[beki]

Phoned up the battery hen welfare trust local co-ordinator this morning, to see if she had any news on the next rescue date yet.

She said she spoke to the farmer last night, and she should be getting a few hundred this weekend and then a couple of weeks later another couple of hundred  

She's got a HUGE waiting list of people who want to rehome the hens. We're on the list, but she hasn't worked out the numbers yet about who can have x amount etc, and at which rescue date.

We're on the list for rehoming up to 12 hens... but due to the big list, she can't guarantee we'll get that many. Any is better than none though  

Anyway, we're waiting to hear back from her - she said it'll be in the next few days or so.

So you know what that means??? We've now got to expand the chook run - AGAIN   lol      

At the moment it's 8ft by 7ft, which is big enough for about 6 hens. We've only got 3 at the moment, so they're living in a mansion by those standards! lol.. But if we get another 12 we'll need a lot more room.

Alan's just gone out to collect some ready made panels for the new run! They're each 6ft by 3ft, and we're getting 15 of them. So the run will be 12ft by 12ft by 6ft high. All we have to do is put the panels together, add a gate and a corrugated plastic roof and it'll be ready!!!

Ideally i'd like to free-range them, but we used to free range, and the fox got 8 of them over the course of a few weeks, so i'd rather they were in a run for their own safety  

Anyway, i'll be posting pics of the new run once it's up and running!!!    I'm so excited! lol

(we got the aviary panels really cheap too - brand new aswell!!!    )

[Viv]

Hope you have some new soon

[beki]

Weeellllllll.... after we'd been up to the school this afternoon, we attempted to put the aviary panels together.. and after roping my dad in    we finished making the new run at about 6.15!!!  

All it needs now is a corrugated plastic roof (we bought a ready-made gate rom the man who made the aviary panels)!

The chooks love it    They had about half an hour in it before it got dark, and loved scratching around and flapping their wings!!!  

Will get some pics tomorrow - can't wait for the ex-batt ladies to join the gang  

[hazelize_uk]

Hi - hope you dont think im interfering but just wondered what sort of plastic roof you were putting on??  I only ask because we had an aviary once with a clear plastic roof and in the summer it got incredibly warm inside like a greenhouse and we had to change it as the birds got almost roasted!

didnt want you to spend a fortune on it and then have to change it like we did if it will be in a sunny spot! :roll:

[beki]

Ooooh really? I hadn't thought of that!  :shock:  Can you recommend something more suitable?

It would be a bit of a pain to put more aviary panels as a roof, as it would mean putting some more cross braces accross the roof line and reinforcing it even more than it has been, as the panels are quite heavy  :?

The only reason i was thinking of corrugated plastic was because i'd seen so many other chook runs with it as roofing... but obviously because it's quite a big space i think what you're saying, might happen!!! Eeeek... thanks for warning me before i spent out on it!!!  

[hazelize_uk]

Are we just talking about the run section? what about having some plastic and some just wire so the air can circulate?  i think ours was changed to weather board covered in roofing felt for the main part and then some of the run has no roof on now, but i'll ask my OH as he does the building work!  cant ask him now he's snoring on the settee! :roll: