does anyone here keep chickens? if so, how do you house them?

i have been looking for several hours on the net for local suppliers of hen houses etc, but can't find any.

H.P keeps chucks. drop her a pm

email me on joanne.fieldhouse@eaga.com and I'll help where I can. look for my other chooky threads too :)

also try www.rawgreencottages.co.uk at Barnsley for full starter kits and hens, www.northlondonhenrescue.org.uk for rehoming exbatts (next rescue October), and storrs poultry for more hens

brilliant - thanks. we are thinking of getting a couple of rescue hens plus maybe a couple of non-rescue ones. is that an ok idea or will they fall out?

the barnsley place's website has no prices attached (seems the website is under repair at the minute) but we'll take a trip out there and have a look.

:)

We have two coops - one that we bought which is ok, and a large 4ft x 4ft which someone had handbuilt for his own hens which is far superior to the one we purchased!!

As for a run (because we cant leave our chickens to roam the whole garden while we are at work) we use a 6ftx6ftx10ft dog run which our three warrens love! We have introduced two lots of hens together and as soon as they had sorted out their 'pecking order':hihi::rolleyes: (sorry couldnt resist!!) then they were all fine together so I cant see it being a problem inroducing two sets of hens. Good luck in your search :thumbsup:

hi i have a dog kennel 10ftx4ft with 4ftx4ft kennel and 4ftx6ft run its about 5.5ft high you are welcome to this free of charge but it would need a little work where the dogs have chewed the door way you will need to move this aswell free to anyone that wants it

lets hope that saltysnack reads this - sounds like a good chicken conversion project to me! :thumbsup:

I have a spare Ark in the garage, I recently upgraded to an Eglu. I was going to pop it on the for sale section at some point. I find the runs that come with coops and arks are a little on the small side to be honest, my ladies have an eglu with attatched run and a home made enclosure to keep them safe when I am not home, otherwise they free range in the garden.
The problem I have is the ladies seem to think the old lady next doors imaculate lawn looks tastier than ours :o So I have to keep an eye on them, because if theres even the smallest hole to get out they will find it.
The rewarding thing is the way they amble round the garden with us, and if they see me come out they run to greet me. Downside is they miss me and if I am in the house for too long I open the door to find two cheeky hens camped out on the backdoorstep crying:hihi:
People did not believe me when I said the hens cry on the back door for me, our last few visitors were amazed to find two mardy hens on the doorstep tapping on the door with thier beaks :rolleyes:

andmac - thanks for the offer, but i think it'd be a bit too big for our garden and our quite modest chicken aspirations...

i've been thinking today of converting our garden shed, but for similar reasons i think we'll stick with the idea of buying a ready-made hen-house so it's got all the bits you need ready done. just need to find a decent local supplier.

h.p. thanks for the ideas - we've looked at arks, but really fancy one of the off the ground style houses. we do get a fair few foxes round here too - don't know if there are any badgers - no doubt we'll soon find out...

i have looked at the battery rescue link posted above, so we have got a couple of month to set things up.

it's nice to know there are lots of chicken keepers around about!!

:)

andmac - thanks for the offer, but i think it'd be a bit too big for our garden and our quite modest chicken aspirations...

i've been thinking today of converting our garden shed, but for similar reasons i think we'll stick with the idea of buying a ready-made hen-house so it's got all the bits you need ready done. just need to find a decent local supplier.

h.p. thanks for the ideas - we've looked at arks, but really fancy one of the off the ground style houses. we do get a fair few foxes round here too - don't know if there are any badgers - no doubt we'll soon find out...

i have looked at the battery rescue link posted above, so we have got a couple of month to set things up.

it's nice to know there are lots of chicken keepers around about!!

