Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: Myv8growler on April 09, 2012, 18:09
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Hi all, we are soon to be new chicken owners.
We have wanted chickens for some years but always held off for some unknown reason.
I intend to build my own coop and I will attempt to run a build thread (with pics) as we go.
I welcome any and all advice along the way. We are hoping for 2-4 birds.
I have a space at the bottom of my garden which measures 4m x 1.5m which I want to use as a hen house and run.
I am going to sit down and draw up some plans, but my initial thoughts are around 5ft high with a polycarbonate roof to keep the chicks dry. I was going to lay some concrete foundations for under the sides and leave the floor as a soil base.
Here are some pics of what I have to play with.
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/925e6424.jpg)
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/7b8fbed8.jpg)
I intend to use the whole area to the left of the red line.
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/86ff7f11.jpg)
If the rain stops tomorrow, I'm gonna start digging.
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Welcome to the forum. :) Ask as many questions as you like and have a look in the search facility as there have been many threads about projects like this.
Do you have any urban foxes where you are?
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No urban foxes that I am aware of.
As for the questions, I am sure they will come thick and fast.
Not too sure which chickens to get yet, but I will start with the house and go from there.
I have looked at some of the coops you can buy on eBay which seem perfectly good, but I want to make it a bit more personal and to accommodate the space I have put on one side.
I have read some of the threads already with some build pictures so I am armed with a number of ideas.
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Enjoy the process!
We built our coop and pen on my mates' allotment over the winter - finishing it just days before we got the girls!
Very proud now.
I do recommend having a shaded/covered area of your run though - went up to visit the ladies for their afternoon tea (a big scop of corn!) and the pen was an absolute mudbath and bless them, they didn't want to spend the day indoors despite the weather!
Chooks produce a beautiful tilled soil (would be prefect for lovely straight carrots) but the rain utterly destroys it! ::)
Emma
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For want of being shot down in flames, can you give them any more room?
Minimum run are for 1 hen is 1 sq metre, but we try to say to give them At Least 2sm each, Hens are birds, they like to run and fly around.
If you are restricted to that area, could you perhaps build the coop 18 to24 inches off the ground so they can run underneath it too? Remember that you will have a feeder and drinker in there too taking up space.
Covering at least part of the run is a good idea, helps keep smells down if the run is kept dry. If the coop is raised, you could hang the feeder underneath it, keeping the feed dry and if its off the ground, helping to keep rats away from the feed.
Also if you can build the run 6ft high, that will make it easier for you to get inside so you don't have to stoop, unless you are under 5ft of course!
I have seen some wonderful runs on this forum where people have built shelves and things at different heights. It gives the birds more room and more things to do rather than just the run floor.
Have at least 3 birds too. They are flock animals and if one should die, then you still haave a pair rather than one lone hen, which is very sad.
Hope this helps
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Thanks for the comments.
I intend to make the bedroom area suspended so they will have a full 4m run.
They will have the entire garden too during th daytime when we are home.
As for making it higher, I am 6'4" so I wold have to make a blooming big coop for me not to stoop! (not meant to rhyme!)
And I am sure my neighbours would complain if the coop was bigger than a standard garden fence.
As fo the birds, my friend has kindly offered me his 4 bantams as his personal circumstances have changed recently.
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We were quite lucky with space.
Our run is about 10 metres by 6 metres. Plenty of room.
Any suggestions for relieving chicken boredom would be greatly appreciated - I think it's the cause of our henpecking!
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Bantams is good, they take up less space, which means your girls will be even happier! And I meant the run should be 6ft high, not the coop! But you have to be awkward and be 6ft 4ins! :lol: :lol:
In the end, of course its up to you and your situation, but you did ask! ;) ;)
Emma, lots of ways to stop boredom. they love things to jump on and off of, an old big of log, or pile of rocks? Hanging greens like cabbage or brussel stalks, just above head height so they get exercise while trying to snaffle the greenery, greens are good for nice yellow yolks too. We have also hung things like corn cobs up too.
Hanging CD's sometimes helps, sunlight shining on the CD distracts them, but we had more success with the turkeys and CD's than we did the chickens.
Their afternoon treat of a handful of corn keeps them distracted for a bit too.
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Emma, lots of ways to stop boredom. they love things to jump on and off of, an old big of log, or pile of rocks? Hanging greens like cabbage or brussel stalks, just above head height so they get exercise while trying to snaffle the greenery, greens are good for nice yellow yolks too. We have also hung things like corn cobs up too.
Hanging CD's sometimes helps, sunlight shining on the CD distracts them, but we had more success with the turkeys and CD's than we did the chickens.
Their afternoon treat of a handful of corn keeps them distracted for a bit too.
We have log perches and logs half dug into the ground. They certainly enjoy digging - particularly where the fences are dug into the ground! I have told them they're helping any potential predator to get in from the other side but they won't listen ::)
They love afternoon tea (corn) but it doesn't keep them going for long.
