Nearly a Hen Mother but I do have a few daft newbie questions - Any Help Please

[Muppet]

Wanted them for years and now on the final approach for Spring Chickens but...it's newbie question time again
Is a hen house that is 4ft wide 3 ft deep and 4 ft high big enough for 5 hens?
Is there anything we should paint/spray on the inside of the hen house before the girls arrive - we have an industrial size tub of Cuprinol for the outside and run fencing?
Groan at the embarassment - do you put water inside the house over night?
Does the double nest box need a partition so the girls can lay with privacy and dignity?
Is a 12ft x 12ft run big enough for 5 girls? - one side of the run is a 7 ft native hedge that has been fenced underneath to stop a re-enactment of the Great Escape.
All advice really needed although you may have already guessed that from the above questions
Sue

[Feral007]

Welcome to the chook club. I can't help with measurements as I just have a big old hen house, with 6 nest boxes. They only lay in one of them, or in the hay shed, or possibly somewhere else this week.

Someone useful will be along shortly

[Bill HH]

I would say yes the pen is big enough, the run will be big enough until they turn it into a dust bowl, no you dont need water inside at night as long as you dont forget to let them out, or you would need it in if you kept them in for any reason and you really should have individual nest boxes, to much room and they either fight each other and break the eggs or eat each others eggs. I am not sure about spraying inside, we used to use creosote but it needs to dry out before the birds go in.

[Muppet]

Thank you for replying - Oh Pig Poo things have changed a bit in the last few hours. BHWT have a release on 15th Dec so it looks like we are going to have very special Christmas pressies this year. Now I am about to make my credit card sag under the weight of everything we don't have for the new arrivals. I sort of have a basic list of things to get but advice is now urgently needed.
Sue

[kathyd]

Hi Sue, gratz on your decision to get some chooks . A hen house will usually recommend how many birds it's for - doesn't yours give any guidelines? I'll try to remember to measure mine when I go out and let you know... I do know mine said 6-8 birds, but it all depends on the size of the bird really. Big birds obviously take up more room! I think the minimum recommended space for a chicken run is 1sm per bird, but I may be mistaken. Will they be let out into the garden to free range at all?

You need to make sure they have some shelter (not the coop, they won't use it during the day except to lay eggs) - so a roofed section of some kind maybe? I ended up stapling thick polythene around one end of my run to start off with, to keep the driving bitter winds and rain off them, especially when they moult. Also need some shade from the sun in summer. You'll need to consider what you're doing with the ground too, because it'll go grotty if you keep them in the same space for prolonged periods, and especially if you have no cover. You'll need to stop them getting bored - something to scratch in / dig in / dust bathe in is good (ours love a large half barrel of compost. Used to be for flowers and bulbs, but the chickens have finally won the battle...).

I'd strongly recommend you paint the house inside and out with creocote (replacement for creosote) - got ours from B&Q - scrub it hard into every tiny nook and crannie to help deter red mites, which can kill chickens. Allow 2-3 days for the smell of the creocote to fade a bit before putting the birds in though. Top this up with lots of diatomaceous earth (eg diatom) under the bedding, and rubbed into the birds.

I do leave water in at night, because we've now moved our coop into a big outbuilding so we have plenty of room (the whole thing leaked, fell to bits and was generally rubbish quality), but they won't drink during the night, and won't wake up until it gets light, so as long as you visit them to let them out as BBH says, they'll be fine.

Most of them do like to be private when laying, and they all seem to want to use the same box no matter how many you make available. So separate it if you can. I also stapled black bin liner cut into strips along the front of ours to make it more private and a bit darker, and to try to stop them sleeping in it (dismal failure on the 2nd point, but again I'm able to provide separate boxes elsewhere in the outbuilding so it's not an issue for me - but you need to try to stop them falling into bad habits like a 'proper' chicken keeper should!).

You'll need a feeder and drinker of course - I bought metal ones and now wish I hadn't - you can't add unpasteurised cider vinegar to the drinking water in a metal drinker because it reacts with the metal, and the vinegar is meant to help keep their gut healthy. However, a plastic one is lighter and easier to tip over if they walk in it - consider suspended feeder if possible.

Bedding should be wood shavings (not sawdust, and not wood chips, the special shavings you buy for bedding) - straw is lovely but can harbour red mites more easily.

