[ScottBarton]

Hi all
Took delivery of my coop/run today and planning to build it at the weekend!    (Weather permitting!)
Am a total novice but have done my research including reading a very helpful book called 'Choosing and keeping Chickens' by Chris Graham (in association with the Practical Poultry Magazine) Found it a very good read indeed!
No doubt i will have plenty of questions for all you experienced chicken keepers out there!  
Am looking to start off with 4 chickens, 2 x Rhode Island Reds and 2 x Sussex.
First question....can anyone foresee a problem with keeping these two breeds together?

Pics of the coop/run will be posted once i have built it!

[mother hen]

Hi Scott, welcome to the forum, I have the same chicken book and have found it very useful along with all the good tips you can pick up here. Will your chickens be able to free range? or be confined to a run.

I have kept quite a few dif birds but have to say my favourites are the bluebelles they have the nicest natures and have laid every day since I got them in May.  I only have 1 RIR now, gave others to a friend to free range.

[too many girls]

welcome to the forum Scott

[ScottBarton]

Hi, thanks for the welcome.
I have bought a rather large coop with a big run area so initially, until i get the hang of things, i plan to keep them in there. When the days get a bit longer, then i will let them roam the garden (probably much to my wifes dismay as she is not overkeen on the idea!  :roll:  )
This is the product i have bought....hope its ok...to be honest i would of asked on here before i bought it had i of known the forum existed!  :roll:

[ceri green]

looks very posh scott! and plenty of room inside for 4
but if you can find a way of extending the run part or let them out at least for a little while every day then i think you will find they are happier.
as far as LS and RIR together, they will be fine!. i have found that the large/heavy breeds tend to be more docile anyway.
there were so many breeds that i liked that i ended up with  one each of LS, RIR, white leghorn, black leghorn, barred plymouth rock, bluebelle, blue fenton, welsummer and 2 warrens! and they all get along fine - obviously they have their pecking order but its nothing to do with the different breeds!

happy chickening  

[EggBound]

I have the same coop for my three chickens.  Although the house part is plenty big enough (and they all cuddle up in one of the nestboxes together at night) the run is not really big enough to leave them in during the day.  They get bored and kick the food and water over, and the ladder takes up quite a lot of the floor space.  Chickens take up a surprising amount of room!  I felt guilty leaving them in such a small space, so let them free range around the garden all day now, even when I'm out at work.  They've wrecked the lawn, so eventually I'm going to have to fence off an area for them I think.

[Debz]

I also have the same henhouse and run for my three girls.  I agree with eggbound that the house is fine but the run is too small even for three.   My husband built an extension on the end to give them more space because we work full time and cannot guarantee to be able to let them out.

[Parsnip]

Welcome to the forum Scott. Looks like you'll be having chooks roaming your garden then..  

[poultrygeist]

Hi Scott. Just caught up with your thread. Welcome in.

Agree with what's been said. The run will be too small for your 4 birds. They may be ok for a week or two but will soon pick on each other and make a real mess.
You could do with a minimum of twice that area, preferably a lot more.
if you can free range them for most of the day, it would help, but they need at least 1 sq. metre each. You run is less than 2 sq. metres.

If you need advice on extending or any other aspect, feel free to ask. Hope we haven't given you too much of a headache ! :?

Rob

[matilda duck]

Hi welcome hope you're mad?? You need to be!!!  I too brought that house but for my then 4 small ducks. We soon realised that it needed extending so we build a bigger area for them and put a door on so we could let them out  to free range, or if needed keep them in.  I now have my lot in a large shed and run. The others are right! chickens love space..It will be okay if they free range but I would seriously think of building a run to compliment it....

[ScottBarton]

Thanks for the tips guys. Maybe I will start off with 2 hens first then.
Another couple of questions....

The place where I am looking to site my hen house is slightly raised from the rest of the garden. Should I build a ramp to help them get down or are they ok jumping/flying? Obviously the tricky part will be getting back up when they need to. Its approx 4 foot up.

Also, the area is mainly dirt. I was thinking of excavating a few inches, filling with some kind of shingle and then covering with bark/wood chippings to encourage foraging? The bark/wood could easily be raked out and replaced as and when needed.

Thoughts?

[matilda duck]

When we used ours we put slabs down and then woodchip/bark over so that the  area could be kept relativly clean.  Chickens love to scrat so this will give them the chance without recking too much.  And as the tops covered over it has less chance of getting boggy like ours is now.   Good luck

[poultrygeist]

They'll definitely want a ramp or climbing frame to get up 4ft.

They can develop bumble foot if they have to jump down too far. I think it's a bit spraining your foot if you jump.

A series of planks or poles arranged as a slanted frame would give them some nice exercise but I'd add a ramp as an easy option too.

If you want to add photos, we could all add our two pennerth !

Rob

[Roll Roll]

Hello Scott.As Sam said we ( as in me ) put slabs down first, this was more to stop foxes digging under the coop when we were out in the daytime, I dont know if foxes would, but you never know.

[ScottBarton]

Excellent tip there regarding the slabs! Am going to do that, then cover with bark/wood chips. Thanks! WIll be easier to keep clean too!