[Carolf]

HF - I am still trying to stop laughing at the thought of me inside an Eglu alongside the chooks 

You are right in what you said about warping.  The coop door has already warped due to the wet weather and is a hassle to open and close. 
Back on the Eglu front, we are still mulling things over but the option of combining the 2 coops to make one decent one is now an option having read your post. We have a good friend who is a joiner and he would certainly be able to make a nice coop and run out of what we have. 

I will post pics of the end result, not sure if it will be an Eglu or a combo of the wooden ones 

[ANHBUC]

It pays to complain, glad they sent you a replacement so promptly.  Make sure you give the hen houses a few good coats of preservative on the exterior only.  This should help prevent the warping.

[Carolf]

At last we have the coop sorted. 
We identified how the rain water was getting in.  No huge mystery really as our joiner friend pointed out.  It was running down the roof and, being a rubbish design, was seeping into the wood and then dripping into the coop itself.  We (read joiner friend) put on the 'bumpy' roofing and the coop is now nice and dry.  It has had almost a week of rain pelting on it and so far so good.  We are expecting gale force winds and rain later tonight and tomorrow so that will be the biggest test of how waterproof it is 
My only concern is the actually nesting box.  I was thinking of a large rubber mat type thing 'nailed' against the main coop wall and hanging over the nest box (obviously tie it down to something so it doesn't flap about in the wind).  I will wait and see how it copes as it is in the coming rubbish weather we are due.

We haven't taken off the felt yet but that will be our first job come spring time.  I did paint slurry all around the roof area before we put on the bumpy stuff and the coop is still well covered inside with the slurry so I think we should be safe from bugs and mites for the winter months. 

On another note, as you can probably see from the pic, the girls have gotten through most of the grass so all that is left is a muddy mess.  We have ordered 10 bags of hardwood woodchips which arrive on Monday so that will go down as soon as possible (doubt it will be Monday if the forecasters are correct  ).

....and I never got my Eglu    Oh well 

[hillfooter]

Well it already looks more the business.  

A word of caution on hardwood chips you need to be careful that mould doesn't grow in it.  Hardwood is notorious for growing a mould which causes Aspergillosis a nasty fungal infection which causes respiratory problems see

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/7/aspergillosis  

Mould growth also produces spores which are shed when mould goes through a wetting and drying cycle.  Ideally you should keep the chippings dry and sanitised using Stalosan F
http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Stalosan_F_Disinfectant.html
or something which will stop mould growth and have plenty of ventillation to avoid spore concentration in the air.  I don't suggest you don't use this hardwood now it's ordered but softwood would have been better as it's less susceptible being resinous.

Incidentally this is the reason you should use softwood shavings as litter in houses not hardwood.

Best wishes
HF

[Carolf]

Thanks HF, never thought I was going to get that darn coop sorted 

On the woodchip front, I ordered them from Flyte so Fancy and from what I read in the description they should  be ok in the rain.  I guess time will tell, and we had to do something fast as the area the girls have is really turning into a giant sized mud bath.  The size of it is about 30 square meters so a rather large space to cover - there is still a bit of grass in places but in some parts its down to bare earth - or mud as it were

This is the product I ordered http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Hardwood_Woodchip_for_Runs.html

I would welcome any advice on what I could use to cover that huge area when the woodchips are due to be taken out and replaced   

Just for the record, the run - which they hardly use other than to pass through on the way out of the coop or to eat their food - is still covered with grass  but I reckon winter months will put paid to that as well  :blink:

[hillfooter]

Well they seem fairly confident inn using it so it is probably OK especially in a outdoor well ventillated environment.  I know many people use hardwood chips.  Personally I use shreddings (some times refered to as forest mulch) which can often be had for free or just the cost of delivery from tree surgeons.  You just need to be careful it doesn't contain toxic material like yew and is rotted down for a few weeks before use. 

Another good tip is to lay duck boards made from grids of batons nailed together with cross batons over the chips.  These are ideal for walkways as they stop the chip from disappearing into the mud and the droppings fall through and they can easily be hosed down.  Cheap alternative is square section lattice trellis which again can sometimes be had scrap.  Just make sure there's no nails sticking up. 

Another cheap though not so pretty alternative to use for walkways are pallets again from a reclaim source.  You can use these in winter when it's wet and store them in summer.  They are ideal in snow too.
HF

[Carolf]

Thanks for the reply HF.  As luck would have it, I have both duck boards and pallets ( the duck boards I have in my greenhouse and we received our delivery of woodchips on a pallet this morning and a friend has a few that we can relieve him of).  As soon as the weather clears up a wee bit we will get the chips and duckboards down and I will do some homework regarding the shreddings you mentioned.