Sorry Myv8growler - didn't mean to poach your thread. What I will suggest for your hen house is keep the perches the same height - we have 3 perches - 2 at a lower level and 1 higher up and NO-ONE likes the lower perches! It's quite funny to peep in and see all 10 girls squished together on one perch!
Emma
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Sorry Myv8growler - didn't mean to poach your thread. What I will suggest for your hen house is keep the perches the same height - we have 3 perches - 2 at a lower level and 1 higher up and NO-ONE likes the lower perches! It's quite funny to peep in and see all 10 girls squished together on one perch!
Emma
That's pecking order stuff! The higher up the perch you can get, the more important you are! :D
Your girls seem to have lots of things to do Emma, another reason for feather pecking they reckon is lack of calcium. Are they getting enough of that? Or do you have a bully who is pecking the others?
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If we have a bully she keeps changing! My poor pecked girl was the initial bully - she'd peck the others away from the feeder - now have 2 feeders and 2 drinkers!
Our Blue Marans was the worst for pecking the last I saw, although she was attacking everyone not just Anastasia.
Might try the calcium issue - and some anti-peck spray!
Thanks :)
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Been digging and raking for a few hours now.
Got the foundation trenchs dug out.
All measured up.
I'll post pics later when I get back from buying my cement.
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Slabs cleared, raked and level (ish)
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/6680af33.jpg)
All pegged out and measured. Flattened down too.
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/5a672172.jpg)
Trenches dug out for the foundations.
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/72c43052.jpg)
Pebles laid as a base.
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/b024678a.jpg)
Concrete foundations laid
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/2cc1c843.jpg)
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/b8ff9cc3.jpg)
Time for a rest!
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We used our existing 10x8 greenhouse as part of our chicken area.. We took out all the glass for safety reasons and also for the fact the chickens would be too hot under glass. We replaced the glass around the sides and doors with chicken wire and the roofing is 4mm polycarbonate sheeting. We had to thread wiring across the roof panels to keep them in place in windy weather, as we do get a bit of wind here on the Suffolk coast. We then put the coops inside the greenhouse and extended the legs on the houses to enable the chickens access under their housing, giving them extra room. This also gives them a dry area inside the greenhouse when it is raining as rain can come in from the open chicken wired sides all depending on the wind direction! We have 3 outside runs, which have tunnels running from one to another above ground to enable the chickens access to all the runs and they can be closed off too. The tunnels were made from dustbins and compost bins. We also have other small tunnels made from wood and cut down plastic dustbins for shelters for the chickens in the rain in the runs. We have put a tyre out in one of the runs with well rotted manure in it, which they love digging and dust bathing in. All in all our set up has been a great success with the chooks. We had a choice of flower beds or chicken runs and the chickens won, it is lovely to see them as free and as happy as they are out there.
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Wow myv8growler - you work fast!
It's looking good.
drumstick: very'Good LIfe'! Thats bow Barbara Good built their chicken house from the old greenhouse.
She also painted it pink - the guys on my allotments wouldn't let me paint the chickenhouse pink :(
It looks good though - we've called it 'Peckingham Palace' :D
Emma
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Wow myv8growler - you work fast!
It's looking good.
I'm suffering for it now!
Day off tomorrow then off to get some wood.
I'm gonna go for an outdoor, heat treated wood.
Question for all?
What's the best roofing to use, I have read all about the redmite!
What's the best mesh or wire to use?
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We have a wooden roof covered with a waterproof membrane and corrugated plastic type stuff.
The mesh was really quite small - like less than an inch sized hole and we used the green covered mesh and just stapled that to the wood frame.
The inital frame for the pen was built out of those big 6 ft tall metal gate type things you see around building sites - they were buried in the ground - wod frame around that, then the fine chicken mesh.
It looks quite secure - there were footprints on our nest boxes (which stick out a bit further from the rest of the coop) and these footprints had to be cat I would think - there are 2 cats that roam around the site when they think no-one is about although, they did look a bit pointy for cat paws (having 2 moglets myself - their feet are rounder so it could have been a fox sniffing about, but the hens were safe inside by that point.
The girls keep digging right next to the fences so make sure you put some of the wire mesh underground to stop foxes etc digging in under. I keep telling them they're helping their predators but they don't listen. I go about filling the holes back in!!
Hope some of that helps!
Emma
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Hi Emma thanks for the tips.
I have dug 10" foundations filled with rocks and concrete, so any fox will have to have some mole DNA to burrow underneath!
Some people seem to have used polycarbonate roofing, but I would have thought this would be really hot in the sunshine. I might use some form of opake corrugated plastic, but I want it to look good as well as be functional.
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Right. After a good start, rain has stopped play.
However I had some time today between showers to get cracking.
Managed to get the frames built for the run. It's gonna be aprox 3m x 1.3m
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/af284a06.jpg)
Got the base for the coop ready, which will have the coop 0.5m raised off the ground.
