Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: stamford on June 10, 2008, 22:49
-
Hi all, Newbie here !! Need to decide what size Coop to buy, looked at Ebay and ideas-4-pets.com and seen this ( 360057799879 ) which i thought would of been fine and in budget but then got the tape measure out and its only 3ft high - Looks huge !! I have quite a bit of room in the garden and I'm a big guy at 6'1 so i dont really want to be kneeling down cleaning them out. A guy I know has one which houses 6 birds and its about 8 ft long - 34ft wide and atleast5ft plus high which would be ideal for me...Is there any good stores or sites where a sizeable one like this could be found ?? Or is the one on ebay a good enough size ? I'm only looking at 3 birds max at the moment but maybe a couple more in the future... Thanks in advance
-
but maybe a couple more in the future... Thanks in advance
Hi & welcome, unfortunatley chicken keeping is so addictive it is almost impossible not to expand :D :D :D
I think the coops you are looking at are good for the money, give them a call they may be able to tailor make one for you
Good luck
-
Thanks mumsy, but really on a tight budget already so I dont think a taylormade would be as good a price as the one i'm looking at now. This is the one we're hoping to get, would it be suitable ?
http://www.ideas-4-pets.com/pages-productinfo/category-247_197/product-2472/products-for-chickens-chicken-coops-and-chicken-runs-rabbitshack-small-chickenshack-chicken-house-rs709s-r-s.html
Hope the link works !! :?
-
That seems to be excellent value. It doesn't say how big the run is but you could estimate from the house sizes.
I woulld say, as is, about OK for 3 hens but you may need a bigger run for any more. Would be easy enough to add to.
Always impossible to tell build quality, etc without seeing one in the flesh.
But you'd struglle to make one similar for much less.
Rob :)
-
Cheers Rob, Yes, as it stands I'm looking to stick to 3 birds, its an interest for the children and fresh eggs for the family, its not like we'll be putting any signs up in future advertising etc. As you say, you'd struggle to build something similar for the money and I'd tend to agree, as I'm not great with that type of thing anyway it would probabley cost me double if I attempted to build myself :oops:
Thats the size and design I'm after but a slightley bigger run would be great... Any other ideas out there :?:
-
I'd be tempted to go for an ordinary 6ft by 4ft garden shed and convert it.
By this , I mean put a pop hole in it, a couple of perches and a couple of nest boxes. This will give you easy access and plenty of headroom for you and the chickens.
An added bonus, will be that you will also be able to avoid the silly prices that many manufacturers put onto the price of chicken housing to catch newcomers to poultry keeping.
-
I converted an old hutch with a view to seeing what we wanted. We are a family of 4, so not looking for too many eggs per day, so are thinking 4 chooks but have 2 at the moment. :)
The shed idea is cost effective and great if weather is bad and chooks need to stay in, but where we have ours it'd block light from our house (as we're on a hill). So today we bought a dog kennel! :lol: it's really thick wood and great construction 1200mmx760x820 (L/W/H) and we're planning on using the door (which is hinged and bolted) for access to nesting area, the entire roof lifts off for cleaning and we'll put perches into the other end, and a sliding door with a ramp down into our run. The dog kennel was £90 and we've bought wood to put it 'up' at a higher height and the wood for the perch. :) it'll lead down into our run which we built recently. I reckon we could have 4 chooks happily. :) possibly even 6 but we'd have too many eggs then! :?
BUT.. for the money your option is great, and would save all the DIY! ;)
-
Just a couple of pointers about rat and fox proofing.
As far as rats are concerned, I read that they will get through anything bigger than 1/2" so I went for 13mm x 25mm welded mesh on the run, and made sure that there are no gaps under doors, etc that I can get my finger through. So far it seems to be working and with no availability to food, there's nothing for them to stick around for.
Foxes can apparently bite through mesh less than 19g (1mm) which is the most common thickness. Rats and foxes can both dig so I made a 'skirt' round the base of the run about 6-9" wide of the mesh and palced slabs round the edge. This should make digging under the fence pretty near impossible, or at least slow them down !
Rats and foxes can climb so you need protection up to about 5 or 6 feet with either the top 'splayed' outwards or a permanent cover over teh run, which will also stop wild birds from pinching the food and help to prevent any diseases or parasites passing to your chickens.
It is almost impossible to keep out mice but we haven't found these to be a nuisance even thought they are about, because the cat occasionaly brings us one :?
If you do all of this and follow the other advice already given, you shouldn't have any rodent problems and hopefully you'll be protected against fox attack while they're in the run.
Good luck with it all and once you're set up, it's really quite easy.
