[Stereo]

I would agree with putting the house in the middle. If you are building it yourself, should be easy enough to have a pop hole on each side. Like the ideas though, I'm going to build permanent pens after struggling with electric netting for 3 years. In the winter it gets blown over and in the summer the grass shorts it out. I've also found that they can just fly out if they want which means lots of wing clipping etc.

I think netting is good for a system where you are moving the hens a lot, like once a week or more. Otherwise it's a pain to keep working and if you leave it in place for a month the grass grabs the bottom and it's a pig to pull up anyway.

In terms of shelter, I would either build some simple permanent ones or movable ones. I use 2 pallets with the tops wired together and some light ply screwed on to make a quick and secure shelter.

[Womble]

Again, I'd been reading that they want shade and shelter, but I'm open to suggestions, hence all the questions on here.

Yes they do definitely. Ours hide under hedges and bushes when the weather turns nasty. When it turns horrific they all cower under the Landrover! So, since you have the space, planting a few shrubs in the runs is a good idea.

If you put the house up on legs (a good idea to prevent rats anyway), the ground underneath it will stay dry and you could put sand /earth under to make it a dust-bathing area, as well as giving shelter for them in bad weather. You'll also find that they prefer cold dry winter weather to summer heat.

[Kimbo]

Justin, I love your plans. You are quite right to"Think Big" as you will definitely end up with a lot more than 5 hens! This is the voice of recent experience speaking!
Would you now please talk to my husband and persuade him of the sense of your idea? 

I like the idea of one house with multiple pop holes but then you would have to have multiple automatic doors and that's very expensive. Im assuming you will have an auto door, which you may not. I wouldn't be without ours. Your field looks to be some way from your house: in that case an auto door when its a miserable November Sunday morning and you are a bit hung over and fancy just one tiny lie-in will be worth its weight in ....eggs! 

[Womble]

Auto door and multiple pop-holes is easy enough if you get the right type of opener.  However, what I was suggesting is having a hardstanding area around the house that the hens have access to all the time, then another gate or pop hole from there into each of the four areas. Those would only have to be altered every couple of weeks when you want to rotate which of the four quarters the birds have access to  .

[Marches Farmer]

If you go for the four run areas idea it might be worth considering putting down horizontal wire panels and using game panels or cheap dog cage panels to move around.   Planning is good but sometimes when something's been in place for a few months you think up a way to do things better but if you go for the final solution to start with you're stuck with it.

[Justin]

All great ideas, thank you so much. We've ordered a plastic chicken house on legs from green frog designs. More expensive than originally planned but, if their 20 year lifespan is realistic, it's a good investment. It will be easy for my girlfriend to take apart and move/clean on the occasions I'm away with work and is quick and easy to jet wash to get rid of any red mite.

If we put it in the middle of the run, it would only have to be turned 90 degrees each time we move the internal run fencing, which should hopefully be ok with the birds.

We've ordered the door opener with it.

It's not far from the house to the orchard. The hedge on the right of the picture is our kitchen garden, so 30 seconds walk from the back door to the run, though the ability to have the door open on those dark rainy mornings is appealing.

For additional shelter, we'll be planting some new orchard trees come the winter, with protection around them, so they should grow and hopefully live in harmony with the chickens.

Kimbo, I can only suggest reminding your husband that you'll get your way eventually, I'm just a little more realistic about this perhaps Also, I always loved the chickens that my mum kept so I'm quite happy for there to be more.

Next year they'll be a couple of wieners to fatten up for the autumn and after that, mostly likely a few sheep. Our neighbour raises sheep and uses a couple of our fields for pasture so he's going to help teach us how to look after them so we'll have experience on hand when we have a few of our own.

[Stereo]

There will be more hens. There just will. I resisted getting our initial 3 but she pushed and pushed. Now I've got 150 or so. Ahem.

The thing is with any area that is going to get a lot of use is that it either has to be completely dry or it has to be capable of holding a deep litter (straw / shavings / hay etc.) or it will quickly turn into the Somme.

A dust bathing area is essential but you will find that if you build a good permanent shelter, they will quickly make this the bath area. Once they have done that, keep the rain out and you can choose to add things like DE or clean wood ash to help them with any mite issues.

Plastic housing is great. Contrary to popular opinion, it won't prevent mite totally. We got them in our eglu in any gaps or joins but as you say, you can pull it apart and get right at them. So it's great for that. Also, even after a full clean down, the hens will probably be carrying enough to start another colony. It's just a war of attrition.

[devonlady]

Justin, we didn't bury our deer fencing for our chicken run but turned a couple of feet out and banged in tent pegs every now and then, the grass soon grew through it and anchored it down.
I would though advocate gamekeepers netting to protect the top of the run ("don't spoil the ship for a h'appence of tar!") as foxy will find his way over the fence eventually.

[Kimbo]

sorry Womble, I didn't read carefully enough. Yours is a good idea

[Justin]

Devonlady, what do you mean by gamekeepers netting and do you mean that I should create a roof over the whole run or is it to go at the top of the fences?

[devonlady]

Depending on the size of your run a margin of about 4ft (2metres?) around the perimiter should keep foxes out

[Justin]

Ah, thanks for that.

[Justin]

OK, think we have a plan now. The fence posts have all arrived and will be going in the ground later in the week. I'm going to Hills of Devon tomorrow morning to pick up fencing supplies. Think I've settled on 1"x1" for the bottom half and 2"x2" for the top half, unless anyone thinks it makes more sense to go with 1"x1" all round.

Have to figure the best way to build gates that will give as little gap at the bottom as possible.

Photos next week hopefully

[Eve]

1x1 at the top might be too heavy depending on your posts, we had to use a lighter 1x1 than ideal for the roof. Remember that regarding metal mesh thickness the higher the number means the thinner the strands of mesh (e.g. 19g is too thin, you'll need 16g or 14g), that confused me at first 

I agree with previous posts: thinking big is a good thing when it comes to chickens. Good on you

[Justin]

the posts should take the weight, but it seemed pointless to put heavier mesh than necessary, the lower levels is going to be where the brunt of any attack will be.

The wire is 1.6mm, which is 14 guage I believe, strongest they do at the smaller sizes.

Looks like we have a plan