The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: ming on January 11, 2011, 09:51:12 pm
-
Where can I see other people's lay-outs to get some ideas for mine ? I'd love a site where I can sit and look at what other people have done..
-
i can take some pics if you want? and post them on here
-
are you looking to build your own, or adapt a pre-made one?
I can post up what our variety of coops & pens are like... if that helps. (when Ive taken some pics!)
-
Yes please ! ;D Am planning for hens in April when weather is nicer, have a strip of garden with poor soil/good drainage that I want to use. Wanted to get a Green Frog coop and then make an enclosure around it , but havent a clue how . Son is a joiner so will help. (once leaned on ::) ) Just wanted an idea of what you could have...
-
We just got a couple of sheds (about 5 ft high, so just about standing up), and added a pophole and perches ourselves. Got dimensions from the Katie Thear books. Our nest boxes are just cheap plastic boxes, with one side cut out and a lid on, easier to clean and no red mite hiding in there.
Also creosoted the inside, and in particular the perches and where they connect to the walls.
Ours also got a light (a simple outside light fitting from B&Q) run on an extension and timer from our goatshed, for extending their day length in winter.
Fencing is electric netting, but we have our whole perimeter fencing on electric, run from mains charger. If you only have poultry and no other livestock that needs containing, that would be an expensive solution.
But we also built a coop from wire and blue (water) pipes, easy and used for youngstock and meatchickens. Moved every day when in use. If you have got someone who can build a henhouse or similar and you will need to move it regularly, wheels should be a good option. We have one that uses old buggy wheels (from a three wheeler buggy, not air inflated tyres though) and I can easily move it on my own. That one also has wire mesh, and is used mainly for meatchickens/surplus male stock. Saves on cleaning out. I am not that good with taking photos, though.
-
very basic here, too. 2 hen houses, one for the ducks and 1 for the chooks. chooks' run is covered with netting to keep them away from the ducks until lunchtime or the duckies would not get any food. Then they can all free range. I'm hoping to have a proper cage built this spring instead of makeshift netting, see if is going to happen, so much to do... :chook: :&>
-
we just have a brought prepack chicken and fixed run (its not very big) then we we a hen house out of a potato box( the ones they use in the fields) we put a pitched roof on it and a door that opens and doubles as a ramp, our girls just have the run of the back garden(and our house if i leave the back door open and my sneak in)
-
I need pics! Can't envisage things without pics. I wanted a Green Frog coop because I'm not young and not fit and wanted something easily cleaned. But its what goes around the coop that I'm stuck on. ;D
-
I need pics! Can't envisage things without pics.
Here are some photos (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=4195.0) I took a while back of our old set-up. It really doesn't need to be anything fancy!
HTH!
-
Absolutely magic, many thanks ! ;D - I want to know now, how you made a gate. How you get a gate into the run of wire ? I can see now how to do the enclosure but I need to be able to get in and out of it !
-
i'm so embarrassed, i took the pics and forgot to post them up for you!
i'll go and re learn how, its been a while since i did it!
-
;D ;D ;D I'm sure you've got plenty other things to do.. I haven't. Hence why I want chickens ... :farmer:
-
www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=92970
Enjoy.
-
Hi,
have 4 at present 3 of which are easy to clean out. If you have the space a shed with a pop hole added is often the cheapest and easiest to clean out. We have made a run to attach to our shed coop with a door in it. if bending is a problem and you only want a few birds then the coops that are raised up of the floor are good. I have two of them and the slide out droppings tray makes life very easy.
Good luck!
Buffy
-
I don't as a rule make New Years Resolutions - mainly because I nearly always break them. ;D ;D ;D But I am determined to get my chickens a better home this year. The basis is good - a 4 x 6 shed with a vinyl floor, but it needs a thorough clean out. I have a duck shed that they can use while I am doing that but it has no floor and is attached as part of the fence, so the first step in the plan - once the weather warms up a bit - is to take it out, replace with a fence panel, build a base for it - pallets probably, give it a good thorough clean and attach a proper floor before putting it back in the run, then I can start on the shed. Any suggestions what to use for the floor - it will need to be attached somehow - screwed on is probably best. Should I make a floor bigger than the duckshed so there is a sort of shelf at the front? If it's on pallets it'll be raised slightly too, so would I need a ramp? I can't make a pull out floor unfortunately as there is just a pop hole at the end and a small door at the front which I can barely get into. Ideas, folks?
-
I want to know now, how you made a gate.
Very simple. Just drive two posts in to make either side of the 'door frame', then put in two horizontal pieces as a sill and top piece. Then all I did was to make a rectangular 'door' shape from four lengths of wood, brace it across the way (make a triangle shape with your bracing, as this will give rigidity), then staple wire to the frame. All you need then is a couple of hinges and maybe a bolt.
I also made mine close under gravity by attaching the door to a rope and weight via a pulley. Very useful to stop hens escaping when you've got your hands full!
HTH!