The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: CarraghsBorderCollies on July 13, 2009, 07:40:58 pm
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im waiting for my new henhouse+run to arrive (its due on 26th) its a walk in like an aviary!!!
and houses 10-12 birds its entirely self contained (its a wedding present from my mum :chook:),
at the moment i keep my 2 hens+1 chick +rooster in with 6 ducks and 2 goslings they live in a 3X4ft dog kennel raised up on bricks and a 1.5X1.5ft kennel in a 25m electric poultry net run.....
i am currently keeping my 4 chicks in a crate in my small stone shed under a heatlamp
(now only at night)
what do you house your birds in?
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well I have around 70 hens, and they are all free range. They live in an assortment of coops and sheds!!
I have two medium sized hen sheds, and then a wendy house I got off e bay very cheap, so 10 live in here......I have a small square coop which holds another 6 ..........the silkies live in a converted plastic garden trunk - the green storage ones. The bantie and her 5 chicks are in the large run of a rabbit hutch, and sleep in a large cat carrier in the corner of the run. Above them in the big rabbit hutch is 4 bantams and a bantie cockerel. One hen sleeps on its own in the hay barn in another cat carrier......I think thats them all accounted for in their various homes.
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My 7 hens are kept overnight in a purpose built chicken coop that is designed to hold 8. First thing in the morning they are out and have a large paddock they share with a rabbit and 7 Pygmy goats. The Pygmy's, when dry, get out of here and are free to roam the land I have. Once the chooks have laid their eggs they too are free to roam the land which is shared with the other goats, geese, ducks and ponies. The ducks are locked up at night in a "tool shed" which has ventilation and an upstairs in it so they have plenty space. The geese have a purpose built house for them as they too get locked up at night (unless they take off for the night down the river).
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our 'first' hens and Lenin the cockerel (who came visiting from the neighbours to avoid going to market) live in a childrens playhouse shed with contained run to keep out the fox (and german shepherd!), at 5ft 11 I wanted to be able to clean them out without knocking myself out! The floor is tiled (an idea stolen from twycross zoo) for easy cleaning and the 'upstairs' of the playhouse is modified for storage. Perfect!
The new girls will be in a seperate place - two hen houses end on so the run is more than twice as big, as we are changing the roof part.
We also have a "proper" hen house, but the 3 inhabitants seem to be growing up to be cockerels...
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3 Black Rocks sleep in a proper hut supposidly big enough for 5 (at a push) but can come out whenever they want into the enclosed woodland type, small garden, the 7 ex battery hens suppose to sleep in a large shed where I have a long perch and several wooden draws full of straw but 1 of them chooses to live in a dog cage, set into a brick Bar b que with a covered roof and again full of straw and the lovely little Duckies go into an enclosed run full of straw, they all take themselves off to bed and get up in the morning as the area is enclosed by a high stone wall, they also choose to lay in the Bar B Que cage and it's sometimes a bit of a que with hens waiting to lay!!! ;D
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The floor is tiled (an idea stolen from twycross zoo) for easy cleaning and the 'upstairs' of the playhouse is modified for storage. Perfect!
im putting left over lino in mine!!!
arn't tiles a little cold?
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I have some cheap plastic corrigated sheets, I can pull them out and hose them down, they were between £5-£6 each and I am pleased with them although ou sometimes have to chase arund the poo down the gooves but I
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"!£$%^&*,,,,,Bu****R..just leaned on the keyboard and posted before I was done!!!!use an old dustpan and brush ;D
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;D ::) ;)
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my first lot of 8 ducks live in a very old hen house, bedding is cardboard and hay. They learnt to walk up the purpose built ramp as a ladder would not have been suitable, lol.
the 4 youngsters live in an Egglu for another few weeks, then they also will move to bigger accommodation, with ramp walking training included and all.
Can't wait to have the egglu for what they are built - hens or bantams! :&>
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We were fortunate when we moved here, that there was lots of chicken runs in the "orchard" thats the posh name for it! There are two purpose built chicken sheds, one of which is split in half, with a pop hole either side. We need to build new runs for the chooks round this shed. The other shed is split into 2 thirds and one third, the runner ducks live on one side, and the call ducks on the other, and the runner ducks have quite a big run attached, and the call ducks a smaller one. As well as this, the 3 Cayuga's live in a garden shed and free range through our mini paddock and into the goats field if they want. Then we have a littleacre run we bought about 12 years ago, which is big enough for about 3 hens, plus a new coop with attached run we bought just last week which is big enough for 5 hens. Once the chicken runs are built, the movable runs will mostly be used to house ducklings and chicks.
