[smiler43]

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie here.  Hubby is in the process of making our hen house, we are looking at getting 3 Black Rocks, I'm wanting a little advice.  

Can we use wood stainer on the inside and outside of the house?
Which weldmesh is best for the run?

I'm really worried about foxes/rats having read quite a few topics about them now!  We do have a few mice also in the garage at times as we have a playing field to the back of the house.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated  

[Viv]

Hi and welcome. You should use an animal friendly wood stain, I am sure someone will help you more as they read your questions.
You should do your best to deter pests and there is quite a lot of advice on the Poultry Pages. Rats are a natural occurance especially as you live next to playing fields.
You will enjoy this site everyone is very friendly. good luck with your venture and your first eggs.

[Kazoo]

Hi and welcome

You will find loads of good advice here!
I have had my 3 black rocks for a year now, you will really enjoy them they are such endearing creatures and very tame, if a bit noisy sometimes.  You will also have eggs galore as they are laying machines!
I was advised to use a waterbased stain on my wooden coop - not sure if thats right but the girls are fine.  Sure someone will be along shortly on that one!

When you buy the weldmesh my advise would be to get the best you can afford.  Make sure you either bury the weld mesh or create a 'skirt' around 20cm wide to stop digging.  You can also have the floor made of weld mesh but I don't think this is good for the chickens feet.  Just make sure its very high or you put a mesh cover over the whole of the pen.  I have a fox around at the moment so I am a bit paranoid and am constantly watching the girls.  I have had rats which seem to be able to tunnel through concrete!  Whenever I find a tunnel it gets filled in with some mesh and concrete but they find another gap! Have used traps which worked very well but you need to keep good hygiene (don't leave left food on the floor), remove eggs daily, make sure the pop hole is securely closed at night and store the food in a metal bin with a heavy lid.  If you are getting black rocks they will want to free range.  I have a pen for mine which is quite big (about 6ft by 11ft) but they demand to be let out and will literally scream the place down until I let them out. Good luck with everything.

[poultrygeist]

The weldmesh should be at least 13mmx25mm mesh size and 19g which about 1mm wire thickness but, as has been said, there's good and bad quality and you do generally get what you pay for.
This won't stop mice but should stop any adult rat.
Also, foxes can't usually bite through it like they can with thin, flimsy chicken wire.
As Kazoo said, it should be buried or skirted. We have a 4-6" skirt but it's overlaid with paving slabs. So far, no problem.

The woodstain should be water based and should be fine once it's dried and aired out a little. I think the advice is to check if it's bat friendly. Bats are protected and manufacturers have to state if it's a danger to them apparently.

Rob

[smiler43]

Thanks for your replies, will take it all onboard and add to my multitide of notes I'm making as I go along.  Sure I'll enjoy being a member on here you all seem keen to share your experience.  Thanks  

Any more replies welcome  

[Foxy]

Not much to add! Only no need to stain the inside of the henhouse. If you can raise the henhouse of the ground so you have a good view underneath -this is a good deterrent against rats. If you have a few mice at the moment in the garage wouldn't think you have rats currently. Another tip make sure feed goes inside the henhouse. Good luck and loads of piccies please!  

[babe]

im with foxy, dont stain the inside. but a good dusting of diatrom and seal all gaps and joins with a good slathering of vaseline to stop mites.

outside use a waterbased pet friendly product, and on a nice day where it will be completely dry before chooks go in.

and always try and give them as much space as you can.

as for foxes....  a hungry fox is a determined fox. but they come with the package of keeping poultry

[smiler43]

Thanx Foxy and Babe.

The house legs are 6 inch so plenty of space underneath.  We are planning on a 5ft long run, will let them out when we are around, I work at school so will let them roam when I get home, under my watchful eye of course.

Was thinking that when the grass has gone in the run would gravel be good to put down?  

[babe]

  We are planning on a 5ft long run,

Was thinking that when the grass has gone in the run would gravel be good to put down?  

5ft by how wide, they will need a minimum of 1metre square each.

and i would use bark chips rather than gravel, alot easier to remove and replace... which it will need.

[smiler43]

It will be 3ft wide same as house, will that be ok?

How often do you need to change the chippings?

[Foxy]

with you there babe - bark or wood chips nice and deep brilliant as you can use for mulching after! Using my old bark chips on our newly planted trees as a nice thick mulch

[smiler43]

We have 2 compost bins and a wormery, can the wood/bark chips go in there after?

[babe]

It will be 3ft wide same as house, will that be ok?

How often do you need to change the chippings?

3ft x 9ft would be better that will give them roughly 1m sq each. too crowded and they can get bored, fustrated and peck each other.. not pretty.

changing the bark depends on how much they've pooped on it.

my  bark varies from 4 - 8 inches deep, they chuck it all about and i do a 100% renew yearly, but they do free range in their own garden. ive never put them into a confined run, so not sure how often it would need changing. lots of peeps on here do, and im sure they'll be some advice on that along shortly

[Kazoo]

You need to give your Black Rocks as much space as you can, my three have a fairly big run - roughly 6ft by 11ft  but they go bananas until I let them out into the garden each day.  They jump up the sides of the run pecking at the weld mesh and make a real racket - they are bred to free range.  If you can't make their run any bigger I would advise you put some bits and pieces in to keep them happier.  Mine have two perches at different heights made from old logs - I move these around every so often and they love them.  I also have some large stones grouped in a corner which they enjoy hopping on, they especially love it when I lift the stones and they get to all the bugs underneath! Remember to hang some treats too, anything to stop them getting bored!

[smiler43]

Thanks Kazoo, hoping that they will have free range as much as poss really, just I'll be wary of predators. Picked them as it said they were more docile?

What treats do you recommend?

Hubby keeps saying will they make a mess of the garden?  mmmmm
Keep telling him NO!!!  Also keep telling him they won't be noisy!!!  Are yours That noisy?

He's getting on with the shed again today