[Smalltime]

I was just thinking of the best way to prepare this old hen house, a wooden shed affair.

Well I need to fix the roof so refelt that, the old man has some left over from his shed so I can have that. Then wash it all out with Jeyes fluid and then spray it with 50/50 creosote/parrafin.

I was thinking of lining the floor with lino, a bit bigger so it can fold up round the corners four inches or so, and then putting wire grills on the floor, I have some stainless steel ones. Then I was thinking I can just lift up the grills and take them out and wash them off and then wash the lino pretty easily and quickly.

Never kept poultry so need to know if there is something I have not thought of. They only sleep in there really, I have to make a run outside. Do silkies really need 4 square metres per bird? That means for 3 chickens I have to make a run 12 metres by 12 metres? Seems a bit excessive, I live in half that space.

Replies welcome.

[manian]

hi
what are the wire grills for?
we have lino and its fine
you will need perches for them to roost and nest boxes
we use plastic 5 gallon drums, with square cut out
Mx

[Smalltime]

So they wouldn't have splayed legs all the time, i thought they might need something to grip on. 

[manian]

hi
only needed if you are having chicks (in which case will need heat lamp too )
our 8 week olds have all been fine on the lino with wood shavings
so i wouldn't bother (one less place for red mite to hide) 
Mx

[chrismahon]

Hi Smalltime,

Just need to make sure their feet won't get trapped in the grills. Usually slats about 1" wide with a 2" gap go down. You may find poo sticks to anything smaller and won't drop through. Good idea to have a removeable base sheet, but I wouldn't bother overlaping it at the sides. Most important is good ventillation. If you are going to spray 50:50 you will need a good mask. I'd forget the Jeyes, just vaccumn out and brush it on.

4 square metres is for large fowl layers pens. You should get away with 2 for Silkies but the bigger the better. Free range is 15 square metres per hen. 12 x 12 is 144 square metres so it is a bit big for 3 silkies! You are getting mixed up between 'square metres' and 'metres square' -confusing I know but 4 square metres is 2 metres square, 9 square metres is 3 metres square and so on.

Manian's plastic drums is a good idea for nest boxes -I've seen photos. But you do need a lot of space for them.

[tizaala]

Lino is just another place for red mites to hide under, a sprincle of lime and then shavings or straw that can be taken out once a week will be ok.

[Smalltime]

Well I appreciate that red mite can hide under the lino but tbh I dont see a better solution other than just leaving it out and putting them straight on the wood where the mite are bound to gather anyway. I thought it might be better to take the lino out once a week and wash it off, air out the shed floor a bit , then sprinkle some diatom on the wood floor and corners and put the lino back. That was partly the point of making the lino a bit oversize - so it folds on itself round the corners a bit - but it was only a small point to help keep the floor area marginally more enclosed and sterilized. I could just leave the lino out but it seems the most hygenic and easy option to me, I dont fancy scrubbing the wood floor on a regular basis!
Thanks for clarifying on the square meters, a little confusing. I will make it a decent size but there are (reasonable!) limits to how much room I can give to 3 chickens at the end of the day. Still a little unsure as to why I go to other farms and they are all just running around free range, cannot see that working where I am going to be as there are too many foxes and suchlike.
The nest boxes/ perches are fairly sorted, I have an old rabbit hutch (far too small for a rabbit, positively cruel but anyway) that I can modify into 3 nest boxes without much effort and that will work all right I think. I was thinking that if I had roll-away type nest boxes the silkies might not get so broody as there would be no visible eggs to sit on all the time. Not sure if thats how it works though really in reality.
Thanks for the help

[Eve]

I thought we weren't supposed to use felt on a roof because of red mite? 

[daddymatty82]

basic rule of thumb is if you add layers you add places to have redmite i had a major infestation this last year. in all only took 5 months to sort my next hen house il be using either lino or blue plastic and having it cover the whole base and put the sides of shed onto ready covered base. if you were to use lino i would insure its sealed down with silicon to insure you dont get pockets of mites  and to stop the floor from sweating as even if you take out once a week to wash out wood absorbs moisture so you will trap the moisture in every time you place the dry lino back in. as long as you use bedding on the floor like shavings i would not worry about grills  will be abit of a nightmare when the birds fly off the nest boxes onto solid metal flooring grate that could/would damage there feet . it will never get slippy in there as you have already said your cleaning it out weekly and it will have a good 2-3 inch bed of shavings. hope this helps

[Mel]

On my first chicken shed conversion,I have used felt but bonded it down with the tar glue stuff,I also used fabric glue and stuck loft insulation on the roof inside and then covered it-(applied with glue again) with heavy duty plastic sheeting.The floor is bonded laminate which I bought from the tip and has lasted 3 years with no problems,I even jet wash it all out. I have also used sealant in all the gaps.

I did have red mite last year,but the source was from another shed which for some reason is not as far to go to lay an egg and I did not creosote this one as was new-and I was made aware that you are not allowed to creosote new sheds-only those which have been done before?!

The main coop was re-creosoted-(not creocote) from the start and I have not found any red mite.I do however get vent lice (well my hens do!)occasionally but only on the largest fluffy birds like my orps a cross orps...strange that!

I wish to stress that I am not advising to use the real creosote in case of repercussions and all the story which comes with it.I do have to say though that I was raised on a very old farm and all the buildings were thick tarry creosote which went sticky in the hot sun . However,none of the chickens had bugs back then,I have no idea why,the eggs were fine and  the chooks were healthy..

[Heather B]

Really don't think lino is a good idea.  We have used one of those large plastic gardening trays for the bottom of our home made coop filled with either sawdust or a new wood chip bedding thing we are trying at the moment.  The tray can be taken out to be cleaned although you can remove a build up of poo each day.  You don't need to scrub the wooden floor this way.  We scrub the perches though with an appropriate coop cleaner once a month. 

[doganjo]

I have lino on the floor of both my chicken shed and duck shed and it makes life so much easier.  There's no way I could clean a wooden floor well but the lino gets pulled out, jet hosed, dried and put back after a liberal sprinkling of diatom and a good spray all round with mitekill.  No problems in 4 years using thsi method

[Sandy]

I put a floor linner on, soft plastic sheets, they keep the floor underneath clean and like anne says, you can whip them out and hose them down when needed....durring the winter ours certainly make some piles!!!

[bloomer]

your outside run figures are off as well 4 sq m per bird means 12 sq m total or about 3m x 4m

not 12m x 12m which is 144 sq metres and room for a lot of birds :-)

[Smalltime]

Right, sounds like some people seal the lino down, some take it in and out, some don't like lino...I can't see the point in sealing it down on the floor of the shed, its just going to create a dark, damp area which in my, albeit limited, experience tends to breed bacteria. Sooner or later the seal is going to get damaged somewhere and I will have allsorts pouring out and into the lino area. Also its gonna be a pain to clean properly if it doesn't come out, without making everything damp. I wont bother with the grating then as sawdust is obviouly fine on its own. The sq meters I read somewhere, thanks for clarifying, thought it seemed a bit odd. I will have another look at the shed when the weather drys off. The plastic someone had on the roof is rotten so its soaking in there at the moment.

I might need to refloor it first with a solid piece of wood and seal that in first, then use the lino on top as it is easily replaced, as and when, if its not glued down. Seems other people on here have used this method without problems, in conjuntion with regular cleaning etc...