:)

Thats the main reason for us buying the eglu, they are supposedly completley fox proof, you could have a look at the eglu cube if you have cash to splash.. they are a touch pricey.
http://www.omlet.co.uk/homepage/homepage.php
I liked the fox proof thing and the added bonus of no mite infestations in a plastic house. If I had the spare readies we would have had a cube. The other half thought the Eglu was enough :o

Hi me and my girlfriend have been looking into this in the past couple of weeks..we have been rescuing animals for a long time, reptiles etc. and after weeks of clearing the garden, growing veg, this is our next step...only a few though, 4 or 5...but im the worst DIYer in the world!!

if anyone wants to come and meet my exbatts and see how they have blossomed into lovely ladies then they are welcome. I also have two baldies (and I mean oven ready!!) from the last rescue which are recovering nicely. When they are a little stronger they'll all go in together. I have two young purebreds too and the ex-batts being used to fighting for their food are quite dominant. I've just started the introductions at tea time when they have their treats and so far so good. Next step is sleeping together!

I built my hen house out of some old ply sheets, fence posts and a trailer lid. All I paid for was the roofing felt, perches (2x4 stud wall battons split lengthways and shelf brackets) and corrugated plastic window. It's raised on stilts and the hens love to shelter and dust bathe underneath :)

The henspital pen is an old rabbit hutch with a perch in it, nothing special but it works well. The easiest conversion going! Lots of people have converted old sheds etc too.

Get yourselves on the ex-batt yahoo group, there's loads of great advice on there (and it's the only group that I can still get on at work ;)), even if you are after pol rather than ex-batts :)

i have sent you a pm, jobi wan. we'd love to...

:)

rethinking this idea of adapting a shed....

do they need light indoors? or does the indoors accommodation have to be dark? or doesn't it matter?

...............................

Mind you my ladies take themselves off to beebyes by seven thrity every night anyway

7.30!!! Can they come and teach mine a lesson - ours are late nighters and stay up until 9.30 - 10 and still demand to be let out first thing!! :hihi:

BTW anyone thinking of getting chickens they are excellent slug and snail pest controllers!!! :thumbsup:

thanks to jobi wan for showing us her chickens this evening and giving us lots of good advice. looking forward to getting our own now

:)

7.30!!! Can they come and teach mine a lesson - ours are late nighters and stay up until 9.30 - 10 and still demand to be let out first thing!! :hihi:

BTW anyone thinking of getting chickens they are excellent slug and snail pest controllers!!! :thumbsup:

Wow, you can time the clock by mine 7:30 every night they mooch off into the Eglu. Talking about slugs and stuff, I was mowing the lawn the other day and to my horror I went over a rather large frog :gag: the worst bit was watching the ladies running round the garden with bits of frog hanging from thier beaks

I was mowing the lawn the other day and to my horror I went over a rather large frog the worst bit was watching the ladies running round the garden with bits of frog hanging from thier beaks

:gag: eerrgghhhh!!!!! Lets hope my girlies stick to the slugs and snails. Will have to get OH to read that post - he is frequently found frog moving before mowing the lawn!!! Will have to ve extra vigilant next mow!!:o

BTW have you (or any other chicken people) ever had problems with your hens going broody? I have two speckeldys who are the worst and since october last year one has gone broody twice - slightly frustrating as they dont lay during that time. No idea what is causing it. We have a broody warren atm too!! Have tried alsorts to stop them but in the end we just have to wait for them to 'cool off' as it were!

One other qu - does anyone own silkies? I know they are not productive layers like my warrens and speckeldies but have always fancied a couple - just wondered if anyone had any experience with that breed? :thumbsup:

I have a Black rock and an ISA brown, neither of them have shown any inclination of becoming broody, from what I read it's mainly the pure breeds who get broody.

yes I was under the impression that it was peure breeds that got broody rather than the hybrids - this info aswell as the 7.30pm bedtime seems to have passed over my girls :rolleyes:

I've heard today that somebody who posted somewhere on the internet (second hand story sorry) had used ice cubes in the nest to literally cool off the broodies. Aparently it worked. May be worth looking into more?

But I've not had that problem... yet!

And Salty, you're more than welcome to come again :)

I have heard about them sitting on cool packs before so icecubes would be similar - you have to get their body temp down and a tip from the omlet site was a quick dunk in cold water :o

.... yes I did try it and no it didnt work - just ended up with a wet broody chicken instead of a dry one! :rolleyes: :hihi:

We also try shutting them out of the coop but then of course the other girls cant get in to lay.

