Advice required in Falkirk/Stirlingshire

[DeanzBeanz]

Hello all!

New to the forums and loving the great advice and knowledge shared.

I wonder if there are any experienced coop owners in the Falkirk/ Stirlingshire area. I would love to set up a coop for a couple of ex battery chooks but I have no idea where to start. I have looked up some chicken keeping courses and have planned the site for coop and large run. I have also registered with the British Hen Welfare Trust.

Do I need to ask the council for planning permission? The coop and run would run North to South along my neighbours large conifer hedge which is about 6ft high and 2ft deep and runs along the whole site. The site is also away from their house so noise would not be an issue.

Another question I have is who looks after and cares for your chooks when you are on holiday? We generally go away for two weeks and would need someone to look after the girls.

Would go out and buy a coop today but really want to have all my concerns settled before we bring some girls home to roost.

Thanks everyone!

DeanzBeanz

[RichmondHens]

Welcome DB to the Vine.

Well,how long is a piece of string? All of us on here have different opinions and ideas about stuff, but a lot of us find home made works the best. Either convert a shed or make your own henhouse (or get a mate handy with a hammer to do it). A lot of the houses/coops on the market are poorly made and certainly the cheaper ones don't seem to last (lots of info about this on other threads).

We make our own, re-designed and refined over the years till I think we are at the stage where we have a design which works for us.

I can't answer the question on permission to have chooks, I believe that if you own your own home then you can have them, if you are a tenant then you need to check your tenancy agreement/chat to your landlord about keeping them, but again, on here there is lots of info about this. Bramble Poultry are very well up on rules and regs re keeping poultry - check out their threads - but in any case you certainly don't need planning permission to build a henhouse.

I rarely go away, but if I do I have friends who come up and do my birds. They are committed enough to come first thing in the morning, last thing at night and during the day for egg collection too - we are very grateful they are happy to do it.

Hope this helps.

[jessmorris]

Check your house deeds to make sure you are allowed to keep poultry....................

[Gro-Bag]

Hi there - I'm in West Lothian and keep three hens on my patio. I have nearby neighbours but they don't mind, and get the benefit of some eggs now and then. One even told me he could hear the hens from his bedroom when he wakes up, but it makes him happy every morning! (phew). I checked with the council and got a lovely encouraging letter back - they are only concerned if there are large number of hens (50 plus) or commercial operations going on. Mine are in a second-hand home which had been a mega huge rabbit hotel (not your average rabbit hutch which would be too small) and it is over a small run containing straw for them to scratch about in, but they come out of that whenever there's someone around the house to keep an eye on them - ie much of the time - and then they have the run of the patio - (and, ahem, the living room when the doors are open!!). They seem very content and are great fun. It sounds like you have a lovely space for them. My main advice is have them near you if you can so you can enjoy their lovely company.

I have a friend awaiting ex-battery hens, who registered for them (with the rehoming organisation) recently. They rehome minimum of 3 together - hens are happier in flocks of 3 or more, - she is taking 4.

[Gro-Bag]

Oh - and as for going away - I've not had to make any formal arrangements as my son looks after mine, - but ideally friends/ family, or else check out pet-sitting services in the area (get a recommendation if you can) or notices at the vets. Also check out All Year Round Birds on google - they do a poultry boarding service. They are in Carnwrath, W. Lothian so probably not more than about an hour from you. It's probably obvious, but I'd try and arrange it so you have your holiday before they arrive and then after a good long settling-in period you'll all be feeling much more confident about making those sorts of arrangements. Good luck : )

[DeanzBeanz]

Thank you for the great advice everyone!

We have a holiday booked for October Gro-Bag so will wait til we come back before setting up a coop. I think we might try and build our own coop as we are not too bad with DIY and there seems to be nothing too complicated in the design.

Can't wait... every day I walk past the planned coop site and imagine some happy girls scratching about happily

Will keep everyone posted!

DB

[Gro-Bag]

Mind you October is some way off...wouldn't want to put you off having the pleasure of them over the summer - or the birds of having the pleasure of the long summer days spent scratching about in your lovely run...

[DeanzBeanz]

Might have to put the plans on hold for the moment... the OH is planning an extension to the rear of our property. This won't affect the run at all but don't want to upset the girls too much with building noise.

Will keep you all posted

[DeanzBeanz]

Good news everyone!

On the 31st July my OH and I will be collecting 4 ex-battery hens The extension will still be going ahead as planned but we have another area that the ark can be moved to whilst the building work is being completed.

Pictures to follow soon...just need to find the perfect coop! Does anyone have any recommendations on retailers?

Dean

[sheena]

In a nutshell, you will never find the perfect coop.

I have seen some lovely designed coop and run's, but there is always another one that makes the previous one look inferior.

The main question is, how many chook's do you plan of having sat any one time?
4? The likelyhood is that you will end up like the rest of us and end up with more than originally planned.

You mentioned the girl's will be behind a hedge, as long as it's not shaded throughout the whole day otherwise you might end up with any eggs. Chooks need a degree of sunlight to enable them to produce an egg, during winter months the days are shorter, so it's important to get as much sunlight as poss during the latter part of the year.

Found this on gumtree, don't know if it's still available, but it's a steal
http://glasgow.gumtree.com/glasgow/81/58439381.html

[DeanzBeanz]

Thanks Sheena!

We have been looking at various coop designs and at one point was tempted to build my own, but I just don't have the time and the girls will be with me before the end of the month.

The hedge in question runs north to south along side the run so the coop and run will have sunshine for most of the morning in the summer, shaded between 11 and 12 and then sun again until 4pm. In the winter we seemed to have very little sun, but this was due to three massive scots pine trees which should be coming down when the extension is built.

I have tried to contact that particular seller but have heard nothing back, I suppose that it has been sold but thanks for the link!

Trying to decide on a coop with a covered run that we can place within an enclosure or just have a coop within a large run...

Covered: COCOON CHICKEN HEN HOUSE COOP POULTRY ARK RUN BRAND NEW on eBay (end time 11-Aug-10 14:30:36 BST)

Uncovered:COCOON CHICKEN HEN HOUSE COOP POULTRY ARK RUN BRAND NEW on eBay (end time 11-Aug-10 14:44:03 BST)

Not the final two but similar to the ones I have looked at... opinions welcome Would also welcome opinions on ground cover for the run

Dean

[sheena]

Depends on how much room you have for them to forage in. If you have quite a bit of room I would go for the second one, but maybe the larger one (Cocoon 1000 @ £129) - for those just in case moments.
And fence around it, don't forget fox proofing.

[DeanzBeanz]

Thanks Sheena!

We decided to go for one similar to the Cocoon 1000 which will enable us to give the girls more room. Just planning the run now...