Author Topic: Winter pens (Read 4610 times)

Stereo · « **on:** July 21, 2015, 02:27:03 pm »

I keep going around in circles. Most of my flocks are 8-12 hens with 1-2 cockerels. They live in electric nets and houses which can be moved. Aside from the constant strimming to stop the fences shorting, this is fine in from March to November. Then it all goes horribly wrong and turns into something like a Fench battlefield from WW2. Problem is that the ground never recovers and you then have thistles etc.

Our garden hens used to spend most of the winter in our conservatory (no windows yet) and that was that. They had the garden but chose to stay in. So I'm wondering if I just need to build them some much smaller pens which have deep litter and are covered. So, question is, how big a run for say 15 birds?

waterbuffalofarmer · « **Reply #1 on:** July 21, 2015, 02:31:32 pm »

Have you got a rotavator cultivator? I was thinking maybe you could run it over the ground which is bare from grass and reseed the bare patch keeping the hens away from it until it grows, maybe add some composted muck to the soil too.
https://poultrykeeper.com/keeping-chickens-faq/much-space-chickens-need/
This should tell you how much space per chicken.

Stereo · « **Reply #2 on:** July 21, 2015, 04:31:23 pm »

Yes, or can borrow one at least. It just gets really miserable in Jan / Feb with the mud and it's not the right thing for the birds so I end up feeling bad. Plus you get mucky eggs. I feel that 2-3 months of confinement on really deep litter wouldn't actually be such a hardship as they get a massive area for the rest of the year.

Kimbo · « **Reply #3 on:** July 21, 2015, 07:04:09 pm »

Oh Stereo.....
I know you are right to forward plan etc but I haven't had my summer yet. You're making me depressed talking about winter already

lord flynn · « **Reply #4 on:** July 21, 2015, 09:49:59 pm »

Quote from: Stereo on July 21, 2015, 04:31:23 pm

Yes, or can borrow one at least. It just gets really miserable in Jan / Feb with the mud and it's not the right thing for the birds so I end up feeling bad. Plus you get mucky eggs. I feel that 2-3 months of confinement on really deep litter wouldn't actually be such a hardship as they get a massive area for the rest of the year.

I don't think it is at all with a bit of environmental enrichment i.e. greens, perches, good ventilation etc.

Stereo · « **Reply #5 on:** July 22, 2015, 12:05:37 pm »

Quote from: Kimbo on July 21, 2015, 07:04:09 pm

Oh Stereo.....
I know you are right to forward plan etc but I haven't had my summer yet. You're making me depressed talking about winter already

Sorry.

I just remember thinking last winter that I couldn't get into this position again and with 10 or so flocks, it's a bit of an operation to build it all. I'm thinking of making up panels that can be used for other things at other times. Or permanent deep litter pens which will house the layers from Dec-Mar or whenever they start wrecking the ground and then can be used for raising pullets through the spring / summer.

It was deeply unpleasant trudging through mud from pen to pen looking at muddy hens and trying to keep the feeders and drinkers etc. clean. I like to offer my hens the best environment but I have come to the conclusion that unless you have mobile housing, fixed winter housing outside is not a good plan. I ended up feeling embarrassed by the whole thing and hoping nobody asked to see them. Last year I had 7 hens in the garden from November to Feb and they wrecked a pen that was 10m x 15m. Totally trashed it down to bare mud.

waterbuffalofarmer · « **Reply #6 on:** July 22, 2015, 02:27:17 pm »

I have a friend who had a built in enclosure. It was a large pen with a concrete floor and it was walled and roofed with chicken wire and she had a large shed built into it. Only problem would be cost I suppose.

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #7 on:** July 22, 2015, 02:32:26 pm »

We are fortunate to have large areas of concrete around the outbuildings.Even so, I'm devising what I'm calling a "loggia" to stand next to the door of the small shed where the best of the older breeding stock will overwinter. This has a stone wall on one side and is sheltered on the third. I have a frame made from 2" x 2" timber, forming three sides of a tall rectangle with almost-horizontals along the top to support the roof sheet. The bottom of the each leg will stand in two breezeblocks, so it can easily be moved but will be stable. The roof will be twinwall polycarbonate for strength and lightness and I'll screw another sheet horizontally along the open side, resting on top of the breeze blocks. This will shelter the shed door and provide a dry area to prevent mud being tracked in.

lord flynn · « **Reply #8 on:** July 22, 2015, 07:38:38 pm »

year before last was really bad-everywhere was soup especially around the henhouse. I stuck pallets down and they were surprisingly effective -still have some down as they like to perch on them, those that don't perch in the trees. In the one fixed pen I had, I put down pallets with straw on top and just replaced straw weekly. A bit labour intensive but I know that feeling of everything being constant mud.

twizzel · « **Reply #9 on:** July 23, 2015, 02:57:57 pm »

I've got a rubber grass mat down outside my hen house where they congregate and it does a great job of keeping them out of the mud... I plan to buy a few more (not cheap but they are moveable) and put them down in my pen to keep them off the mud. The other option is bark but I'm not overly keen as they are currently in a corner of a field and not sure my partner would be impressed with me leaving behind bark if they were moved in the future.

Kimbo · « **Reply #10 on:** July 25, 2015, 10:37:58 pm »

Twizzel!! You are an inspiration! What a brilliant idea. And I happen to have a bit of that fake grass rolled up in the garage already, so I dont even have to spend any more money. Thank you X

Steph Hen · « **Reply #11 on:** August 10, 2015, 04:06:33 pm »

I put mine in for about 6 weeks last winter. They had about 8ft by 14ft Perches, raised platform, ladders, deep straw litter. They had the same again outside (concrete floor, half wall, then chain link, and covered in weeds) but chose to stay inside. Some did keep laying. Think had10 birds.

It was good to have a break from rushing home to shut them in all the time (and having to let them out so early in morning that it was dark and then worrying about fox).And no mud to trudge through all the time.

Do you have a spare shed? I don't know what the legal limit for min space is, but I think if you can get away with flocks of 15 as you suggest, you can squeeze space per bird, especially providing interest like different levels, veg hung up, several feeders/waterers, etc. and it's only for a couple of months (whereas when I see two hens in a little run in a garden I can feel sorry for them).