| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Jb |
Suggestions for chicken housingAny suggestions for best (and / or cheapest) options for chicken housing? |
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| wellington womble |
Can't really help, as we were given ours. Look for something that has some kind of people door (as opposed to just a pop hole) for ease of cleaning out. A stand is useful too, to stop rats burrowing under it, but can easily be made. Eglus pop up on ebay from time to time, and are easy to clean and control red mite in. | ||||
| alice |
I can show you cheap  OH knocked this together in a hurry using some ply we found lying around the place and four new stabs. Mark II has external nest boxes. Cost about £12 - for the stabs. Currently housing 5 big birds but they don't 'live' in it, they just sleep in there. Still weatherproof after 3 wet winters. Lid lifts right off for cleaning, as do the nest boxes. Not pretty but for what it cost it's done sterling service.
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| Jb |
You do OH a disservice! Add a moat and a drawbribge and that's Cluck Castle.  (and for £12 that looks damn good to me!)
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| Tavascarow |
How many birds do you want to house & do you want mobile or static? | ||||
| welsh veg grower |
Do you have an old shed or look out for an old shed on freecycle or in the localpaper. Lots of people give themaway if you willcome and take it down. Just pop in some nest boxes (old shoe boxes will do) and soem perches just ome 1x1 long length of woodfrom one side to another. You can keep loads of chooks in that and then they can free range in the day or you can put some fencing up and make a pop hole in the shed.
I say all this I still havent done that with my shed as I keep getting cheap or free chicken houses - you just need to keep your eye out and let the right people know you are looking. hope that helps |
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| Jb |
Probably starting with 3 (Mrs JB has a colleague who can get us some ex battery birds) but it might be 4 or 5 light Sussex. Preferably mobile. What I have in mind is either an ark or a mobile house and I'll make some panels with chicken wire to use as a run wherever the house ends. The arks I've seen have tended to be smaller, and sit directly on the ground, not have perches and not have nest boxes. How big a run should I allow? Just been reading one of the books I have here and it suggests allowing 5m2 per bird for the run and house combined, which seems awfully large! |
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| Jb |
Having said that I've found this which looks like it would do the job and I could add a frame around the base to lift it off the ground. (I'm averse to have an ark direct on the ground as I think the base would just rot and a bit of air space makes it harder for vermin). How high should I lift the house off the ground to allow the chooks to use it as shelter? | ||||
| Mary-Jane |
That is just fabulous!
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| wellington womble |
Mine 4 birds have a run about 5m x 4m square, and have cleared the whole lot in a couple of months. |
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| Jb |
So are arks only really useful if you can let the chickens out of the ark every day? |
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| Mary-Jane |
We have a covered run built on the front of ours so we have one hen house resting on bricks and the other (formerly Mrs. Wellington Womble's) up on a pallet. You can see the covered run in the picture (the tins shack affair is temporary house for the new chooks until they get used to being here). 
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| Jb |
So that's in a permament location? I was thinking either a mobile house and run (something like an ark) and let them into the garden as much as possible, or a mobile house and make some fencing in 2m length panels and chicken wire that I can use to improvise a run whereever I move the house to. The only downside with that is it has be relatively short not to look too imposing in the garden. |
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| chez |
I think these are just the job if you could make something similar. They are lovely and very well made - but very expensive. | ||||
| Rosemary Judy |
I have a mobile house and run, which is about 1x3m and to start with we moved it on the lawn every three days - very tireing and annoying.
I now have it on a concrete/slabbed area, and they have straw which I change every 2-3 weeks. They get out when we are at home - the garden is 7 x 30 m and I fence bits off so they don't destroy it ! We are at home at weekends and evenings...... and I have 4 birds |
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| Tavascarow |
That is similar to mine but I go for the less grand. Cheap external shuttering ply 2" square weldmesh on the bottom so the droppings fall through & internal nest boxes & perches seperate & removable so they can be used as rearing arks for growers or waterfowl. Run about the same size is fine for 4 or 5 large hens as long as its moved regularly. |
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| jag_clarke |
if you build a pen for them make sure either u dig a trench for wire about 1 ft down or have it coming out about a foot on the outside to prevent fox digging underneath. the sides also need to be about 6 foot high or have a roof over it. those arcs look nice but wire base prevents hens scrapping. make sure they have a perch to fit on in house doesnt need to be high but it helps stop mights in feathers and legs. try to give them an area of dry soil/dirt for them to dust bath in they will love that and it will help keep them healthy and clean.
we keep ours in a hen house and are free to go where they like in the day. they eat plenty of grass insects and berrys so you need to feed them less and you get richer yellow yoaks and cakes from the eggs. also feed the old egg shells back to hens for calsium and they also like grit about 2-5mm size stuff as this helps there digestion they eat it and its used in there crop to grind up food (instead of chewing like we do they have a special organ for it). as for hen house ours is made from scrap wood and corrigated iron roof. they also sleep in trees sometimes but if they come down early in the morning they are at risk from fox and ex battery will likly had there wings clipped so they cant fly well. |
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| Tavascarow |
I don't bother feeding mine grit. Every cockerel I slaughter has a gizzard full so they find their own from the soil around. Oyster shell is useful for nice hard shells but in the summer they get a lot of calcium from moluscs, insects & invertebrates so not necessary then. If you feed back egg shell bake it in a low oven & crush it well first. I have no evidence but I always worry about feeding egg shell back to hens for fear of encouraging egg eating so I put mine in the compost but as I said no evidence. 
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| jag_clarke |
yeah our grit is sea shell mix had it for decades in a sack dont always bother but if you put it out they eat it so they want it/like it. its more important with the restricted space hens as they have less chance to pick it up, such as those in arcs which some people hear maybe doing, espeshally those with wire floors. yeah you do have to be careful about egg eating but never seem to have any truble with that in the past. why u boil the egg shells? i dont think they can pick much up from there own eggs there tough old things ours only ever seem to die of fox or oldage, mostly the latter. |