Rob :)
-
sadly my budget didn't allow for that, so i have chicken wire then netting over the top. And am now having to buy rat poison/bait. :(
So.. Stamford, i'd recommend listening to the advice here! ;)
-
stamford, we are looking to do the same as you, the quality of shop/ebay bought houses vary alot, as we have been hunting around too. some seem very flimsey, and not long lasting so hubby is currently making ours!
may take a little longer but so far cheaper than buying one and you get exactly what you want and good quality.
good luck
-
B&Q have whats called a "lads shed" on sale at £125. We have two now they are brilliant use them for our growers, 3X4 and about 4ft high. Built in ventilation and perspex window. Easy to clean and simple to construct a weld mesh run onto it.
-
B&Q have whats called a "lads shed" on sale at £125. We have two now they are brilliant use them for our growers, 3X4 and about 4ft high. Built in ventilation and perspex window. Easy to clean and simple to construct a weld mesh run onto it.
I was looking at one of those today :)
They're a good buy then Foxy?
-
Just seen this one by chance :? Any views on this please
http://www.happyhutch.co.uk/poultry-chicken-housing.php?start=6
Its the one labelled Chicken Hotel :D
-
whoops, didnt mean to press button twice sorry!! :oops: :lol:
-
Blimey :shock: Small world... By the sound of it you need to make an appointment to go down there, I presume so they dont get inundated with hoards of families looking for a cheap afternoon out i guess.. We're deffo going on Sunday and cant wait :D
-
My hens live in a 6ft by 4ft ordinary garden shed. they have a couple of homemade broody boxes and perches and are quite happy. Cleaning is easy as I dont need to stoop to get in. I have removed the window and covered it with two layers of chicken wire and put it up against the hedge so they get air but the rain and wind cant get in. It may not be the "correct" way to house them but they seem happy.
Claire
-
I'll try and remember mumsy, mind you, the chap is very quick answering his emails, guy called Ian..
-
stamford, could you let me know what its like there and if its a one stop chicken shop! you know, the sort where you can buy everything for chhoks in one go!
mmm very excited now!
-
, the chap is very quick answering his emails, guy called Ian..
Perhaps I have the wrong email address I took it from the website, I mailes again today, still no reply. If you have it perhaps you could pm me.
Thanks Stamford
-
just to let you know that we have the first one you thinking of getting.we got it off ebay from albany pets and it cost 75 plus 25 potage to n.i.its very good and we are pleased with it.we have it inside a larger fenced in area.the chickens go to bed so late at min that we shut them in side the smaller run and leave the actual coop door open enough to let them in and out themselves.the rest of the day we just open the run door and they have the run of the bigger fenced in area.we started with 3 and have ended up with 5 chickens,two rhodies and three bantys.now we also have 7chicks in another hutch until the bit bigger then we have some friends who going to take them.
-
and it cost 75 plus 25 potage
Milly, is that right ? £75 + Postage ?
Advertised on eBay for £175 + postage, did you miss a 1 out ? :shock:
-
Finally decided !! :D After so many options I'm going to press the button today and go for this
http://www.elbecgardenbuildings.co.uk/product.php?xProd=1788&jssCart=d8aa35026881b9bd7a88e29ec3c71dab
Going for the larger option which is about £40 cheaper than some i've seen and I've managed to persuade SWMBO to go for 4 hens !! Yipppeee
Cant wait now but I guess I have to, as I said earlier, holiday comes first, it wouldnt be fair to buy the chooks and then dissapear for 10 days would it !! :wink:
-
looks good stamford!
good luck with them, we'll have to swap chicken stories/tips soon!!
-
looks good stamford!
good luck with them, we'll have to swap chicken stories/tips soon!!
Sounds good chickchick, cant wait to get started - Have you bought any yet ?
-
no not yet! dh is clearing a large area at the bottom of our garden, chopping branches, clearing brambles etc, he has started building our hen house and has materials for the run, but now hes had to start on something else. typical!! :lol: but we had the chance of borrowing a pneumatic drill and generator for free so hes been igging up all the old greenhouse bases and filling the skip with hardcore! (we moved here 10 months ago, the house was on the verge of falling down and there were 15 greenhouses in the front and back gardens, of various sizes!), so the chicken area again has been started and left for another week, gggrrr!
hopefully timescale for completion and chooks will be mid july!
-
Blimey, sounds like a big job !! Luckily we have quite a big garden, just means our lad will have to cut back on his football matches with his mates !! :lol:
-
What happened to the greenhouses ???????
Post a couple up here if you've still got them !!
Rob :)
-
and it cost 75 plus 25 potage
Milly, is that right ? £75 + Postage ?
Advertised on eBay for £175 + postage, did you miss a 1 out ? :shock:
nope that what it cost,75 plus 25 postage.i bid on it so guess i got lucky!!!!!!!it was at least half the price of others i had been looking at locally.