The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Veronica on December 02, 2013, 09:34:31 am
-
Somewhere on the web in past year or so I saw someone's useful instructions about the chicken run they built. But I have no idea where!
We had chickens at our city allotment for three years and partner built a very good run which gave them plenty of room and kept the foxes out. We will be getting chickens again now we are in village with a big garden, but they will still be in a fixed run as we don't want them eating the veg from the garden.
There is a large section of concrete in one corner of the garden so I have decided to try having the run on that with deep litter on top. We will build our fruit cage adjacent to the run so we can let them out into that for some extra space.
The site I found - see above - was useful because it dealt with a run on concrete (I think), and it was made of heavy beams so that it sat securely on the concrete but I think was not fixed into the ground with posts.
And it discussed how to keep chickens on hard standing with litter (I think!).
If anyone has any idea of what I'm talking about or any useful pointers etc to suggest, I'd be very grateful.
I want some photos so partner can see what I'm talking about when I'm saying this is the sort of thing I'd like us to do!
-
Deep litter on concrete will be a difficult job to keep clean - good luck. Mine are inside my garage at night, also on concrete and I have laid sheets of plastic on the floor that I remove regularly and replace with clean ones, and scrape off the poo and bedding into the compost bin, then hose down ready to swap next time. The garage always stinks.
They have access to outside on what was weeds but they cleared in less than a week. I had spare weldmesh dog runs so they are fairly safe from foxes, but if I can find a few cheap Heras panels I'm going to add those and extend their outside run as I am sure they are bored now.
-
What I was thinking of is what I've seen described - I think! - which is deep litter in the run, woodchip or shavings or straw, not sure, which you remove every few months and put on compost. I would have a droppings board under the perch in the hen house for nighttime.
In Manchester we roofed the whole run because with the rainfall there the earth floor turned to mud very quickly. I used to turn over the earth regularly and occasionally replace or refresh with soil or compost. In drier Lincs might try only roofing part of it. We'll see.
I'm not sure if I would have chosen a concrete floor but the concrete is there and I like the idea of rats and predators not being able to dig their way in. At the allotments we had a constant battle with rats in the winter.
-
Should work Veronica as long as the run/litter is kept dry so they'd need a waterproof roof over it
-
Ok that makes sense. So we'd roof the whole of the main run that will be on the concrete base and then let them out into the fruit cage for a change of scene and access to earth and fresher air.
-
Should work Veronica as long as the run/litter is kept dry so they'd need a waterproof roof over it
But they'll soak the litter with their own excrement - it will never be dry. We once viewed a house which had a deep litter shed for turkeys - we couldn't go within 10 feet of the door when they opened it and the turkeys had been out of it for 3 months!
-
I guess if you have a shed then you have all their night droppings - more than daytime.
I'm talking about deep litter in the run part that they are in during the day. Our run with an earth floor at our allotments wasn't covered in chicken poop all the time, just bits here and there and I turned the earth over to keep it clean - whereas the hen house was cleaned out completely once a week.
-
Should work Veronica as long as the run/litter is kept dry so they'd need a waterproof roof over it
But they'll soak the litter with their own excrement - it will never be dry. We once viewed a house which had a deep litter shed for turkeys - we couldn't go within 10 feet of the door when they opened it and the turkeys had been out of it for 3 months!
Not if its a proper deep litter set up.
If you can keep the rain and drinker water out of it the litter should start to absorb and decompose the birds droppings, it will actually heat up in the same way a compost heap does.
-
you could use sharp sand or pea gravel in the run. pea gravel can be washed-its free draining and water will just run out the sides. sand can be replaced 2/3 times a year-chooks love it and it keeps their legs/feet in good condition although agreed, its better roofed. sharp sand from out local quarry is £20/ton delivered.
-
I talked to a woman about the plastic eglu runs, if you can't move them, they advise that you cover the run and put down a thick layer of chunky wood chips, not shavings. I can't remember if they were meant to be removed every year or so, but she she said this was a very easy to use system. I have a handful of birds inside at the moment, on concrete. I was hoping to sweep it every day, but it's a bit wet and sticky and just makes a mess, so I'm thinking a layer of straw will be needed after all. The rest of my birds are free range on grass,most is no problem.
-
We used wood chips in our fixed runs Veronica. Where they were uncovered they rotted down in 6 months so we kept topping them up. To keep them as clean as possible we poo picked twice a day. Where they were rain protected they lasted two years.
-
Thanks all, this is helpful so far.
-
Should work Veronica as long as the run/litter is kept dry so they'd need a waterproof roof over it
But they'll soak the litter with their own excrement - it will never be dry. We once viewed a house which had a deep litter shed for turkeys - we couldn't go within 10 feet of the door when they opened it and the turkeys had been out of it for 3 months!
Not if its a proper deep litter set up.
If you can keep the rain and drinker water out of it the litter should start to absorb and decompose the birds droppings, it will actually heat up in the same way a compost heap does.
Fair enough but it will still take a heck of a cleaning operation every so often. Not my preference I'm afraid.
-
Our young birds spend the winter under cover with a 5cm layer of dust extracted shavings. Gets brushed out every two months or so. So smell, no stickiness. Question is - how many birds to the square metre? Ours have about one each.
-
Our eight hens had approximately two square metres each in the run we had at our allotment but they were in it all the time. The run I am planning now should give six to eight hens at least a square metre each but we will have another space, slightly larger (the fruit cage) which we can let them into some of the time.
-
You should be aiming for 4 square metres each Veronica. One square metre is too small and will need careful management to deal with the stress issues. We know because we have ours in that size at the moment as our new enclosure has only just been completed after 10 weeks work. Next week they will be free ranging.
-
Thanks, Chris. If we are going to use the area of concrete that is already in place in the garden, then that will determine the size of their basic run. It is roughly 9 metres square, so if I get 6 hens, that will be 1.5 sq metres each.
But as I said, the plan is to build the fruit cage, which will have a larger area, adjoining the run so we can let them out into that on days when we are around to shut them away again at night - which will be most of the time except on some short winter days when we are away until after dark.
The previous run we had was something over 18 metres square. We had 5 chickens at the least and 8 at the most. So with 8 they would have had more than 2 square metres each. They appeared to have plenty of room there and we never had serious fighting or pecking problems, just the usual bit of squabbling when new hens came into the flock. But I did worry about the ground getting stale as they were in that one space all the time.
Obviously both spaces will be tall enough for us to walk in, so they will be able to fly up to perches. I think vertical space as well as horizontal makes a difference.
-
I agree about vertical space Veronica. Although ours only have a fraction over 1 square metre they have a 2 metre perch in the run as well, so 500mm each. They use the perch a lot and also soil bath in one corner of the run. But they are bored and the sooner we sort them all out the better. Sun is shining today and the temperature is about 14 degrees, so they are much happier than yesterday when it was cloudy and about 4 degrees.
-
I realise, despite all the useful replies, that no one has been able to help with my original question - probably because I witter on too much.
... it was about the actual design of the run - and whether anyone knows what I'm talking about when I say I saw someone's post on some forum about building a run.
It was on a concrete base and with a frame made of heavy posts/beams so that it was, at a pinch, moveable, rather than the posts being dug into the ground - but too heavy for predators to be able to move it.
Guess I'll go searching on the web again and see if I can find it. ;)