Make sure you have some Flubenvet in stock for worming, and check out the Sticky thread about essential store cupboard ingredients at some point. I'm sure there's loads of stuff I've forgotten, but someone else will be along shortly to give you more advice I'm sure, and you can always come back and ask more questions when you know what they are!

Photos please, once you've got your chooks!

[Muppet]

We were really pleased with the Hen House we got from the farm shop - including them bringing it, building it and giving us 3 6 ft x 4 ft picket fence panels plus another one with a gate it cost us £170. We have since bought another couple of panels to extend the size of the run to 4m x 4m although one side is a native british hedge that some kind previous occupant had put heavy duty (and in good nick) chicken wire at the bottom to stop escapees.
Went shopping yesterday and got plastic 3kg feeder, ACV, Diatom, Poultry Shield, horsey wood shavings (dust extracted), gentian violet, anti-peck spray, coloured leg rings (as the girls names have already been decided), mixed grit and mixed corn.
I really hope our grown up kids are not expecting Christmas pressies this year - I will have to explain that by sacrificing the pressies they gain Karma points!.
OH is as I type out with the Hen House putting in a separation for the nest box he then plans to don my bright pink rubber gloves and start Creocote sloshing! He is quite please with himself for creating a 'Hen Hill' in the middle of the run - we have only lived here for 8 weeks so the frantic digging up of turf for my new veggie beds next year has come in useful to create said mound.
If you think I am excited about the new arrivals you should see him! Mind you this project has helped no end with his depression.
I tried to register with the Ex Bat Forum run by the BHWT but it won't give me access so........
Because it's winter and the poor things might be part or completely featherless is it worth getting a few Chicken jumpers from Ebay? I never imagined myself having to write something like that but Hey Ho!
Thank you all for the advice - off to Google drinkers and ex bat food now.
Sue X

[kathyd]

Lol, you sound like you're having lots of fun . Your picket fence panels though - are they 4ft high? Not sure they'll be tall enough for safety... if nothing else, dogs and foxes can jump that high.. Some chickens will also be able to fly out over the top.

Can't advise on chicken jumpers sorry - I've not had ex batts. But they do look amazing and funny and colourful . I saw some in a recent magazine designed for free ranging chickens so they can be seen by drivers when crossing the road if they escape! Rofl . Chicken fashion! Maybe your kids would like to buy them some for xmas??

[Verinda]

I have four ex-batts, they came from a packed barn. I don't have a lot of experience as I've only had them two months, but just to say only one of them, Maggie seemed a bit shocked by her first cold night, she was quite unwell and I let her spend the next night in the kitchen roosting by the stove. I have cardboard down on the henhouse floor now that its much colder, but Hens are quite hardy. They can also fly quite high as Kathy says. My ex-batts are daft, they are constantly under my feet, literally! It's almost impossible to avoid stepping on them, but they are also great company and have helped my husband with his depression. They are easy to look after, ours don't peck each other at all. We love them, the eggs are just a bonus!

Good luck with your hens, I think they will love their new home!

[Feral007]

I have ex batt's x 3 and 2 isa browns, and one rooster.

The batties are crackers! They are always under your feet, they chatter away like mad things!
We got 4 originally but sadly one was eaten by a fox. She only had a couple of weeks of sunshine and sun baths before she went, but I think it was probably the best part of her life.
Two of ours weren't badly defeathered but 2 were. One was quite a pecker and used to give the others a hard time.
Once I put them out in the free range with the rooster and other two hens they all settled down.

Today I noticed that with all the rain *unusual here* they are being 'pastured chooks' and out foraging in the paddock.
Usually they see me at the clothesline and make haste to see if I've any scraps for them.

The batties didn't know how to roost, but this spring they have finally made it to the high perch! Altho one will go and sleep in one of the nest boxes at times. I love looking at other peoples fancy chooks, but I really love my batties.

[Muppet]

Thank you all - help and encouragement are the 2 best things at the moment. OH was nearly banned from bed last night because the copious amounts of Creacote he had been slapping inside the hen house had not lost its smell even after a long hot bath - it's an interesting aftershave! NOT. I have a brilliant conversation with a friend last night when I asked her to knit me (knitting patterns and Chinese have similar attributes - both unintelligable) a couple of hen jumpers - just in case. She is a historical r-enactor so I am really looking forward to seeing what she, as a very crafty person will create. Either way the conversation was very enjoyable.
Sue X