Beth
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working on an old victorian estate we keep our hens ducks and quails in the old laundry, concrete floor with hanging beams as roosting perches plenty of lights about 20ft long 15ft high by 15 ft wide
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Lucky you, lucky birds. Mine are in a duck shed and a small garden shed, with vinyl on the floor and dowels and window boards for perches, old drawers for nesting boxes, and chopped straw on the floor. And I don't clean them out enough! Don't know why I keep the horrid dirty beggars! ;)
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When the sun was out me and my OH sat and had our with the birds so I popped into the shed with my trowel and collected some big bits of poo in the empty Crisp bags then put them into the large black bag as I had more rubbish, I foundthe crisp bags in Ben's bed!!!!! what a lunch he had :D
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Thanks for the warning - no kisses for him next time I'm up.
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[/quote] im putting left over lino in mine!!!
arn't tiles a little cold?
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We use shredded paper (junk mail) and hay/straw/woodshavings (depending what we've got the most of!) over the floor and in the drawer which makes the only nesting box I know that has a gold handle! And yes, they always lay in the drawer not on the floor, so you don't need to distinguish between the bed and nest material.
We recycle all the paper we can, and I bring stuff from work as well, so all the animals benifit, and it composts quicker
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Yes your probably wright, my draws have wooden knobs!!!!! ;)
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That made fascinating reading! When we decided to have chukkies we went by the book and built a coop to incorporate several designs we liked. It is absolutely fine and the chooks have plenty of room but I love some of your solutions! - On reflection we should have bought a shed - that will be the next purchase I think - but I love the ides of a tiled floor - with plenty of straw it wouldn't be cold and it is certainly practical. I shall have a word with my OH - hmmmmm!!!
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Sandy's draws :D ;D
mine live in a variety of of sheds, arks,coops and in a stable. They sort of look round and choose which they prefer, and which company they prefer. They then seem to stay in that dwelling on their own accord. sort of like a chicken community. They seem to visit each other, and sometimes lay eggs in others nest boxes or hidey places. I just let them get on with it, and move the boys round when I want them to breed.
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i also use a variety of old drawers and plastic baskets as nest boxes although i use straw for the nest boxes and sawdust for the floor, they also nest inside an a old bedside cabinet...
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Hi ! We have 4 geese, 28 ducks and too many banties to count ...... at least 60. They are in a big outdoor space with electric all around as we have a bad fox problem in this bit of dorset. The high wire walls and electric mean that the ducks can do as they please - which means stay out in all weathers and not seem to mind. The geese also have an arc for shelter but don't use it very much at all. Then we have a selection of homemade arcs, a converted shed and my pride and joy - our only ever purpose built chicken house ... all brand new with nest boxes. They love it. And they should because it was expensive!!!!! Does anyone else have ducks who never want to shelter???? Even in the snow, they just sat there!!
Bibs.
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It's funny, we have had some torrential rain :gloomy: and my bedragled Ex Battery Hens looked like they have overdone the Bryl cream (that makes me sound old) and are wondering around in the rain while my 2 Aylesbury Ducks are tucked up in a big sheltered run which has an opening for them to go in and out at will!!!! I find it funny, hope the Ex Batts get a bit more sense when it get cold, otherwise I will be defrosting them in the Oven!!!! ;)
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my khaki cambells only go in their kennel/duck house to lay eggs,
my goslings like to go in at night and my silver appleyard ducklings and call duckling follow the goslings everywhere so they also go in at night.
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funny this! My ducks all go in at night, but they had to be trained and most nights don't go voluntarily before it is REALLY dark. 3 - 4 are laying in the house and the other 2 are determined to lay in the garden. It's Easter each morning here :) :&>
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If Tesco delivery people are very careless and 'mislay' those green plastic boxes the groceries are brought in, they make fantastic nesting boxes. And there is room at one end for chcken poo if perhaps theres a queue to lay and a girl gets caught short!!
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Like that idea!
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Its very naughty though! They seem to bring fewer boxes at a time to our door now - they must have got wise...
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I've so far "only" got ducks, so extra nesting boxes don't apply yet, but when I go to Lidl I ask quite a lot for plastic boxes and they happily give them to me to keep. There are different sizes, smaller ones for spring onions or deeper ones for purple sprouting brokkoli. I find them a good size to keep kindling in and carry my harvest from the veg plot. Esp. good for tatties as most of the earth falls through the holes :). And if you ask it won't be naughty, lol :&>
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I like the "so far" Kerstin... ::)
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well, James...not even that miserable vet on the other thread and my friends' egg eaters can stop me now!
I just noticed, I can do smileys, too, not just ducks! :) :&>
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Kerstin - The company that I am buying the new hen house off and the 3 new hens supply hens too. They do Black Rock, Isa Brown, Sussex Star, Speckledy and Bluebells. Some are £10 and some £15. Just a thought, if you want me to order some for you they would be delivered the same day I get the new house so you could get the old one that same day - plus the hens? If that makes sense.
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That's a great offer, James, but it will take quite a lot of organising here...I might get back to you about that later! I'll take my time and have a good read and look around on Saturday. I might buy some eggs for Laura, her first lot from ebay came to nothing. :&>