4-H-367
THE FAMILY TABLE FLOCK PROJECT
By Joe W. Sicer, Extension Poultryman
Here is a live animal 4-H project you
can carry whether you live on a farm.
You can have the fun of working with
real, live animals that will respond to your
care.
You and your family can have the pleas -
ure of enjoying the freshness of the good
tasting and nutritious food you produce.
You can learn much about the nature of
chickens and how to take care of them.
You can expect a profit (perhaps small)
because your product will have a ready-
made market - - your family.
It will not cost much to start this pro-
ject.
Only a small amount of space is needed.
Check Local Ordinances
If you live in an urban area, your par-
ents or club leader should find out if any lo-
cal law prohibits your keeping chickens --
before you get any chickens.
Housing Needed
The building where the layers are to be
kept should protect them from the weather,
from extremes of heat and cold and from
animals such as dogs, rats or others that
could hurt or frighten the hens .
It may be just the corner of a shed en-
closed with a wire covered frame for two of
the walls. It may be a small building such
as an unused portable brooder house or a
hog farrowing house. It could be a specially
built house just for a family flock — a house
similar to the one above.
Or perhaps it would be better in your
case if you kept your hens in a few laying
cages, just like the ones used in regular
laying cage commercial operations. Enough
of these cages could be hung on a wall inside
your garage or other out building.
A "two story" family flock house, 4 by 6
feet. A sloping, cleated board makes a
"stairway" between the upper, enclosed part
of the house and the lower, open air, slatted
platform. Nests are in the upper portion. The
caretaker reaches through small end door or
hinged sides of the house to gather eggs and
do other needed work.
Space Needed
If you are going to keep your layers on
the floor on litter, you will need to allow 4
square feet of floor space for each hen.
Twelve hens require a pen only 6 by 8 feet.
If you keep your layers in cages, two hens
can be placed in each cage if the cage is 10
inches wide and 16 inches deep. Twelve
hens in six cages would take up a space only
5 feet by 2 feet plus working room in front
of the cages.
PURDUE UNIVERSITY Cooperative Extension Service, Lafayette, Ind.