All seem to be almost back to normal I just find it strange that we seem to have a broody 'batch' even though they are two diff breeds! May try the ice cubes in the future though - thanks for the tip.

(Loving the chicken jumpers btw... if only I was good at knitting!!!!)

yes I was under the impression that it was peure breeds that got broody rather than the hybrids - this info aswell as the 7.30pm bedtime seems to have passed over my girls :rolleyes:

Lol, I would not worry. It's passed by my kids as well :hihi: the 7:30 bedtime.. not being broody

hey - we ordered our first chickens and a coop to keep them in this evening!!

:)

yay!! :D

They're so addictive, and great fun to have around the place!!

Pics please when you get them ;)

.........................

Hi
I've kept chickens for a number of years and have three ex-batts that I rescued via the Battery Hens Welfare Trust

I had to go all the way over to Haslingden near Rochdale to get them. They are super girls and it has been a joy watching them recuperate and feather up.

Re broody hens, the ice pack trick can help, so can dunking the hen in cold water a few times a day to lower the temperature and blocking off the nesting box so that they can't sit.

The most effective method of snapping them out of it is to put them in a broody cage, usually around three days is long enough.

A wire dog crate is ideal, lifted up on bricks so that air can circulate, and just the wire floor so that she won't want to sit.

Leave her in it, with food and water 24/7 and she will come to her senses again quite quickly.

You might want to put the broody cage out of the way of predators at night.

thanks foe the advice re broody hens - luckily all my girls are back to normal now. have tried ice packs and dunking previously but both failed!!

now have a new prob - the wet weather seems to have brought out the red mites. :mad: Never had a prob before but the are invading the nest boxes of one of my coops. (I dont have any felt roofing btw) I have some powder for the hens but can anyone recomend a good hen safe spray or similar for the nest boxes as I cant seem to get rid of the horrible little things - thankfully hens seem unaffected up till now.

Can anyone help? :help:

Poultry Shield works well.

Diatomaceous Earth, which you can google....I can't post a link yet.....is useful if you don't like to use "products".

Put it on the hen, around her nether regions and under her wings in particular.

Also dust it into any nooks and crannies in the hen house, particularly the roosting bars. Once red mite take hold, they are very difficult to eradicate.

I use Xeno 200, an ivermectin product, *not licensed for use on poultry in UK, it works well, but is expensive, and won't sort out th e problem in the hen house.....that is why I have my girls in Eglus.

Diatomacious earth can help as it is safe for the hens but breaks down the waxy skeleton of the mite and they dehydrate and die. You can sprinkle it in nest and dust boxes and along perches, as well as on the birds. It's not the cheapest by far but is one of the better remedies and a little goes a long way. It's available on ebay I think.

I got mine from ~SPR Centre~ (http://www.sprcentre.co.uk/)

Have got some powder that gos on the hen so will this be suitable to sprinkle into coop corners etc where i cant shift the little bgs from???

There seem to be hundreds since last nights rain :(

It won't do any harm! :)

It Barrier Red Mite Powder?

Smells heavenly.

Yes it is barrier... only used it on the hens but might go out and attack the corners etc of the coop too. Thanks so much for advice - have never seen soooo many redmites befroe and as we have never had a problem before seems very strange. I will get rid of them though!!! :)

I have used Xeno 200 * Not licensed for poultry in UK on my hens - obtained from vet but you can buy buy on line.

Dosage varies from vet to vet, but mine advised 5 sprays per medium sized hen - applied to the back of the neck - to be repeated one week later.

Works a treat......but you do have to keep the little bu**ers under control in the hen house.

Egg withdrawal applies during treatment and for one week after.

Well, they have finally landed - the first two anyhow

:)

We have a black one and a white-ish one and hopefully getting a couple more shortly.

They seem pretty happy pecking about in their run at the end of the garden and were very well behaved putting themselves to bed at 7.10 yesterday evening....

Yay!! So pleased for you :D