[alancane]

Hi there,

Firstly I wanted to say what a great forum this is and I have enjoyed reading the posts and thank you to all the people that have posted as for a noob like myself, you offer so much experience and knowledge.  

I wonder if you can help? I have bought a chicken coop and we get our three hens this thursday! My question is that when we are at home, they will have the freedom of our garden, but when we are out at work etc, they need to be kept enclosed and this is why I chose this coop. My only concern is that the run itself is not that large and I would like to build an extension onto it.

Has anyone seen one of these or had one and can think of a good way to extend it, so our hens have more room to play?




The other question I have is that the run will be on a dry soil area - is it always best to put down wood chips over the soil and shuld I be doing anything else to prep the ground prior to their arrival. Or would it best to put on concrete?

Thanks for your help.

Alan

[Jeanette]

If you could take out the panel furthest from the coup then you could extend onto that.
 I always put bark chips down onto the soil and then they have something to scratch about in.

[alancane]

Tom - I was worried that a Fox might try and get them daytime if we are not there.
Jeanette - thanks I will give that a try.

very excited about getting the little girls  |:-)

[Casey76]

Hi alancane, you are right, the run is far too small for 3 average size hens to be in on a regular basis.

You have two options (well you have more than two, but these are my top two lol):

You can make movable hurdles (use 2 2m battens with 3 1m supports and stretch 1m wide chicken wire over it - staple the chicken wire to the "long sides" then force the supports in, it stretches the wire and keeps it taught - fix the corners with L shape or straight bar supports).  If you screw in eyelets into the short sides you can then fix the hurdles to the ground and each other with e.g. steel rebars.

Or you can buy an electric poultry net.

in each instance you can put the coop in the middle of the larger pen and the girls will have enough room to roam in during the day when they are unsupervised.

The electric net will provide extra protection against foxes, though is obviously a more expensive initial lay out (as you will need fence posts, and a leisure battery etc as well as the net)

[alancane]

Thanks! I like the idea of making moveable hurdles also. I shall have to check my DIY skills(not the best though, but willing to give it a good try!)

Tom - I am getting 3 hybrids. There is a poultry farm near us which is really awesome with lovely people running it. I got the contact from this website and that's how I found this great forum. They are:  http://www.mantel-farm.co.uk/index.html

Looks like a trip to B&Q today i think. 

[Casey76]

Believe me alan, if i can make them anyone can.  I fully recommend using stabples rather than screws or nails... makes putting them together much easier and much, much faster!

[alancane]

What kind of staples do you use? Is it with a gun hammered in?

[Casey76]

I used 10mm staples with a staple gun (not an electric one though)  I bought both staples and gun for less than 10euros.

You could use conventional square staples or the U shaped staples, but I just went for the cheapest option

[alancane]

Ah I found one - off to go and buy one now  :-)
Thanks for your help.

[GrannieAnnie]

This is what my Brian made for me using weldmesh and tiling battens from Wickes.

Really easy to make!  The top I covered with pond netting from Wilkinsons, but you could make another couple and put over the top.  These ones are tied with cable ties which also makes it easy to move around

And the one that Ice made, and she said it was the first time she'd ever made anything like it!

[Ice]

I've made a bigger and better one now in my new house.

As GrannieAnnie says, use weldmesh as a determined fox can chew through chicken wire.

[threeranger]

It's tricky, there are so many options, and depends what room you have to play with, how often you might move them etc....i've not used electric fencing so can't comment there.

For my two penneth you could try making a covered run same width/height as the front gate bit and the panel next to it, and maybe using some 8ft battens so you have something like a 8x4ft extra run - could perhaps work out a way of hooking and unhooking it so you can move both the original coop/run and extra run regularly. (sorry my idea is not as detailed as Casey's lol)

Of course within a year you will be so into this, you will want to expand your flock to 12 so then you will need a bigger one anyway haha 

[alancane]

Wow... thanks for all the replies. Looks like I will be busy doing some DIY over the next few days. I shall post some pictures to update you on their new extension. I have to demolish a shed and put up two new sheds before I move onto the chicken run... and this is all from a guy that finds it a challenge to put a picture up!

Wish me luck...... 

[alancane]

Thank you to everyone that gave their valuable advice. I was Bob The Builder today and finished the extension ready to go and collect our Hens tomorrow. The run itself now is approximately 2m x 2m, so that should be enough room for 3 hens when they can;t free range when I am out. I hope you think it's ok?



Let me know if you think it needs changing! Thaks again for all your help. I shall post pictures in the other room of our three ladies.

[threeranger]

Looks good to me, kind of what I was suggesting but bigger and around the other side (good decision). Better than my first attempt at a run, which fell apart after a month !

What breed of Hens are you getting tomorrow ?

Threeranger