Ok, it is a coop with integrated run which is fox proof.
The part in front, where you can see the chickens was supposed to be entirely closed but our handyman who was supposed to get me the materials (as I don't have a car) got stuck with his work and couldn't drop it last week as wanted so the secure part is actually very small. Usually just enough for 1 hen.
I am planning to have this part covered with those PVC corrugated roofing so light gets through but rain stays (mostly) out. I have checked the amount of sunlight in this spot of the garden for almost a week and can say, it is the one with the least direct sunlight now in summer but still sun enough in winter, meaning, they have most sun in the late afternoon when the heat is not as bad as around noon and early afternoon, but therefore longer than in the morning, as it is east side and there is no fence panel on the west side towards our neighbour as she is so kind to throw her lawn cuttings over the fence for my rabbits (they have the west side), so sunset in full length for all of them.
Besides that they are supposed to free range, that is why I didn't choose a bigger run attached to the coop.
Altogether the part that has to be enclosed plus the attached run it's about 6sqm. That is, unfortunately, what they have to be happy with if I am not at home. Luckily for them, that almost never happens and if, only for a max of 3 hours that I had to put them in.
If I knew, that neither they would harm the rabbits (eyes especially) nor would the rabbits harm them, I had kept it open as the rabbit's side offers quite a lot of nice slugs (I have my heap there from the rabbits bedding, hay and straw, nothing else).
Well. Winter. Yes, I thought about this much more, after the girls seemed they did not really know what to do with the perches above their heads and when standing on the floor the ventilation windows on both side would be exactly their head height which I guess is not healthy, though it should be relatively draught free as they are direct next to the fence, have 2 6ft fence panels plus a tree in their back where one window is and screening on the long side with three ventilation holes that I cannot close (unfortunately, I haven't noticed them when choosing the coop). So, this morning, two of the hens had finally found the perches so I hope, number three will join them in the long run.
With my rabbits I am used to putting an extra layer bedding and straw in their housings (colony) so I assume this should do for the chickens, too?
But to be honest, already, now that the chickens are really here, I think, the coop is too small even though it has 0.7 sqm ground for them and the perches higher than the nest box (which had been the two main reasons that I've chosen it).
However, I think, I let my husband "digest" for a while that for all the months I was talking, reading, researching about chicken keeping I really was serious about it and than get a wooden shed or probably rather one of those bike sheds as you can open them fully which certainly makes it easier to clean. If I would do it straight away, I am sure, he would get kind of angry although I don't see the actual coop as a loss, I am sure, I will not stick to only three hens... (but this I won't tell hubby right now...
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And food, yes, they are on grower pellets and I wonder, how long I should feed them before changing to layer pellets as they are definitively all of different age looking at their combs and wattles.
Thanks for your help!
Neelam
