[milly8]

that the same as our coop which we had two rhodies and two bantys in with a larger run around it(to keep out our standard poodle!!!!) they seem happy enough as long as they get out into run from am til bedtime they fine.the joke is that we have 7 11 week old at min who were in a separate run and rabbit hutch inside bigger run.we put them together last sat leaving the hutch in the big run.they have now decided to use the rabbit hutch to lay the eggs in and are all sleeping in the coop!!its so funny to see them all in there together,cosy isnt the word for it!!!its only temporary as some of them will have to go once we know which are boys and we have a huge dog kennel that i,m going to adapt now i know that the rhodies will accept the chicks!!!

[stamford]

Thanks everyone, I'm now looking into how much it will cost to fence the rear of the garden off, if you look at the 1st picture I'll probabley fence off from the right hand corner of the summerhouse across the back of the football goal and then angled down across to the left hand corner of the shed !! OMG - Wasn't anticipating this much work  :shock: How high do you think the enclosure should be ? Will 4ft be enough ?

[SnooziSuzi]

that one looks almost the same as the one I started out with.  I had 3 goldline hybrids in it and they were fine except getting onto the perch was a bit of a struggle because they didn't have enough room to hop onto the perch without battering the other 2 with their wings, but they seemed happy enough.

I've now got a 10x8 shed for them as I'll be getting some more very soon and they needed more space.

If they don't fit have you considered giving them the garden shed?  

[stamford]

Actually not too worried about the house size, but more worried with the pen size

[SnooziSuzi]

Do you intend to keep them in the pen all day or will they have a separate run area that they can get out to?

When I used mine I had to build an enclosure of about 2mx2m for them because the pen was too small.

[stamford]

Now decided that they will spend most of the time in the pen area at the rear of the garden, not in the enclosed pen but in the intended open pen area with free ranging with good behaviour !! The area at the rear seems ample for them so I'm just weighing up costs for the posts and also what netting to get. Obviousley dont need anything that expensive as its only to stop them getting out.

[SnooziSuzi]

and to stop foxes, dogs and cats from getting in don't forget.

there's many a sad tale on here that starts "I was only gone for a second..."

[stamford]

Of course but I hope that my efforts in plugging all the holes and repairing fencing should stop even the wiliest of foxes getting through. My parents live in an attached annexe and share the garden and they have a Yorkshire Terrier which I'm sure wont be a problem once they've been introduced to each other. We get the odd cat passing through but the dog soon chases them away

[treacleminer]

Hi
For your run extension consider something like the omlet chicken netting & stakes - Gives you an easily removeable, adjustable run area - easier to cut the grass!  I'm sure there are other suppliers of something similar, although I think it may be electric fencing without the batteries and when I have looked comes out at similar prices. I have found it useful.

[stamford]

Do you mean this ?

http://www.omlet.co.uk/shop/shop.php?cat=Chicken%20Extras&sub=General&product_id=22

[treacleminer]

Yes

[stamford]

OK Worked out what I'm gonna do  

Going to lengthen the run to double its size and also going to buy the Eglu Chicken Netting to fence off the main chicken area as I dont really want posts and wire at the bottem of the garden plus I can move the area if and when I want... Hopefully by doubling the run will give them enough room when we are out but once we're home we'll let them out untill chooky bedtime  

More to come in due course

[stamford]

 Spent 3 hours last night extending the coops run and hopefully tomorrow ( Weds ) going to put the netting on. Then just a couple of fence panels and I'm ready    Emailed our local chook supplier to reserve some girls for us but still waiting a reply so hope they got it !!