Selfsufficientish.com

Hi,
Could you put the chickens under the trees, for shade and ready made fertiliser for the fruit trees
Becks

Do you know what, i hadn't thought of that, that is a good idea,

Thanks I will propose that to the council and see what happens
Xe

moving them up opposite the lawn area will mean you can sit there & watch ther chickeny antics

Now that is a really good idea, it is a bigger area and actually more shady, from a neighbours tree.
Am I correct in thinking 4 Hens can't have too much room?

And is it better to buy a coop and make a run yourself? Or is it really easy to build the whole thing? I have been looking around and the built in runs all appear a little small to me?!

Or...does anyone know of a decent second hand coop?

Thanks guys

Xe

xXx

Hi,
We were very fortunate and were given the coop with the hens and then fenced off an area of the garden as a run to give them plenty of room, they are allowed to free range although only under very close supervision, but they do make a mess when they go free range.
Hope all works out for you
Becks

I partitioned off an area of the shed for mine (it is a very big shed) and then my neighbour built a run on the back of the shed for them.

You could ask the neighbour if they mind. If you aren't planning to have a cockerel then there won't be much noise. If you keep them cleaned out then they won't smell too bad. My neighbours all love my chickens and have no complaints about them.

I do think that the bought runs are too small unless you let them free-range all day.

Finally, you probably want them reasonably close to the house. It's a pain having to trudge all the way down the bottom of the garden in the pouring rain just to feed the chooks.

Zoe

Hiya, whether you decide to buy your hen hut or build your own, check to see if you need to re-enforce the bottom. I remeber when I was small, my parents had a shop bought hen house and one night, the fox burrowed underneath and ate the hens legs through the slats. It was very distressing for all concerned and i wouldn't want anyone else to go through that.

Hiya Rachel, Thomzo, all
That sounds awful, we do have a fox who visits occassionally, I have thought about having a..."Lip" of extra wire flat on the ground on the outside of the run, to help stop the digging.

But just how ingenious are these foxes?

Do I need a top on the run as well?

I still need to decide exactly where I want them to be in the garden, If the council will allow me i'm still inclined to put them at the bottom where I first proposed.
There Is a lovely Huge Pitesporium to give them lots of shadow, and Part of the area is paved so i thought it would be easier to clean out, Is it a good idea to put wood chips down for them to scratch arround in?

I have had a long talk with both my neighbours and they are quite excited at the idea! which is fantastic...! I just need to talk to the council now...I have to get written permission as they are my landlord...So let the games begin! I will let you all know how I do.

Thanks Xe

Foxes have degrees in accessing hens. There's lots of stuff on this site about how to deter them, though.