[snowdrops]

Ahh so your suspicions were correct by the sound of it, do you get some money to spend on them too?

[grinling]

Well done, be a good idea to check the birds over, if you could have someone with you with a phone to take pics in case you have questions for us.
Look at their eyes and listen to their breathing, both should clear.
Look at their legs, if not smooth, takes pics
look under their feet, no black marks/
Also check under wings and belly, moving feathers to check for little yellow things...lice
Do this by keeping chickens in house and grabbing one at a time. Keep bottom facing away.
For the house/run, I would build a roofed area about 3 times bigger than coop roof to stop rain getting anywhere near the house. You could hang chicken feeders from this for the hen, I use a chain with a wire hook. (do the ducks have a separate house as they sleep on the floor. They also graze rather than peck)
I use a washing up bowl raised on bricks for water...very easy to clean.
Hillfooters slurry (on this site) is fantastic for red mite. I have this painted inside the coop.
Chickens cannot have hay and never mown grass. I use newspaper in the bottom of the house as well as lining the nest box with straw on top.
I would also recommend buying a bag of layers pellets with worming powder added.
Also Haynes have a chicken manual which is brill

[Steve_789]

Ahh so your suspicions were correct by the sound of it, do you get some money to spend on them too?

apparently the manager was also having concerns but just hadn't gotten around to it yet! And yes i get some money to get a few treadle feeders (anyone have good recomendations?) and another water bucket, as well as proper feed, bedding, mite stuff etc. Also agreed to purchasing new coops as well in the near future, we were thinking 2 coops holding 6-8 birds each, one at each end of the plot, each with its shelter, food and water etc

Look at their eyes and listen to their breathing, both should clear.
Look at their legs, if not smooth, takes pics
look under their feet, no black marks/
Also check under wings and belly, moving feathers to check for little yellow things...lice
Do this by keeping chickens in house and grabbing one at a time. Keep bottom facing away.

Thanks for the tips grinling! The birds are super skittish so its pretty hard to get close to em, although i did manage to get one of them to come up to me and eat out my hand, so with patience i'll have em liking me in no time i hope   Picking them up will be interesting, never picked up a chicken before! Watched a few videos on how to do it and doesn't seem to hard though?

For the house/run, I would build a roofed area about 3 times bigger than coop roof to stop rain getting anywhere near the house. You could hang chicken feeders from this for the hen, I use a chain with a wire hook. (do the ducks have a separate house as they sleep on the floor. They also graze rather than peck)

I was thinking of the same sort of thing, it'd be a very jerry rigged affair for the time being using tarps and left over wood from the raised beds, but it'll serve until more permanent things can be arranged.

Thanks again for all the advice folks its been a huge help, no doubt i'll have more questions whilst turning things around and learning!

[snowdrops]

I’m thinking of changing my coop to an open perch same as another plot holder, mine are in a secure run but at the moment is weldmesh all round but I’m going to look at covering it in with plastic, at the base it will remain fixed but there will be removable pieces higher up for the summer months to allow better ventilation. My plot neighbour has this type & says it helps with preventing the ‘pecking’ order. I’ve been having trouble since before Christmas since I added my granddaughter chickens in to the run(but segregated). The first 4 turned on one of their own & now that one has turned on 1 of the other lot.
Do a search on here to see run set ups & coop ideas.

[New shoot]

You might be a novice chicken keeper Steve, but I'm pleased to hear you are now in charge.  The more you told us about what was going on, the more doubts I had about it all as well.    You have the welfare of the birds at heart and are prepared to ask questions and find out what is needed and that is great news for the poultry you have at the gardens.

I have never bought a treadle feeder so can't help you with that I'm afraid, but I think the idea of using a traditional feeder and hanging it up under the new roofed area is a good one. 

It would be also be a good idea to move a water drinker under there as well.  It won't offer loads of protection, but might stop water freezing quite so fast on cold days.

ps I forgot to say I have logs in my run for the chickens to sit on and also a large branch secured between breeze blocks as an outside perch.  They love sitting on there and watching the world go by.  It would be quite easy to find stuff around the gardens to make some similar bits under the roofed area.  The shed cave might get ditched fairly quickly if they have fun stuff like that elsewhere 

[grinling]

I use corrugated as my roof, suggest a height which is easy to stand under, you could also board the side where the rain comes from. Tarp will be noisy and can upset the birds.
Ducks, I think, have difficultly with treadle, but google nearest feed merchant and see what they have. Hanging feeders come in various sizes,but have 2 for ease. I would keep both houses together as chickens like safety in numbers, should be possible to join and have some separate nest boxes. A separate house for ducks, they are unable to jump up into small doorways.
Washing up bowls for water are easy to clean.  I have a pic of my run arrangement on a post, I now have an add on for grass.
Ask if anyone on this site is near and show you handling. I am in Lincolnshire if ever heading south.

[Steve_789]

so i spent all day yesterday cleaning out and mending the coop, not pretty, it was worse than i thought, i was literately scraping crushed poo from the floor and from the bit the nesting bars slot into! All clean now though with a nice thick layer of shavings and i even think its waterproof now!

As i mentioned the manager has now ok'd getting 2 new coops, i was thinking the following as it seems a good mix between cost vs quality vs looks https://www.chickencoopsdirect.com/devon-hen-house , if anyone knows of anything better (or anything bad about those guys) then i'm all ears, my only resource for purchasing places for coops has been google so far! We could build our own that suffice, but it wouldn't be anywhere near as polished as a purpose built one.

