[MrRee]

Have decided to take the plunge and start up a new business. Working on a small scale to start with,I plan to make quality,affordable animal housing,tailor-made to the customers specific requirements. There seems to be a lack of it out here in France,and I'm sorry,but I wouldn't pay £400 for a chicken coup that housed 6 hens!

 Initially I need to build a couple of pieces to showcase,as it were,what's on offer. So,ideas please. These can be anything from converting a cider barrel to a duck house,a castle shaped goat shelter to a cartoon rocket for housing chickens. Please give me your ideas of what you'd want,how much you'd realistically pay for it, and also, what features you'd like the housing to have, (eg. solar panel lighting,removable roof/wall/floor,wheels/skids,paint job,stilts etc etc).
  Thank you for taking the time to read this,and thank you in advance for any ideas,best regards..... Ree

[sellickbhoy]

ok, so i've never even looked into what coops are available, but someone suggested a good idea is to have a rubber matt on the floor and a flap at the back or side of the coop so that you can lift the flap and pull out the rubber floor and then take the rubber floor and dump it straight onto the compost heap, it's then easily hosed down and replaced

apologies if this is already a really common feature, but i'd heard someone say they built their own coop with this feature and it was a god send

i like the idea of a solar powered light switch, maybe with some sort of proximity detector so that it turns on a light should something approach your chooks at night - like nasty Mr Fox.

I also like the idea of a web cam built in so you can log in at work and watch your chooks pottering about

feel free to make me one with ll of the above and i'll give you great references!! :-)

[Fluffywelshsheep]

lol chick cam!!!!

[rustyme]

chick cam..... would  that be pay per view  

[sellickbhoy]

i can't claim Chick cam as my own idea

http://www.hencam.co.uk/

and

http://www.hencam.com/inside.php

[doganjo]

Solar panel would be a good idea as many chick houses aren't within easy reach of the house.  Mine is at the side of my house and I've put up a PIR on the house wall so that Mr Fox will be definitely 'in the limelight'.  The slide out poop tray sound a great idea - I've got vinyl in mine but it's a sod to heave out, and guess what I've put the flipping compost bin at the other side of the garden  

[gavo]

Ree,
  For the runs I'd want welded mesh sides and floor. That way Mr Fox wouldn't get through the side or dig up into it. Nesting boxes would need a flap/door to access them from the outside. Also the floor of the nesting boxes would benefit with the addition of an "astroturf" type carpet - i.e. you could use an astroturf type doormat and cut it into sections to suit. A friend of mine has this - main purpose is to serve as a soft landing for the eggs to prevent any breakages.
For anything large - perhaps the ability to use a three point linkage to move it about ?

Cheers

Gavin

[stephen]

i dont have any chickens yet but have looked into what is about.... i want turkeys in the future and cant find anyone who does a turkey specific house! google comes up with houses for sale in turkey (the country!)

would ideally want:

*solar lighting
*pull out 'litter' tray
*one side comes off for easy cleaning
*2 doors so it can straddle an enclosure line ane one 'run' can be rested while the other is in use without having to move the house
*automatic pop flap (think thats what they are!)
* maybe built in grit hopper, feed hopper etc that can be accessed without having to go in the run or house
*perch and nest boxes of course!

 

 

[Hilarysmum]

All the ideas on the chicken houses sound good, as optional extras maybe?  Time and time again friends who want chickens want CHEAP hen housing. 

I  have lost count of the number of people who will buy pigs off me if I can supply them with a cheap pig arc.  Most would be very happy with second hand.  So if you can source recycled materials e.g. pallets or corrugated iron you may well be onto a winner.  Ours arnt but I assume it would be possible to paint them a uniform colour, which would make them more attractive to buyers.  Also our arcs dont have floors, that might also be a possible optional extra? 

Another thing we are often asked is if we could deliver.

If you do this can you let me know, have many possible customers.  HM

[xxmillyxx]

I'm quite lucky really we have a joiner who is now working for us.

Credit crunch and all that we bought all the joinery equipment from a liquidiator in our town and are looking into making it a business - as he needs a job and I need a chicken coop and beehives making.  So far he has built my dog compound - compost boxes - shed - summer house - outside furniture, etc.  Its good because I am using all of these (pictures of course) to sell these in the future.

So if you are needing "bespoke" housing for your chucks in the future we may be the people to contact.  That is when he has finished all of mine of course LOL

[Fluffywelshsheep]

to make it easier and profitable you need to find a basic shape then you can add extras too it and make custom made ones
Linz

[Rosemary]

Some way of closing the nest boxes to prevent hens sleeping (and therefore pooping) in the nestboxes.

"Comfy"perches of a decent width - we bought a hen house with narrow perches which none of the hens would perch on.

[xxmillyxx]

How wide should the perches be ideally and how far above the ground please

[sabrina]

£400 is a bit over the top. I designed and build my own coop for well under £100, and most of that went on enough wire to build a dozen more!

The basic "A" frame was based around a 90 degree ridge for ease of construction and sides to suite the size of the wire mesh to avoid cutting too much. 3/4 of the frame was covered with wire leaving and hatch at one end. At the other end the  base rails were left exposed to support the detachable chicken house, built to match out of 2 sheets of 6mm ply. Adding a removable nesting box completed the project.

The key seems to be height, as with the nesting box raised above the coop floor the chickens have almost always laid where they are meant to.

There's a picture or two on our blog at http://westercushnie.blogspot.com/

[Rosemary]

Perches 2" wide with the edged taken off - about 18" to 2ft above the ground unless you put in a ladder.