Finally taking the plunge

[BarleySugar]

Sorry for the long post but.............
I've been considering getting a few chooks for quite a while, checking out coops etc, but what with work, time was a major factor. Now it looks as if I will be a lady of leisure , at least until I can find something else, I took the plunge and ordered a coop.
Now the dedicated area is 1.6m by 2.8m, with the intention to let them roam when I'm around. Wishful thinking or what, I ordered the larger version, which is 1.9m long and 1.1m wide, with an extra run of 1m. Now, whichever way you want to look at it, I'm a few cm short of space. Son No2 (21yrs old) is very excited about them, and says once it comes we are both good at practical problem solving so we can make a few adaptions. He wasn't keen to build one from scratch though.
I read on another forum about smelly runs, the advice was to pave and use bark chippings for them to scratch in, so we went to homebase and bought the cheapest slabs. To be honest next door would probably get blamed for any smell because their garden, and ours, stinks from their 5 German Shepherd dogs. I did suggest we should just bring some of the slabs I got from Freecycle home from the plot to use, and I'd keep a look out for some more, but OH suffered so much getting them up there, he decided it was easier to buy He didn't touch them at all, a nice man put them on the trolley, wheeled it through the store, and unloaded them into the car as well.
Son No2 was entranced by the chickens at Dobbies, but they are £30 each . I found this site Hybrid Hens for sale - The Ark Breeders and Stockists of Poultry, Waterfowl and Bee Keeping Supplies in Kent, I like the idea of meeting the chickens before buying, so we will wait for Kissykit to come home for Easter from uni, and will go and pick some out. They say the coop is big enough for 6, but I know they often seem to over estimate, so I'll decide once we get it built. It will be hard to wait once we have it sorted, but as she wants to buy me one instead of an Easter egg, so only fair for her to choose it.

[chris]

Great news! Bad news about your job though.. fingers crossed you find something else. Watch out for next doors dogs getting through mind!

If you can cover the run that'll help... wet slimey muddy poo smells, but dryish run floors dont really.

[jps]

well done.

we planned and talked about it for ages but in the end you have to jsut go for it.

i managed to convert 2 sheds and build 2 runs just using info i had learned online, and up till then i hadnt done anything like this kind of work.

sorry about your job tho, thats bad news

[BarleySugar]

Luckily our gardens are a strange shape, and the chicken bit will be behind the greenhouse. Next door only have a narrow corridor the other side of the 6ft fence, and they've put a gate in to stop the dogs getting out if they have the garage door open. I've been thinking about covering the run so they are quite dry, once we have it built I will be able to consider what we can use. It doesn't need to be particularly good looking as it won't be seen from the house. I can't wait to hear the comments from the kids next door (3,5,7) when they see the chooks roaming around the garden I know it will take a long time (if ever) for the hens to lay enough eggs to be self financing, but if I spend out now, we will have eggs when money gets tighter

[jps]

we ended up spending more than i anticipated tbh but that wasnt helped by the original 1 shed 6 chook plan quickly evolving into 2 sheds and 12 chooks.

you will get it back eventually but if you can keep the costs down by using recycled stuff it all helps.

our biggest costs were the shed ( already had one) and the weld mesh as we needed it to be fox proof, we dont let them free range as much as i would love to because one side of our garden only has 3-4 foot fences and they would be gone!

most of the wood i needed we had been left in the garage by the previous owner which also helped!

[chris]

Luckily our gardens are a strange shape, and the chicken bit will be behind the greenhouse. Next door only have a narrow corridor the other side of the 6ft fence, and they've put a gate in to stop the dogs getting out if they have the garage door open. I've been thinking about covering the run so they are quite dry, once we have it built I will be able to consider what we can use. It doesn't need to be particularly good looking as it won't be seen from the house. I can't wait to hear the comments from the kids next door (3,5,7) when they see the chooks roaming around the garden I know it will take a long time (if ever) for the hens to lay enough eggs to be self financing, but if I spend out now, we will have eggs when money gets tighter

I have three hybrids. I've not bought any eggs for a year and a bit now (since we had them).. We eat them 'seasonally' - whenever we have them. Hybrids will churn eggs out almost daily, but then burn out after a year or two.. Pure breeds will lay for up to 4 odd years (sometimes longer in some cases). How many are you looking to get?

[elizajay]

Sorry to hear about the job BS, but at least your veg and prospective eggs will help. Try Keeping Chickens or Poultry at Home, Backyard Poultry Keeping and Laying Hens for poultry suppliers. I have used Hen house Poultry.
Ben and both his children breed chickens and they are very healthy and a good variety.

[BarleySugar]

Yesterday, expecting delivery of the coop, I had a communication from the firm to say it was out of stock, despite them accepting my order and taking payment. They gave me the name of a rival who might be able to help, but they didn't stock the same model. I spent all yesterday evening trying to find another one, in my price range, with no luck. I was dreading telling DD (Kissykit), that we wouldn't be picking out chickens when she came home. This morning, discussing with OH, he suggested building an enclosed run at the back of the garden and putting a coop inside. To be honest, it turned out that both of us had wondered about the amount of run space they would have had. Son No2 wasn't too happy at first, it is a lot more work, and he'd really liked the look of the one I'd chosen. However, he's much more convinced now. He laid the paving, put up the necessary posts, and he and OH fixed the batons etc to support the clear corrugated roof. We were 3 slabs short, and Homebase were out of stock, but a chance conversation with a plotholder and his wife, and a jar of jam later, they passed on the slabs they had leftover from one of their projects.
If needs be, we have temporary secure housing we can use in the run until the 'perfect' coop arrives, so we are still on track. In the process son No2 has been offered painting and decorating jobs and light gardening work when we have been doing our 'pr' work with the neighbours. Everyone has been very enthusiastic, one took on a plot on at the allotments because she saw I had one, was thinking of chickens, and is now going ahead because I am
One observation was, 'we live in a village, anyone who objects should be living in a flat in a city'.

[Hilary B]

What chooks need (once you have a secure run) is a nestbox, a perch and a roof over it. We kept chooks (free ranging) with a wooden box on the floor of a 'tin' shed, and a perch attached across above the nestbox. There wasn't even a door on the shed. We didn't have foxes or other predators there, but if the arrangement is in a fox-proof enclosure (as we had at a different place), it will still work just fine!
Food needs to be under a roof of course. I almost never bothered with 'shutting the hens up' at night, they either were fully free range, or in their secure run, but able to be 'in the garden (the run)' any time they liked, and while there was the occasional loss to predators (more often a stray dog than a fox) if they were free, it was not a big problem.