Ozark Bantams: Our Blog

I recently stumbled across these construction plans for a basic chicken house and pen. Fall is often a great time to start a new building project, so I thought I’d share these construction plans with the hope that someone might be able to make good use of them. This chicken house caught my eye for two reasons. First of all, this chicken house would be great for the first-time poultry hobbyist looking for a straight forward, yet functional, design. Secondly, this chicken house is so similar in design to our own chicken house, which can be seen here. Even the interior layout is identical to our chicken house, with roosts along the back wall and nest-boxes on the front wall next to the door. It is, however, less than half the size of our chicken house. Nonetheless, I think this chicken house would be ideal for a small flock of bantams or a half dozen laying hens. The one modification I would suggest, however, is to make the width of the structure 8 feet wide instead of 6 feet wide. By making the house 8 feet wide, you would increase valuable floor space and also minimize sawing as most lumber is typically purchased in 8 foot lengths. At any rate, hopefully someone will find this design useful to their needs. If you are looking for more chicken coop plans, I’d suggest visiting this page by the North Dakota University Extension Service. It has dozens of free chicken house plans available for download in PDF format.

Simple Chicken House (Click For Full-Size Image)

Today I attended the Fordland Small Animal Swap in Fordland, Missouri. I had been wanting to attend this event for some time. Unfortunately, the swap is only held once a month and is located near Springfield, Missouri which is over 3 hours from where I live. It just so happens, however, that I am in Springfield visiting family this week. So, I was able to make it to the swap meet this morning, and I am glad that I did. The main focus of the event is chickens of all breeds and varieties; however, there were also vendors who were selling turkeys, ducks, pigeons, peafowl, guineas, rabbits, pigs, goats, and other small animals. This was my first time at the event, and I was impressed by the number and variety of birds for sell. I hadn’t gone with the intention of buying anything in particular, but ended up getting a pair of white cochin bantams. I had been wanting a pair or trio of white cochins for some time, so I was thrilled to find a pair for sell at the swap. The vendor from whom I bought the birds had several pairs to choose from, and I was pleased with the quality of the pair I bought. As you might already know, my primary focus is on my flock of black cochin bantams; however, this newly acquired pair may eventually be the foundation stock for a future flock of white cochin bantams. I have included a photo of the pair below. Beautiful birds, aren’t they? I couldn’t have asked for a better looking rooster. And the hen, though a bit narrow for the breed, is very pretty. She is only 4 or 5 months old, so I suspect that she will fill out a bit as she gets older. Needless to say, I was very happy with my find today and look forward to adding the pair to my flock when I get back home with them. For those who might be interested in attending the event, the Fordland Small Animal Swap is held from 7am to 2pm on the last Saturday of each month through October. Or if you’re in the Southeast Missouri area you might also consider attending the Fruitland Small Animal & Poultry Swap in Fruitland, Missouri.

September 25th, 2009 Update: My new white cochin pullet began laying last week, so I was pretty close on guessing her age to be around 4 or 5 months old when I bought her. Cochin pullets begin laying at around 6 months of age. As is normal, her first eggs are considerably smaller than they will be after this her first laying season. If fact, they are about half the size of my other laying hens.

White Cochin Bantams

The call ducks are now two weeks old, so I thought I’d take a few photos and share them here. They are currently in an awkward stage. They still have their down, but some of their adult feathers are starting to come in. Within a month or so they should be fully covered in white feathers. We have been letting them swim occasionally in a goldfish pond until their pen is complete. Presently, they live in the chicken house brooder attachment. I’ve purchased most of the lumber to build their enclosure, but have not been able to get started building it yet. The duck enclosure will have a footprint of 8ft by 8ft, be made of treated lumber, covered in hardware cloth, and styled like an aviary. It will be 6ft tall and include either a concrete or preformed plastic pond. Ideally, I would like to make it as natural looking as possible with river rocks for the floor and plenty of plants. In time, I’d like to add a pair of mandarins or wood ducks to the enclosure. Time will tell…

Two Week Old Call Ducklings In Pond

Great news! My first call duckling hatched this morning. I’ve posted a few photos below. The second duckling hatched this morning, and three others are currently in the process of hatching. I expect that they will have completely hatched by the morning. Unfortunately, the sixth duckling developed the full term but then died yesterday or today in the egg. Nonetheless, 5 out of 6 ducklings is a very good hatch rate, particularly when considering that these duckling were from shipped eggs. We are looking forward to watching these duckling’s foster mom (i.e. a bantam chicken hen) raise her “chicks”.

Update (July 15th): Out of the six eggs, five ducklings ended up hatching. By this morning, all of them had dried off, were moving around quite a bit, and seem healthy and happy. I gave them some water, and they began eating today. The hen seems as proud as can be of her new brood. Here are some updated photos…

Recently Hatched White Call Ducklings

As you might have read in my previous post, I have a broody hen setting on six white call duck eggs. These eggs are due to hatch on the 16th of this month… only four more days. I decided to candle them today. The air cell has increased to almost 1/3 the size of the egg, which is to be expected at this stage of development. As the duckling develops inside the egg, moisture in the egg decreases and the size of the air cell increases. I also heard movement in at least one of the eggs. I can’t wait for them to hatch! These will be my first call ducks. I am currently building a pen and small pond for these ducks. It should be interesting to watch my bantam cochin hen raise these ducklings…

Duck Eggs

I’ve recently decided that I wanted to raise a few call ducks. At one and a half pounds, call ducks are the bantams of the duck world. They come in several different color varieties including white, mallard (gray), pastel, etc. I was able to find a breeder in Tennessee who had white call duck hatching eggs available for sale, so I bought half a dozen of them. They were shipped today via priority mail. As soon as they arrive, I will be setting them under a broody cochin bantam hen. She will have to set on them for 28 days. If I get one drake and one hen out of the hatch, I will be thrilled but hope for more. I’m currently looking for some mandarin ducks as well.

June 19th Update: I received the call duck eggs today and gave them to a broody hen. They’re due to hatch on July 16th.

White Call Duck