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Hi all

I am planning to get three hens. I happen to have a broken chest freezer which I am considering making into their henhouse. I hope that the insulating properties will keep them warm..

The freezer would be put on it side. I would make a hole in the door and attach a automatic opener http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenho ... html#aVSBb

I will put perches and nesting boxes inside. I will also put in some extra ventilation holes in the door.

I will put a latch on the door to stop foxes opening it.

I am thinking it will be well insulated, dry and easy to clean.

Is there any reason this is a bad idea?

Ventilation?

Ditto ventilation ...........

Oh and what about the gases?

Old models contain CFC gases which could get released as the freezer rusts, gets pecked etc....

I would have thought it was a possible but bear in mind that chickens peck and quite hard. Depending on what the inside is made of, they might peck through it and expose nasty bits of plastic or wiring that could do them some damage. Try it and keep an eye on them. The ventilation can be sorted by making up your own pop-hole cover (do you really need an auto one????). You could use a bit of grill. My bantam house just has a wire=mesh "gate" across the entrance rather than a proper door. It does the job of keeping the foxes out but allows lots of air circulation.

Cheers
Zoe

"I will also put in some extra ventilation holes in the door."


(do you really need an auto one????)

I think that I do yes. I am fairly absent minded and don't want them to get eaten..

Cheers

Sam

sam_uk wrote:
(do you really need an auto one????)

I think that I do yes. I am fairly absent minded and don't want them to get eaten..

Cheers
Sam

I have this problem (memory) and lost my last lot to a fox because I forgot to shut them up one night.
Now I have it sorted though, I programmed the alarm on my mobile phone to go off every night about 10 minutes after it gets dark.
It has worked well for over a year now and if you already have a phone that is with you all the time ... it costs nothing.

Thomzo wrote:I would have thought it was a possible but bear in mind that chickens peck and quite hard. Depending on what the inside is made of, they might peck through it and expose nasty bits of plastic or wiring that could do them some damage. Try it and keep an eye on them. The ventilation can be sorted by making up your own pop-hole cover (do you really need an auto one????). You could use a bit of grill. My bantam house just has a wire=mesh "gate" across the entrance rather than a proper door. It does the job of keeping the foxes out but allows lots of air circulation.

Cheers
Zoe

hi i always thought they had to stay out of draughts,im building a house and enclosure out of an old kennel and run so if thats the case techniqually i dont need a door as they will be surrounded by heavyduty weldmesh even on the roof.

Could it get really hot in a freezer in summer? I've no idea just wondering.

sam_uk wrote:I would make a hole in the door and attach a automatic opener http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenho ... html#aVSBb

I've been thinking about this for a couple of days, mainly because I didn't know you could get such a thing, and without being too much of a killjoy I'm not sure that it's a good idea at all.
I note that it works on a light detector which means in the summer it will automatically open about 4 am, which is a good 4 hours before I get up, and probably a good 4 hours before the foxes go to bed.
Also (as happened tonight) I went out to shut my chicken up, only to find them still strolling about in the near darkness ... I had to leave them for another quarter of an hour before they were all in bed. An automatic shutter upper might well have shut them out for the night.

Don't let me put you off from keeping chicken though Sam, you will never go back to eating shop eggs and it's a very therapeutic hobby too.

moocher wrote:hi i always thought they had to stay out of draughts,im building a house and enclosure out of an old kennel and run so if thats the case techniqually i dont need a door as they will be surrounded by heavyduty weldmesh even on the roof.

I just point the hen house away from the direction the wind normally blows. They don't seem to mind too much. The ex-bats that are in nothing but a wooden box with no door are still laying an egg a day each. The younger girls, carefully shut up in their thick wooden shed with no drafts and lots of insulation, are laying about half that

Zoe

Chickens, would in the wild, roost in the lower branches of trees, so I don't think that cold or warmth is an issue, and our security is double entry to the hen house. So far this seems to work as we have not lost any chooks since I built it 15 years ago, and they put themslves to bed every night.

oldfella wrote:Chickens, would in the wild, roost in the lower branches of trees, so I don't think that cold or warmth is an issue, and our security is double entry to the hen house. So far this seems to work as we have not lost any chooks since I built it 15 years ago, and they put themslves to bed every night.

Hii Oldfella, Could you explain what you mean by a double entry, please? It sounds like something which might be helpful for us.

Hi Carolinew, All we did was put a normal opening into the hen house and in front of the opening built a small wire enclosure with another opening around the corner of the house and covered the top of the enclosure with netting, about 70cm from the ground, so the chooks have walk along a bit of a corridor and turn a corner to get to bed.
Of course for the first few nights you will have to open the net in front of the door and close them in untill they learn when they get up how to get out in the morning, but they soon learn. Works for us so I hope it works for you, but then again ours are French foxs so who knows

Hi Oldfella - any chance of a pic of this? ... I'm just building a hen-house !