[AmandaH]

Hello all.  I have red mite.  Well, not me personally but it is always possible after being out there with those little blighters...

Anyway, I have Diatom's and Poultry Shielded and have hopefully got it under control at least but have decided that, as I was intending to buy a new coop anyway (had my girls a year now and, as I was foolish and inexperienced when I got them, bought a cheap coop and it's falling to bits now - won't last another winter), I thought I might as well buy it now and burn the old one.

I was toying with the idea of an Eglu cube but it is too expensive.  Even the second-hand ones are out of my price range really.  And they are monumentally ugly.  So I am looking at wooden houses, probably either:

http://www.smithssectionalbuildings.co.uk/go/products/small-poultry-houses/chicken-ark/

or

http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/The_Long-Legged_Hobby_Hen_House.html

I want a house that is raised off the ground, to give the girls extra shelter but also to discourage rats since we have had a problem with them recently (although they have, as of last night, relocated from the garden to our loft and spent all night having a party above our heads!).

I did look at Forsham Cottage Arks but the ones I liked were too expensive and none of them were raised off the ground.

Anyway, to get to the point of my post...  If I buy a new wooden coop, what is the best thing to treat it with when I get it, to discourage the return of the red mite and any other creepy-crawlies?  Should I paint it with yacht varnish inside to cover all the cracks and joins in the wood?  Creosote?  (Think I could get some proper stuff)  What about the outside?  Preservative?

Any advice greatly received, as I would like to give my new house the best start...

Many thanks x

[ehs284]

Hi AmandaH,
There are a lot of questions within your basic questions. Have you considered building one yourself? There is a lot of advice and ideas available, whether it saves money is debatable, but you get what you want.
If you buy or make one with legs have wheels so that you can easily move to clean or allow grass to grow and protect the underside - there have been posts on here where foxes gained access through the bottom.

 There is a difference between protecting the coop from the weather and protecting the chooks (you don't need me to tell you that) and this can conflict. Wood needs to breath - hence microporous paints - or it will split or decay. Yatch varnish is waterproof and will seal joints but requires quite a lot of maintenance or you get the worst of both worlds; water and mites hidden from drying and pesticides. I'd suggest that whether you build or buy, you make your decisions based upon on how you will clean it (easy is best  ) and then choose the finish that suits your decision. This means that you need to know about your resources e.g. whether you have got or can get water and electricity to use a power washer. Sorry, this doesn't answer your question, but hopefully gives you a steer.

[AmandaH]

Hi there ehs284, thanks for your reply...

No, I have not considered making one!  I could not hang a picture, let alone make anything out of timber.  And my husband is an IT consultant - great if your PC has a wobbly or your iPhone crashes but not a practical man by any means     Really, us and timber and power tools would be a disaster waiting to happen!

Yes, I suppose what I thought was a simple question does open a bit of a can of worms (or red mite, if you prefer)...

There isn't really any possibility of moving the run around to fresh grass all the time, much as we would love to.  We have quite a small garden and kids so would like some of the garden to stay chicken (and chicken poo) free, the girls therefore live in a fixed run.

If I think of ease of cleaning then an Eglu has got to be the answer as they are plastic and washable... but they are also ugly and too expensive.  I did struggle last winter trying to keep the wooden coop clean as it wouldn't dry out properly if I soaked it cleaning it.

I am still leaning towards a wooden coop but I just wondered, if I get a brand new shiny one, whether there was anything preventative I could do before it gets used, hence asking about yacht varnish.

D'you know, I think there are less considerations when buying our own house than there are when buying a new house for the girls!  The more I think about it, the more confused I get about what I want!

Thanks for your help though, given me some more food for thought...
 

[alancane]

Just to add to your post ehs284 - can you sue a power washer to clean a wooden coop, is that what you do? Just wondered as I have a new wooden one and hadn't thought about using it before.

