POULTRY AND LIVESTOCK EQUIPMENT

POULTRY AND LIVESTOCK EQUIPMENT

DROPPING BOARD

Dropping board is a term used to describe the area directly below the roost bar in a chicken coop.  It helps by collecting the manure and keeping it contained so that removal of the chicken manure is easy to complete.

With chores, I always find that the easier they are to complete, the more likely that the chore will get completed.  

Think about the fact that while chickens are sleeping on the roost at night, feces drop from them onto whatever is directly below.  We did not realize this when we built our coop.  The manure dropping into the built in nest boxes below was a disgusting problem.  I did not look forward to cleaning that mess up every week.  The smell of manure would sometimes get pretty bad and some years  the flies were just terrible.  I  tried to clean up daily so that the task would never grow too large.  Still, there had to be a better way.  

PERCHES

 A roost is an elevated bar, branch or narrow plank on which chickens perch to sleep. Seeking high spots to spend the night has been part of chicken survival instincts since long before its domestication over 5000 years ago. Chickens aren’t all that fast, they lack the prowess to ward off many predators and they are sound sleepers. It’s no wonder an inclination to sleep out of reach is an instinct that has lingered even in a time when much of the world’s 19 billion strong chicken population is housed in predator-proof facilities. For the backyard chicken keeper, it turns out encouraging chickens to high roosts still makes a lot of sense

FEEDING TROUGH

 A galvanised bird feeding trough suitable for poultry or pigeons which includes anti-
scratch bars to minimise wastage and to stop birds standing on, or fouling in their feed.
The trough has a 50cm long base, and its sturdy galvanised structure means it is very
unlikely to tip over which is essential when trying to minimize mess and food wastage.
The feed trough is also the perfect height for chickens or pigeons to feed from, and open
enough so they do not squabble or fight over the food. The hinged top also enables easy
filling and cleaning. This galvanised feeder trough is suitable for holding wheat, poultry
or pigeon corn, layers pellets or layers mash.

DRINKING TROUGH

 The Eltex Galvanised Trough is built from heavy gauge sheet steel which is then galvanised after
manufacture making it both rot and rust proof. This trough is suitable for use with poultry, pigeons
or ducks either as a feeder or drinker. The sides of the trough are flanged inwards to help prevent
wastage, whilst the ends of the trough are flanged outwards for easy cleaning. These galvanised
troughs are solid, high quality products that will give you years of reliable service.

BROODER

 If you have been preparing for the arrival of some fluffy baby chicks, you'll need a brooder for them. A brooder is a place that will keep the chicks contained, ​warm, and dry. Typically, it involves some kind of walls, a bottom surface that can be covered with shavings, a brooder lamp, and possibly a top to keep them from flying out. It also needs to house their food and water.

NEST

Laying hens should be laying eggs in their nice, fresh nest boxes, for the cleanest, freshest eggs. Do your hens lay their eggs in hay bales, on the ground, in tall grass -- everywhere but the nest boxes? Sometimes chickens can be very stubborn about this habit. These tips will encourage your hens to lay in their nest boxes, making sure you get the maximum number of fresh, clean eggs.

HEAT LAMP

 250-watt infrared heat bulbs provide heat to your growing baby chicks. The red color of this bulb helps prevent chicks from picking at one another and also makes it easier for them to sleep. While they are the most commonly used heating device for baby chicks, we do not recommend heat lamps for heating baby chicks or coops. Here's why

INCUBATOR

A Hen lays a clutch of eggs, instincts take over. They constantly fuss over them, adjusting them just so  throughout the day and rarely leaving the nest for more than a few minutes. Motherhood is a big responsibility for a young hen—if she’s the least bit neglectful, her babies will never hatch. Or worse, they may hatch with deformities.

Modern chickens, it turns out, are not always very effective mothers. Whether it’s genetic or culture, who knows, but they get distracted, other hens oust them from their nest, the rooster comes by…there’s no shortage of things that can go wrong. For this reason, most farmers and backyard chicken enthusiasts don’t trust incubation to their hens, they take it upon themselves to do the brood work instead. You can also buy day-old chicks and skip the incubation process, but it costs more. Plus, why would you want to miss out on an opportunity to experience one of life’s miracles?

Shipping Crate

A crate is a large shipping container, often made of wood, typically used to transport or store large, heavy items. Steel and aluminium crates are also used. Specialized crates were designed for specific products, and were often made to be reusable, such as the "bottle crates" for milk and soft drinks.

Crates can be made of wood, plastic, metal or other materials. The term crate often implies a large and strong container. Most plastic crates are smaller and are more commonly called a case or container. Metal is rarely used because of its weight. When metal is used, a crate is often constructed as an open crate and may be termed a cage. Although a crate may be made of any material, for these reasons, the term 'crate' used alone often implies one constructed of wood.

Breeding Crate

A gestation crate, also known as a sow stall, is a metal enclosure used in intensive pig farming, in which a female breeding pig (sow) may be kept during pregnancy and for most of her adult life.^[1][2][3] A standard crate measures 6.6 ft x 2.0 ft (2 m x 60 cm).

Sow stalls contain no bedding material and are instead floored with slatted plastic or metal to allow waste to be efficiently collected below. This waste is then flushed into open-air pits known as lagoons.A few days before giving birth, sows are moved to farrowing crates where they are able to lie down, with an attached crate from which their piglets can nurse.

Castration Rack

Castration (also known as gonadectomy) is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testes), and chemical castration uses pharmaceutical drugs to deactivate the testes. Castration causes sterilization (preventing them from reproducing); it also greatly reduces the production of certain hormones, such as testosterone. Surgical castration in animals is often called neutering. The term "castration" is sometimes also used to refer to the removal of the ovaries in the female, otherwise known as an oophorectomy or, in animals, spaying. Estrogenlevels drop precipitously following oophorectomy, and long-term effects of the reduction of sex hormones are significant throughout the body