| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| AdventureGirl |
Converting shed to hen house. Advice please.HiIn my quest to make a nice home for a couple of hens I have acquired a shed of sorts to convert. It is more of a tool store than a shed, being 6ftx3ft with double doors on the long side. It has a pent roof which is probably about 5ft high on the back sloping by around 6in down to the front. My main concern is that apart from the doors it is made of feather-edged board (the overlapping stuff). Will this be secure enough to keep out Mr Fox? My hubby reckons that we could add vertical battens on the outside of the shed for extra security. What do you all think? Assuming that you think it is secure enough, I think that all I need to do is put a nest box on one short side, a perch on the other (higher than the nest box), and create a pop hole into the run. What about the roof? At the moment this is traditional wood and felt, but I have read in several places that one shouldn't use felt on hen houses because it harbours red mites. Should I replace this with onduline (if so where can I buy it from in small quantities)? This would also sort out ventilation wouldn't it? I am also going to need to build and attach a fox proof run. I know that weld mesh is better than chicken wire, and will check out the correct sized mesh for avian flu regulations. I notice on the eglu that they claim that an apron of mesh around the outside of the run will keep out foxes. Does anyone have any experience of this? Some people have suggested totally enclosing runs with wire mesh (inc bottom), but is this fair on the chickens who then wouldn't be able to scratch around properly? Others suggest paving the run. I can't make the run big enough for grass to survive (although am considering partitioning it to keep them to one half at a time to give grass a chance to recover), so what do you think is the best option? I know that I have lots of questions, but you can read so much conflicting advice that I'd rather hear from people who have been there, done it, and proudly wear the t-shirt! Thanks in advance for any help that you can give me. |
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| Jonnyboy |
Problem I can see with a shed is that it would get very cold at night due to the high roof, unless you have a way of getting your 'girls' up there. | ||||
| bodger |
Hi
Forget changing the roof , because the ship lap will provide ample harborage for various insects. Its no problem, you'll just need to treat your birds and the fabric of the building from time to time. If a fox is going to dig into your run, he'll come up to the pen and dig right up by the wire. Thats why a surounding lip of wire around the pen on the ground is a good idea. If you have a pop hole leading from the shed into the run, then the chickens will go into it as you enter the shed , so its possible for you to have the nest box inside the shed. The shed you mention is quite flimsy, so it might be a job to attach external nest boxes to the structure. Cold with chickens does not present a problem, they are well prepared for this. Accomodation needs to be airy but not draughty or damp. |
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| Chez |
We have ours in a shiplap shed - I don't think the cold worried the birds unduly over the winter, but their water did freeze on occasion. I tacked a bit of spare bubble wrap left over from insulating the greenhouse inside the roof and that helped a lot.
We have an old apple box for them to lay in that tucks underneath the droppings board, behind a piece of sacking. There is about two foot six headroom underneath the droppings board and I've got a little ladder for them to use, but generally most of them jump up and down. We used some freecycled flagstones as a floor for the run to fox-proof it. Okay so far ... |
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| Rob R |
We made two popholes, one at either end of our converted shed (must get a photo, as I always seem to be mentioning this modification to people), so the orchard could be split into two & the hens spending alternate months in each side. This gives the ground (most importantly the bit round the pophole) a chance to regenerate. | ||||
| lottie |
That's what we are going to do----taking the allotment shed with us to convert. Moved the bees to wales and souped the remaining chickens so I could turn the garden back into suburbia before we put the house up for sale---junked the old henhouse and run----but it's taken so long to sell I am suffering real chicken withdrawal 
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| Treacle |
We were more worried about rats getting in than foxes, so when we built our chicken shed, we lined the outside of the floor with weldmesh netting as well. You haven't said what type of floor you have - assume its wood, so this might be worth considering too. | ||||
| Rob R |
Good point Treacle, at the same time lifting it up on sleepers so that predators can get under will help reduce rats undermining the whole thing. | ||||
| AdventureGirl |
Thanks for all the great info so far. I am starting to firm up on what to do with the shed now.
I am still unclear on a tried-and-tested method of stopping foxes getting into the run. The most secure option seems to be to put mesh across the floor as well, but is this cruel to the chickens? Also, can anyone recommend good breeds to start with (got to be friendly as we have kids, and would like plenty of eggs as well), and any places in Gloucestershire where I could go to view birds and purchase them? Cheers |
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| Chez |
Not cruel per se, but means that they won't be able to scratch around so easily, and you may end up with places where the mesh hangs over the ground, which probably wouldn't be very good for their little chicken-feet. As Bodger said, basically a fox will be digging in at the edges of the pen - so if around the edges you put wire down as he suggested, or slabs as we have done, you foil their cunning plan as they can't dig up through it.
We have a mixture of speckled sussex, barnvelder and cream legbar hens, all of which are stupidly friendly - we hand reared them from day old and they come and eat out of our hands and have been a perfect pest this afternoon helping us dig holes in the garden. The speckled sussex (my favourite) lays the fewest eggs - probably three or four a week - and currently the barnvelders and the legbars are laying pretty much an egg a day. I know that Pookie is a barnvelder fan, too  .
The downside of traditional 'heavy' breeds like sussex and barnvelder is that they do eat more than 'light' breeds (the cream legbars are a 'light' breed). You might want to consider getting specially bred hybrid egg-layers if eggs are your main concern? It depends how economically viable you want to be. I wouldn't swap ours - but we do eat them, so having heavy breeds makes sense. I also like the fact that they look like 'proper' farmyard chickens and run like a submarine wearing a skirt .
We also have four pekin bantams, that lay very small eggs - I just use two instead of one big one - and which are very friendly indeed and are supposed to be good pets for children - they come and sit on the back of the garden bench when I'm out there reading .
The Wernlas Collection near Craven Arms in Shropshire is a good place to go and have a look round at the different breeds. They sell young stock AND they do cups of tea and sandwiches .
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| Caalie |
My fox 'foxing' measures have been to put a foot of heavy duty wire on the ground round the run and then to cover it with paving slabs - we have loads of foxes & I wanted to be sure. Even so, this week I have noticed digging on the side furthest to the house, although he hasn't got any where. But I have put an extra foot of wire down on that side, and he seems to have given up, for now. I'm being extra vigilant though as cubbing is getting underway, and I am the only person I know locally who hasn't lost a flock to the foxes. | ||||
| Treacodactyl |
We have a couple of Buff Sussex and I had a Speckled Sussex, lovely friendly, chatty birds but ours don't lay that well. Ours are from show stock so I assume they've not been bred to lay well. Our hens are in an ark with a run that has a weld mesh floor. In six years they've not hurt themselves despite scratching at the floor. One has lost a claw twice but I'm not sure where and it's healed up without problems. When we're in the garden, which is quite often, the hens are let out and roam freely to forage, dust bathe etc so I don't think the mesh floor is cruel to them. As for foxes digging, they often dig for food in our garden and have managed to dig almost 2 foot deep in a single night so they can dig quite far. |