[garycogburn]

Hi Amanda. i got a house from doodlehouses. it is a doodle P7. they are only on e-bay.
it is delivered as a flat pack. all you have to do is slot it together, but keep the instructions. once you have built it, when you come to clean it out, just unslot the parts to get inside it. to clean it, the bases all lift out and you can then rinse it out. i just flip the bases over, so it does not get too much muck on either side. it is raised from the ground, and the chickens can sit underneath it for shade. there is no felt, so mites cant hide. i spent ages looking around, and found this the best for me. it is protected in an enclosure which is waterproof, so it does not get wet. i have not treated it, just let the wood breathe naturally. best of all, if a part needs replacing, just make a new part using the old part as a template. if all goes well, you could have one for years to come. good luck.

[AmandaH]

Hi Gary.

This sounds like a brilliant idea but I can't make any sense of the link you included in your post.  Takes me to some sort of search engine thing and I can't find anything on there about chickens at all!  Sorry, I must be having a funny moment - can you let me know what I am doing wrong?

Many thanks, Amanda.

[garycogburn]

hi there. i have just found out they have a new web site. www.doodlehouses.co.uk. i found the same as you on the last one. have been reading their site. they seem to be re-launching. check out e-bay, they are in there somewhere. i have requested info when they are up and running again, will keep you posted.

[garycogburn]

sorry. www.doodlehouse.co.uk
i just received an e-mail stating they will let me know when they are up and running. i hope the are still going, their designs i think were great!!

[AmandaH]

Thanks Gary, I'll keep an eye out for it.  I have a feeling that I have seen the house you are talking about - I'm sure someone posted a link on here to eBay I seem to remember that the pros and cons were thrashed out on here but I can't find the thread anywhere and can't remember what the upshot was.

Is it like a giant Chinese puzzle, there are no screws or nails, it just all slots together very cleverly?

If so, I think I know the one you mean.

I have looked at eBay and can't find anything so will wait and see if anything appears.

Hope they hurry up though, need a new house pretty pronto!

Thanks for your help Gary!

[alancane]

Hi Gary,

I just looked on ebay and the last one they sold was back in December 2009, so I don't know how long their relaunch will be.
What about posting a picture of yours on here, I would very much like to see it.?

[ehs284]

Gary's house sounds good. If they're no longer being made and there's no problem with patent (etc), then perhaps Gary could send Amanda a copy of the instruction and part sizes and a local woodworker could make one up for her. Slot together is good. I have floors, perches and sides which slot in. Makes it easy to clean/paint, you can replace any single piece and the ends/slots can be greased which prevents RM living in there.
Alan; No problem in using a powerwash on wood (not MDF or water base-painted), but it does need to dry afterwards so this is a job for sunnydays ( ) and you need to add detergent to wet the surface. Sounds odd, but a bit like using a freshly ironed tea towel. Have a look at Hillfooter's anti-mite information posted in the last week or so. Also remember to protect yourself. You're creating a fine droplet atmosphere and those droplets are water, detergent and poo/bacteria. Breathing them in is not a good idea. Have fun.

[garycogburn]

Hi everyone. i have checked the instructions. it dosent show sizes of pieces, and on the back it says this product is protected by uk design right. i am assuming it is patent protected. get the dragons involved, £120,000 for 15% equity!!! anyway, when i work out how to send pictures and instructions, will do it. it is a shame if they are not trading anymore. i think when i next clean it out, i will take it apart and make templates of the pieces, and try to construct a new one. if it successful, i will let you all know. the only flaw i can find in it is you cannot take off the roof section, so i will see if this is possible. whoah!!

[alancane]

Hi Gary,

Pictures are quite easy. I use a site called photobucket.com. I set up an account with them, uploaded pictures and then you copy a link and paste it onto your message on this forum and tada all done.
Give me a shout if you need a hand. Really intrigued by this design.

[garycogburn]

Hi Alan. thanks for the tips. will be sorting this out soon. cheers.

[garycogburn]

http://i940.photobucket.com/albums/ad246/laraine34/chickens2010009.jpg

done it!!!