Thanks again for the help.
Carol

[Carolf]

After last nights and todays rotten weather (heavy rain and gale force winds) the main part of the coop has stood the test.  I wish I could say the same about the nesting box.  The water is seeping through the slats that make up the box  making for a very damp nesting box    
I had thought of adapting the cover we bought (cannot use it the way it was designed to be used due to the roofing we put on the coop) by taking the top of it off and attaching the lower half to the coop - probably using a staple gun.  Another idea I had was to use some very thick plastic we got and 'wrap' it around the nesting box also using a staple gun (or something similar).  My only concern is hygiene

To be honest I am running out of ideas and patience (the patience part being with the plonkers that thought they knew how to make a chicken coop!).

I just want my girls to be warm and comfy and I feel like I am bashing my head against a brick wall 

Please, any advice would be most welcome.  In the meantime I shall put my thinking cap back on and hope the thoughts that come up don't involve a hammer  :blink:  (on the coop not my girls  )

I've attached a pic of the coop with the cover on that was taken a while back when it first started leaking.

[hillfooter]

In the heavy storm rain drivenn by strong winds even the best designed coops would probably leak to some extent. A little dampness in such extreme conditions might be acceptable.  The cover wrap doesn't look at all practical and I think you need to find another more practical solution.  Heavy guage black plastic sheeting of the sort used as a dampproof membrain below concrete floors is ideal.  If you know a builder who can give you an off cut that would be best. 

Siting the house so the prevailing weather is towards it's rear and away from vulnerable areas like nestboxes will help too.

It's surprising how effective water repellant wood preservative can be at shedding water and if you are having problems with driving rain penetrating through the wood it's self then a couple of coats of the top quality Cuprinol preservative may work wonders.  Alternatively Johnstons ULTRA water repellant will also stop water penetrating.  If the wall planking is tongue and groove without an over ap you may be on a loser.

If all else fails you can construct a roofed rain shelter over it using transparent corrugated sheeting fixed to a frame.

If you know anyone who is having a stable fitted with rubber matting or know of a local installer of rubber mats the offcuts from these are really useful and have lots of uses as weights to hold down plastic sheeting and tarps as well as weed control at the edge of borders and ground insulators for electric netting.  The rubber is 25 -30 mm thick and very heavy and often offcut strips 10 -20 cms and 1.5m long are scrapped.  If you can get a few of these offcuts they are very useful I use them all the time to hold waterproof sheeting on the roofs of runs.
HF

[Carolf]

Thank you so much HF.  You have given me a good few ideas.  I suspect for now the heavy duty plastic will do until the weather clears.  I do not see any gaps in the wall planks so I suspect a good coating of water repellent will do the trick (weather permitting  )

I will keep you posted when it is all sorted and what we ended up doing.

Thank you once again for your help and advice. It is greatly appreciated.

Carol

[ANHBUC]

Another cheap though not so pretty alternative to use for walkways are pallets again from a reclaim source.  You can use these in winter when it's wet and store them in summer.  They are ideal in snow too.
HF

Do be carefull with pallets in frosty or snowy conditions as I stood on mine last winter and managed to do the splits landing very heavily on one knee.  Very undignified and painful.   

[hillfooter]

Another cheap though not so pretty alternative to use for walkways are pallets again from a reclaim source.  You can use these in winter when it's wet and store them in summer.  They are ideal in snow too.
HF

Do be carefull with pallets in frosty or snowy conditions as I stood on mine last winter and managed to do the splits landing very heavily on one knee.  Very undignified and painful.   

 

They are supposed to be walkways for chx not for you unless you're a Lilliputian!  As these photos show




HF

[Carolf]

Ouch ANHBUC - that made me wince just reading it    I took a couple of tumbles last winter both times landing on my elbow.  I am looking at NOT repeating that this coming winter 

HF - the pallets look really good.  I am on a mission to pick up a couple more from our friend and I have my duck boards at the ready for tomorrow when we put down the woodchips 

[hillfooter]

Ouch ANHBUC - that made me wince just reading it    I took a couple of tumbles last winter both times landing on my elbow.  I am looking at NOT repeating that this coming winter 

HF - the pallets look really good.  I am on a mission to pick up a couple more from our friend and I have my duck boards at the ready for tomorrow when we put down the woodchips 

I usually saw them in half in the direction of the slats and fill in the gaps with batons if they are too wide leaving 2 - 3 cm gaps only on the top surface.  If you do want to saw in half check the constructions will support this as some are made so they don't stay together if you attempt this and you might need to do some modifications so they retain their box structure.

Best wishes
HF

[ANHBUC]

I had put mine on the lawn at the entrance to their run to try and stop it becoming a mud bath in the winter.  It was a temporary measure when we first got the hens.  We now have a large enclosure for them surrounded by a gravel path so there won't be a repeat of my acrobatics this winter.