[francais]

Hi

Hope the kind people on here can help me out with a little more advice please - DH has agreed to help me build an ark over the next couple of weekends, but my questions is where is it best to site it?

I have a large garden, but this can get quite water bound in winter months - not flooded mut deffo wet! (should mention I am not bothered about them hurting the garden, it's not exactly fine quality grass  )

Then there is the concrete - dry, but not nice for the girls to scratch in?

I have gone for the ark so I could move it if need be, but still not sure what's best.

Thanks

[lucylou]

hello francais - if the land gets a bit water logged it might be better to have a hen house that is on legs - or perhaps you could elevate the ark in some way.  your garden will not suffer nearly as much if you use well drained area for the hens and they wont get muddy feet. if you look on ebay you may get some ideas for types of hen housing that you could copy.  we actually bought a couple of small hen houses flat packed off the site and modified them, we are really happy with the results. you have already realised that we are all addicted and although you may start with just a couple you will soon want more!!have a great time choosing your breeds etc - its soooo exciting!!

[hillfooter]

If you have a convenient concrete area i'd be tempted to use that with a good covering of forest mulch or wood chips (not shavings or even bark if there's good ventilation and it's doesn't get waterlogged.  Wet grass areas are quickly turned into minature scenes from the battle of the Somme by even a small number of chx.  If you do use the grass you can prevent it becoming a mire by using slated walk boards.  a good idea is to have a covered porch in front of the house pophole where you can hang feeders and keep the entrance dry.  A litter dry "doormat" helps prevent mud being trailed in and keeps the eggs cleaner.
If you have a choice arrange the house so its rear is towards the prevailing weather but if your site is sheltered position it so it gets the most sun on it's largest side.
Building houses requires a good plan which is really well thought out.  Houses may look easy to make but there's a lot of knowhow and good husbandry practise incorporated in good designs.  Make sure you understand these so you don't make basic mistakes like building litter traps making cleaning difficult or sloping the roof towards the pophole.  (Yes I've seen this feature on a home made house on this very site!).  Ease of doing the everyday jobs like egg collection and cleaning out is key as is making it Red Mite unfriendly.  Look at some professionally made houses by manufacturers who understand chicken keeping not sectional building experts or carpenters who know little about chx.  See Forsham Cottage Arks houses these are really well thought out though not cheap to buy. 
Best of luck

[Beano]

We bought our ark as a flatpack and made some modifications. It was lifted off the ground to allow shelter underneath and ease of access for cleaning. We made a good size run to go with it also. The whole thing can be moved around the garden. We are fortunate in that we have a large garden and have fenced off half of it for the chickens. We let them into the veg. plots this time of year to have a scoot around for an hour in the evening after work, they love it.
Hopefully I've managed to send a photo.

[francais]

Great photo Beano

Thank you all for your advice !!