane

Thanks for sharing your pics!  I really like the idea of the split coop.

[Susan Mouw]

What are y'all using for bedding in your show/conditioning cages?

[Mike Gilbert]

Dried pine shavings.   They come compressed in a plastic bag, typically about 3 cubic feet to a bag, or 4.5 cubic feed expanded.   I'm currently paying $5.50 per bag, but I'm pretty sure they can be found for less money than that. 

[Max]

Dried pine shavings.

I second that. I use the cheapest I can find during the grow out period. Once the show season is near and the birds have had their bath, I switch to premium low dust pine shavings. It seems to help keep them cleaner between shows.

[DeWayne Edgin]

My local tractor supply sells them for 4.99 a bag. I use them in all of my coops.

[Don]

I've never forced molt, but then never felt like I had much control when the cocks and hens molted.  The old timers used to say you could do this by feeding all corn during the last heat of the summer/fall.  Any sudden changes might trigger a bird to start.  You might also change the duration of light suddenly to help the trigger.

Really nice coop Duane.  I'd like to have about a dozen of those in my yard.  I expect the dropping boards save many a mishap with the multiple hens.  I've had lots of white birds with yellow spots caused by roosting pen mates.  I know that Max has a bank of pens for conditioning LFs in individual pens.  Anyone have pictures of other facilities for larger numbers of males?