[scabs]

Hi,

This will be my first foray into keeping chickens and I'm just stocking up on my bits and bobs.

I wondered if anyone in the North West (Manchester/Lancashire) could advise on a good breeder/seller?

[Hensington]

Do you want pure breeds or laying hybrids?

[scabs]

Hi, I'm after layers.

Saw you pm, will reply now.

Cheers!

[scabs]

Ok, it turns out there's a breeder on my allotments, which is handy - I only found out last night! 

I've done a bit of reading up and I know there's a lot to learn, but I have a question on times... I read that it was best to collect eggs at around 11am; because I work full time, I can only get to the allotments at around 7ish am and then from 6pm on. Is this likely to cause a problem, leaving eggs laying in the nest box all day?

I guess the morning is fine to feed and water, but what about the evening? I guess I could check for eggs on my way home at 6pm and then pop back to secure the coop later in the evening..?

I only live 5 minutes from the allotments.

[Roughlee Handled]

If you can afford it an auto pop hole closer would be good for you. They are 90 ish pounds and work on batteries. I have one as I leave to go to work at 07:30 in the morning and get home at 6pm at night. That is fine in the summer but in the winter is a different matter as the girls will be in the run with the pop hole open for a good hour and a half after night fall. A fox COULD get access to the run and because the pop hole is open ........ Also helps with those lie ins at the weekend.  Are you allowed cockerels on your allotment?

[scabs]

I may have to look at that then.

Yes, chickens, cockerels, geese, ducks, goats - there's even a donkey and a couple of horses! Oh, and pigeons, of course, lots and lots of them.    It's more like a zoo than an allotments.

What time do they go to bed then, when the sun goes down?

[Roughlee Handled]

They are true sun followers. Up when the suns up and down to bed when the sun goes down. 

Horses on an allotment.  WOW.

[scabs]

Ah... now then, if the door to the coop is closed after the sun comes up and I don't open it till, say, 6.30am is that going to stress them out?

The coop I bought has little perspex windows on one of the access doors...

Also, am I ok to keep maybe 4 hens in the coop and attached run for a few weeks until I can build and extended enclosede run around it? The entire floorspace (including below the raised coop) is 6.5' by 2.5'. It seems kind of small for for 5 birds, which the literature says it can accommodate... 

This is the one I bought. God, I hope its ok...

http://www.henhouseworld.co.uk/ch101n.htm

[joyfull]

Sorry but when you put your hens in that you will see just how small the coop and run really is. I would not advise four in there at all (I got one of these to start with and only had two hens in it and thought it looked too small for them. We also fastened weldmesh underneath it to prevent rats getting in as well). Would advise that you build a run as soon as possible. They will clear any grass underneath this coop in no time.
I don't know where these coop manufacturers get their ideas from - 5 hens in a coop that size is really silly.
Sorry I can't be more positive in this reply  , Joyxx

[Roughlee Handled]

Not sure if it has a roosting bar in it?
A coop should be 1 ft square per chicken with 9 inches of roosting bar per chicken.  I would say you will need at least at the very very minimum 1 meter squared per chicken of run space.  joyfull mentioned about rats but my first worry would be fox's  as it would be easy for a fox to dig underneath and in. 

Sorry. 

It does not give you much room to expand. Unless you use it as a temp run and then your "hospital" for sick chucks. You could get a shed for that price and convert it and build your run round your shed. You could also have half of the shed for you and half for the chucks.

Sorry again.

[scabs]

Thanks Joy, it's just the sort of advice that I DO need. Ok, I need to get cracking on the larger run then. Will the coop itself suffice though?

I had intended to skirt the whole thing with chicken wire.

They do say, fools rush in.  

[Roughlee Handled]

.............They do say, fools rush in.  

At least you did not rush in as much as I did. A right pickle I got myself in.

[scabs]

I wish I had sought your advice on the coop first. B*gger, I've paid for the blooming thing now...

If I were to put in another coop, would the hens split up or do they all like to roost together?

[Roughlee Handled]

Can you not ask for your money back? 

I do not think adding another coop to it would be a problem. I am not sure though as I have not experienced that.

[Foxy]

Has it ben delivered yet? Maybe its still possible to cancel??
I have a couple of B&Q lads sheds, brilliant, and would be a bit big to pinch as well. Those chinese cheepo  c.r..p houses are a bit light, and I would be worried about someone stealing it.
sorry....