As for other shelter, the only other short term is tarp over old greenhouse hoops, far from ideal but after checking our wood store we'd have to buy in a lot of stuff. I'm going to put it up in the middle of their area away from the coop and see if they freak out or not, if they do i'll take it down, but if they don't it'll have to do until i can blag some wood and sheeting from somewhere.

I have never bought a treadle feeder so can't help you with that I'm afraid, but I think the idea of using a traditional feeder and hanging it up under the new roofed area is a good one.

To be honest that would be my preferred way of doing it, but we need to be able to leave it out at night because the core staff are all run off their feet as it is (we only have 3 others, 2 are full time in the office and 1 is 3 days a week, i no longer consider the ex chicken staff member as "staff"..), and as were in the country we don't really want to be paying to feed every single bird in the local area! I have filled the old green feeder (after a damn good scrub) and that's being left full for now. We've also switched to layers pellets, with half a tub of the grain in the morning and the other half in the afternoon, mostly for the ducks, as since leaving the feeder full the chickens aint really fussed!

We also no longer have to worry about the ducks long term, their going, a local farmer has said he'd take the lot to go with his flock 

ps I forgot to say I have logs in my run for the chickens to sit on and also a large branch secured between breeze blocks as an outside perch.  They love sitting on there and watching the world go by.  It would be quite easy to find stuff around the gardens to make some similar bits under the roofed area.  The shed cave might get ditched fairly quickly if they have fun stuff like that elsewhere

I was thinking of making perches for em ... after i took a trolley down to empty the shed a bit, and after turning around to put something in it ... finding several chickens perched on the handle bar rosey away at me  I'm still working on actually picking one up, there letting me get closer to them now which is encouraging, means i'm obviously doing something right and they approve

[New shoot]

Hi Steve.  I haven't bought from that company, but John (the site owner) has reviews on the main pages including the coop you are looking at.

https://www.chickens.allotment-garden.org/poultry-housing/

I would also keep both houses together, rather than split them up. 

If you google greenhouse hoop chicken house a load of ideas come up.  A field shelter is just a house or run  without the end walls, so that might be useful.  It would be the flapping of a tarp that really upset the birds, so making sure it was tight on the frame would help.

The easiest way to get hold of birds is while they are in the coop.  They get much quieter one they bed down, but if you are not around then, try training them to come in.  Treats rattled in a bag are one they learn very fast.  Dried mealworms sold as wild bird food are about the most coveted.  If they discover those via you, you will be able to get them to follow you anywhere.  Don't feed too many though.  They are full of fat so are special treats only 

[snowdrops]

Do they get shut in at night? Am I right in thinking they free range in the day?

[grinling]

I was going to say half fill an icecream tub with corn mix. Shake when in the chicken area and throw some down, you will be loved
My house is from ebay and is about 12years old. It has always been under cover and it is on castors as I have a concrete floor and moving it on my own is easy (otherwise 2 people needed). It was modified by using bolts rather than screw together.It has hillfooters slurry on the inside.

[Steve_789]

thanks for the link new shoot, somehow missed that when i trawled through the help pages last time!

Do they get shut in at night? Am I right in thinking they free range in the day?

no they don't (no one around to do it most of the year), and yes they free range during the day (or whenever they want!)

One thing i have noticed, is that now they have constant access to food their becoming way more lively, specially the younger ones who really do love getting in the way!  I also put the tarp up, they seemed perfectly fine with it, the young golden one (my favourite now, last pic) even tried to sit on it .. and promptly slide off, which was pretty funny 
 
Theres 2 birds i'm concerned about though, one has really horrible looking legs that almost look solid and i swear it has a little limp (the white one in the pics), the other is just very lethargic (grey one), both of them are eating and move about. Could be they're just old, but its another "that feels wrong" thing.

[snowdrops]

I think that ‘leg’ one is scale leg & I think the treatment is to slather Vaseline on the legs. I’m happy to be corrected when someone more knowledgeable comes along, it’s a mite that burrows under the skin.

[New shoot]

The white one could have scaly leg.  It could be old age as well.  I have a very elderly hen with legs way worse than that and she does not have scaly leg.  She does have a touch of arthritis in both legs, which has thickened the joints, but manages fine at the moment.  She does sit and rest a fair bit.

The grey one could just be getting old as well, but it could be an indication of another problem.  Without getting hold of her, it is hard to say.  It might be worth worming them all to see if its is that.  She might just be carrying a heavier burden than the rest.

Eating, moving around and generally seeming bright are good signs.  If they are ill, they sit hunched up, tail down and look really miserable.

What I do see is chickens with nice full crops.  That is why they have a slightly bigger bulge to one side of their chests.  I think they are hanging round you as they know you are the food giver and they are very happy about that.  Nosy chickens under your feet checking out what is going on are the norm, so get used to it 

[Steve_789]

I'll see if i can get closer to the white one or bribe it to come closer and try and pick it up and get a good look.

Next on the job list is making perches for em to sit on during the day, any maybe try a few things i've seen others do to give them something to do, i'm dying to try putting a mirror in but i doubt the rosters would be to impressed with that 

[Steve_789]

Well i must be doing something right, was met by these two beauty's this morning