[twizzel]

I'm relocating my hens to another part of the farm in the new year and need a new house as their current shed has had a huge redmite problem so I think a new house is a good idea. I want a plastic house though and they seem to be mega money, does anybody know where I could get a large plastic house or even better how to go about making one? Needs to house approx. 20 medium hens.

[clydesdaleclopper]

We have a large Mark Francis one but it was expensive. It's very well built though and can be towed.

[twizzel]

Lovely houses but ouch I really can't afford nearly a grand!   

[sss]

You could build one. Buy the plastic lumber and stok board from a company such as kedel (other companies are available). then just stick it all together for want of a better phrase.

When my wooden one falls down that is what I will probably do.

[mojocafa]

http://www.animalarks.co.uk/animalarks.php?id=152

This site is worth a look

[Eve]

I got mine (3 Eglu Cubes and 5 Eglu Classics) on eBay and Preloved. Still easily half their new price apart from one Classic at an amazing £50 
You're right going with plastic, red mite will much easier to get rid of 


You could try converting a Keter shed / storage box? Id you google 'plastic chicken coop' all sorts come up.

[Fowlman]

I creosote my coops every spring and have never had red mite.

[twizzel]

I've had it bad this year to the point I nearly culled the lot... Never again so plastic is the only option.

[ScotsGirl]

I've just bought another plastic one from Solway Recycling. Approx £400 for their Ark which holds about 15-20 hens. It's a better design than old style. Heavy but perches now run lengthways so you can use to lift and move.  I never have mite problems with these but don't get the Carefree Coop it's horrendous for mites even though plastic. Too many pieces and loads of hiding places.

[twizzel]

Which one did you buy scotsgirl? I had ruled out the Solway ones as they didn't have one on paper large enough to house my girls. They aren't large, most are ex commercials, I've got 3 large maran cockerels but the hens are medium sized. Are those Solway ones easy to clean?

[ScotsGirl]

The standard Eco hen ark which says up to 15 hens but bearing min mind I have at least 12 ex batts and a large legbar cockerel in the carefree coop meant for max 10 hens, I reckon 20 will probably fit! I have 2 of these and one of the hen houses with a run. The house should only take about 6 but again I reckon there are 8-10 in there as my drake seems to evict most of the hens from the other house! Little sod has a 15 hen house to himself, his only duck and about 4 hens that he seems to like.


I find them easy to clean except you have to kneel down but I do pressure wash them sometimes. You could put up on pallets to save bending.

[Marches Farmer]

You could build a simple ark from twinwall polycarbonate, wooden framing on the outside.  Just have a removable side panel to collect the eggs.  A chunk of wood placed across a corner makes a perfectly acceptable nestbox.  I line the floor of my henhouses with split feed sacks, weighted down with pieces of rock about the size of a housebrick, with shavings on top.  Any red mite will hide under the rocks, so I can easily spot them when there are just a few, before it becomes an infestation.  When I clean them out (which I do regularly) I just gather up the split sacks, shavings and all, and carry them straight to the old oil drum I use for burning. If there's any red mite I don't then go near any other henhouses until a couple of hours have passed, when I can be reasonably sure any red mite I've picked up will have made their way to my head and been scratched to death!

Creosote (the real thing) is the way to go.  For small infestations Raid flyspray along the seams of the house does a brilliant job - you just have to make sure the house stays empty for an hour so the fumes clear before the hens get back inside, assuming you've a house with good ventilation anyway..

[mentalmilly]

I tried plastic and the condensation seemed to be a problem with mine.  I agree with Fowlman, creosote the coops every year and have had no mites this year.  I do the ends of the perches just as a prevention a few times a year.  Problem solved.  Before creosote the mites were everywhere and also in the house.  Scratch scratch, itch itch.

[chrismahon]

Lots of people report serious problems this time of year with condensation in plastic coops -they can't 'breathe'. They are not as well insulated as wood either. The solution adopted is to wipe them out every morning to avoid black mould growth and respiratory issues. Alternatively fit large air vents but then the birds can get very cold and laying suffers. We have one Solway to use when creosoting all the wooden coops in turn over Summer.


We do get some condensation on plywood as well and have had to gloss paint it so that the mould can be wiped away.

[cloddopper]

I've just had a vision of how to reduce the condensation problem .

 What I know :- ( well think I know  ).
 
Chickens getting damp lose body heat very quickly , they can take low temps down to those that actually freeze their combs providing it is dry.

 Would the idea of putting in a ventilation block or three of say five square feet of triple wall hit & miss wooden slats on the outsides of the housing with 1/2 " chicken wire nailed on the outsides ( stop foxes trying to eat their way in ) be of any use ?

I think it would slow down the ventilation's airspeed and stop most sudden draughts .
 If you had two low to the ground and two half sized one's high up the air would be about as dry as you can get.


Another thought was to actually skin the walls & roof but it does not make for air movement within the housing ..

Stand off by 2" hit and miss walling  & put a raised roof say 3 inches above the existing roof, so there is a small air flow gap , for the apex make another stood off capping a bit above the stand off roof .

 Our temp accommodation in Cyprus at the time of the Turkish invasion & a few months later had similar designs of air gaps that allowed air movement and was heaven to get into when it was 45 oC outside .

 See what you guys & gals think , there may be something better to come out of the discussions.


I'll also check with some of my internet friends in Canada & the USA to see how they handle things w.r.t. condensation & super cold winters.