[Tykelad]

Hi all and merry Christmas !!

I'm thinking about building a brick chicken house. What are the pro's and cons ?

Thanx in advance.

Neil

[nerdle]

Totally unhelpful answer but what IS that a picture of??

[Hen 1-0 Fox]

Brick hen houses are more durable, preferably paint the inside with a concrete paint in some light colour. Smooth concrete floor is the best choice, preferably you should be able to stand upright in it, wide door is good idea do you can get a wheel barrow in. You can insulate the inside by using an insulation material and chipboard. Hope this helps.

[joyfull]

however as bricks have an uneven surface they could hide zillions of red mites  .
if you go down this route (and no reason why not) you will have to make sure your red mite prevention is second to none 

[Tykelad]

I have wooden sheds at the minute with a red mite problem. Last year was the worst ive known for red mite. I always thought that Red Mite loved wooden structures which is why i thought about the brick version. If i put a sloping wooden floor in, i could jet wash it out ?

[joyfull]

The one problem with jet washing is that red-mites don't all drown, some just get washed along and crawl back (think incey wincey spider climbing up the drain). A steam cleaner is better (not the little ones sold for cleaning wall tiles etc in the kitchen) but a bigger one such as a big karcher. Yes wood by it's very nature of being grained is a place that provides
loads of spaces for red-mites to hide. By all means go for a brick building and white wash the walls which will help you keep track of the blighters. If you see any then make sure you burn all the bedding and not put it in the compost heap or bin as again the blighters will crawl back. Make a diatom slurry (just type in Hillfooters diatom slurry in the search box and it should come up with a link) and paint this onto the nest boxes and perches.
I have mainly plastic coops after having suffered red-mites and even these can get them but they are easier to take apart and get rid of the blighters but I do realise that plastic isn't for everybody and would have considered a brick coop if I had a suitable outhouse     

[Tony H]

you could try useing one of them house flea bombs you will have to block up all the vents and leve it for about an hour this will kill everything in the hen hose, if you do it in the morning you will be able to vent the coop well before chucks go back in  :happy: i have never tryed this but someone i know who has a large coop with 50 chucks does this twice a year and swears by it, i use a steam pipe just made out of a walpaper stripper you can poke tee pipe into all the little holes, if you use a corrogated plastic roof on the coop you would get plenty or natural light and easy to clean  :blink: