[ANHBUC]

I think you could do it for £300 as bertiewhite said you can get bargains online.  Preloved, gumtree and even eBay have second hand coops.

[Pixiewish]

Not if in reality we need a Walk in run though, as there is no way mine or hubbys DIY skills stretch to building one, so we'd have to pay someone. I did get a few quotes, but all more than I'd want to spend for my first tiptoe steps into the chicken keeping world.

[ANHBUC]

I have seen the panels (3' wide by 6' high) online for about £12 each so you can start out small and add to as an when you can afford more.   

[helens-hens]

It is very difficult to get a hen house that has an integral run that provides anywhere near enough space for hens to be kept on a permanent basis. However as others have pointed out there are bargains to be had and with a bit of research and imagination I am sure you will be able to sort something out.

Once you have got a house/run in place, they are not expensive to keep. Assuming you will only have a few, items such as bedding and food aren't very much. The only thing I would say is you may need to pay the occasional vets bill (as with any other pet)
 and it is worth checking beforehand if you have a poultry friendly vet in your area before getting hens, just in case.

If you do get them then I am sure you won't regret it. I have had mine for 2 years now and the enjoyment I get from them (& their eggs of course!) far outweighs any negative aspects.

It may be worth looking at this thread on this site which show examples of various set ups which may give you some ideas:
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=73179.0

[bertiewhite]

Without seeing your location, I'm doing a lot of presumption but when you say walk-in run, do you just mean a fenced off area that you can walk into as opposed to a self contained arc that you can't? What could be simpler than getting some 6' posts, digging/knocking them into the ground so they're waste-height, screwing some 12' half round rails to it top/middle & attaching some netting? Posts - £2 each, half-rails - £4 each. Not sure about netting as mine was salvaged. I did have to make a gate but I did that out of pallet wood so it only cost a fiver for the hinges. The Dog Kennel was a tenner and it was perfect for what I wanted as the actual hen house but I did consider using a wooden kids play house that I saw on the local ads board in the supermarket (I thought it'd look quite cool painted up). Even if you had to buy a gate the total cost wouldn't be anywhere NEAR £300!!! It doesn't have to be covered at the top, just high enough to stop escapees. As I said, one of my girls was good at getting out, even after clipping a wing but I simply nailed some scrap pieces of pallet wood to the posts & draped some green netting along the top. I'll try & post a pic of my setup so you can see what I mean.

[Pixiewish]

Bertie - yes simple enough. However, with owning 3 cats ourselves and several owned by our neighbours as well I do think we would need it to have covered.

My initial plans were to have them in the enclosed run when we were out at work, but allowed out to free range in the garden (with the veggie patch netted off) when we were there to supervise.

Whatever they are in when we are not home will need to be predator proof, provide shelter and give them enough room...which is the area i currently seem to be falling down at.

My initial plan of starting off small but adequate and then expanding doesn't seem to be an option as small is too small.

[Pixiewish]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200749533557?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Is this any better....

[ANHBUC]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200749533557?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Is this any better....

That looks like a good option as you could add to it quite easily.  You could always extend their run area with one of these.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/84-XXL-RABBIT-GUINEA-PLAYPEN-METAL-ROOF-ENCLOSURE-RUN-POULTRY-DUCK-/280859010141?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Small_Animals&hash=item416480645d

[bertiewhite]

Bertie - yes simple enough. However, with owning 3 cats ourselves and several owned by our neighbours as well I do think we would need it to have covered.

Pixie, we have cats as do our neighbours and I can tell you that there's nothing funnier than watching a kitty stalk a chicken and then realise at the last moment that tabby is taking on more than it can chew!!!! Seriously, cats are not a problem and as long as you can secure the hens away at night in whatever hut you choose, foxes shouldn't be either. As mentioned, I stretched some green netting around the top of my pen so they shouldn't be able to get in during the day either. I know we have foxes over the road and I haven't had a problem yet.

[Jo57]

I use a roll of chicken wire stapled to post (or tied to a tree) and roll it back instead of a gate.  Very cheap and my 4 cats follow me each time I go to tend to the hens and wander freely amoung them. The only aggression/skirmish was when one cat was stalking a baby blackbird and the hens ganged up to chase the cat off.

[Skywise]

Hi Pixiewash

I know it seems really daunting - the thought of building your own run.  Like you, I'm not the greatest DIYer in the world and cost was *definitely* a factor when I was building my run.

I'll be honest and say that I did splash out on a ready made coop because I didn't think I could built something sturdy enough myself.  I asked my family to give me money for birthdays and Christmas which, when put together, came to enough to buy a Green Frog chicken house which I absolutely adore - I got a yellow one because I'm just girly like that 

As for the run, I went onto Freecycle and got my paws on some square trellis panels which I screwed together to make a square run.  Then it was the work of a couple of hours and 2 rolls of chicken wire from B&Q to staple the chicken wire all over the trellis to make a secure run - the chicken wire was about £20/roll from what I remember.

I laid some concrete slabs (again from Freecycle) to make a base about 12' x 10'.
To make a covered area I bought some clear corrugated roofing panels (again from B&Q and not more than about £25 for the whole area) and simply screwed them onto the top of the trellis, running one more piece of 2x2 wood widthways across the run as a joist.  (The wood was about £5 ish from what I recall).

I then painted the trellis with some animal friendly paint (only because all the trellises were different colours and the rest of the wood in my garden is all painted Seagrass Blue and I wanted the run to blend in as much as possible..  The paint cost around £20.

So, all in all, the run cost me about £90, some hard work, a couple of splinters, some running around picking up the stuff from Freecycle and one or two cuts and scratches.  It's a lot sturdier than the runs that come with the "Starter Packs" you can buy on eBay and it was really easy to make.  It *must* have been because *I* made it (Yay me!) and like I said, I'm pretty bad at DIY - I just really, really wanted chooks!

I wish I could upload a photo to show you but as well as being bad at DIY, I'm also really bad at internetty stuff.

Seriously, don't give up - get onto Freecycle, or whatever recycling websites there are in your area, and start getting the stuff together, then wait for a nice dry weekend, grab a couple of cans of cider, get some friends 'round to help, and go for it!

Good Luck

[Hen 1-0 Fox]

Just quick word of warning, for peace of mind swap chicken wire for poultry mesh, costs more but if you have foxes in your neighbourhood chicken wire = death to all your chickens.

[Pixiewish]

Thanks Skywise..I was just going to post to ask where people sourced the corrugated plastic from for roofing but you have read my mind and answered that one   Would love to see a picture if you can figure it out. How did you set up access into the run?


Hen 1-0 Fox, sounds like good advice.

I'm thinking of delaying getting the chooks till August now (I don't if I am being silly in thinking POL will be available then??) so that I have some time to work out what to do, save up some extra cash and either buy or build.

[Sassy]

I would reiterate that it would be most unusual for cats to be a problem to grown up chooks

[ANHBUC]

August sounds like a good plan.  My Bantams chicks are 1 and 2 weeks old now so POL for Spring chicks should be about August.  As you say it will give you time to sort everything ready for them.  I researched for months before getting my hens but did not find this site until after.  You have the advantage of find the site first.  

I managed to get 5 brand new coroline roofing sheets for £20 off Gumtree which is a £50 saving.  If you start searching for materials now you could save yourself loads.