Plenty of room for the bantams to play around underneath. The basic frame for the hotel sized chicken house is in this photo too.
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/031529f6.jpg)
This next one is just a basic visualisation of the space our 4 birds will have. Not bad me thinks.
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/b8519c18.jpg)
Part of the wood purchase was some tongue and groove which I had the task of attaching.
However, today I went out without the wife and purchased a TacWise 191EL Pro electric nail and staple gun. For all the blokes out there (and girls that like power tools) you have to have one.
Made this last part for today take no time at all............
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/544bf50a.jpg)
I would of had the roof on today but I stupidly attached the panels to the frame the wrong way, which I will fix tomorrow.
Weather permitting, it should be nearly finished tomorrow. My new gun came with 4000 nails and staples so who knows what I will attach together by the end of the day!!!
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Great progress! ;)
Have fun with your 'new toy' as well but caution - you have heard about the American who managed to shoot himself in the chest with a nail gun.
As a nurse, I don't recommend it! :D
Emma
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Been out today in the ever changing weather.
Got the front door sorted,
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/7debe61c.jpg)
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/ad1c1360.jpg)
Got the font tidied up after sorting a perch, and the frame for the egg box which will be completely removable.
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/e731ef93.jpg)
Got the egg box walls done.
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/70fad456.jpg)
I have done a roof, and roofed the egg box but not got pics yet.
Only problem is its now too heavy for the frame base which I will have to reinforce!
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Some horrible weather has slowed things down, and back to work this week.
However I have been out at it all day today in between the heavy rain showers and have managed some good progress.
Here are some pics of the roof for the coop before I tidied it up
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/DSC_0063.jpg)
Decided to strengthen the base for the coop substantially before I attach it all!
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/DSC_0062.jpg)
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/DSC_0064.jpg)
Got the base all covered in chicken wire leaving space for the birds to run around underneath.
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/DSC_0065.jpg)
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Got the coop on its base and propped the run against it for a mock up.
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/DSC_0066.jpg)
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/DSC_0067.jpg)
Got some of the sides penned in with wire and attached together. And put a metre of roofing in the run for a bit of outdoor shelter.
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/DSC_0068.jpg)
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Roof all trimmed, all mesh attached, door frame built and strengthened.
Hinges and locks attached.
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/DSC_0070.jpg)
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/DSC_0069.jpg)
Just need to finally paint the last few bits of wood, and tweak a couple of bits in the egg box.
Ready for some birds.
:)
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Wow - you've done a great job!
I'm not sure but when I did my research I was advised weld mesh is the only fox proof mesh - I suspect a fox could claw through your chicken wire in moments. The most vulnerable part is the bottom if this film is anything to go on.....
I got the stuff coated with green upvc - its hardly visible and doesn't make my garden look like a concentration camp!
crcHA_j30PQ
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Wonderful build Myv8 but how on earth do you get into the house to clean it?
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I have built it so the egg box on the side is a complete lift off, which gives the majority of the right hand side of the house to get into.
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Like this
(http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w287/l111kss/DSC_0071.jpg)
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Very impressive ' a great idea ' it looks to me as if you have used a spare
length of your 1 1/4 square timber ? I think the girls would prefer at least
2" wide for their roost bar 'and rounded edges'
I think you have done a great job all over , you must be chuffed .
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Well done so far but here are a few suggestions.
Sadly roofing felt provides a great hiding place for red mites to live and breed, ideally you ought to replace this with onduline or coroline.
As has already been pointed out the chicken wire is made for keeping chickens in but will not keep foxes out.
Are you fitting a pop hole door to prevent draughts?
Could you also drill some ventilation holes above the head height of your hens when perched? These wont be necessary if you use onduline etc for your roof as the ridges will provide this.
How many hens are you planning to keep in this space? If they are to be in there most of the time then they will need a minimum of 1 square metre of clear run space per bird and ideally 3 square metres each.
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Thanks for all your helpful comments.
The felt is temporary. From what I have read, redmites are found in older damper felt, not brand new. So I have a bit of time to come up with a roof I am happy with.
The perch is an easy replacement for a wider rounder one if need be.
As for a vent, I have left some 4 inch sections where the roof meets the back wall to allow some ventilation.
As for numbers, we are being given 3 chickens. The house is 1.3m squared. The run is 4m squared.
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Hi i lost some 8 week olds to a fox ripped thru a temp brooder pen of chicken wire like paper also jump over 8 foot fence
8-10" kick board around inside of pen will keep wood chip in pen
nice job though likeing it
ps never close my poop door
hope this helps
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Looking very nice.
Might need a bit of strengthening. Is the mesh buried into the ground? Foxes will dig to reach chickens.
Ours is about a foot deep, but our mesh is over those great metal fences you see on building sites (i have no idea where they came from!).
Also watch your chickens when you open your door into the pen - we have to step over into the pen through our door, but our Amber Rock and one of the Rhode Rocks will always try and escape as we come and go. ;)