Solway coops and runs

[Bantams=Banter]

I know there's been requests for opinions on the Solway coops and runs before, but as far as I can see, not for a while.

I'm getting money from all my nearest and dearest for Christmas with a view to getting a garden set up in the new year.

I'm thinking bantams (max 4)

So, can I please have everyone's opinions of the Solway coops and runs, because I think they look ace...

Cheers in advance!

 

[Marigold]

I have no experience with Solway, but have heard good recommendations of them. As far as I'm concerned, at least they're plastic! Mine is a Green Frog, I've always been very happy with it and so have the hens, so far as I know. So easy to keep clean, well ventilated, and I've never had redmite in it. I would never willingly go back to wooden ones.

 

[chrismahon]

We have an old Solway which we bought second-hand from Margaid (member of this forum) Bantams=Banter. Very solid it is indeed. Ventilation is OK for UK and the pop-hole and door is secure. Minor downsides:- the access door is small so cleaning out is awkward, particularly when the coop is on the floor; the door leaks in driving rain because it has no seal so the floor needs wet bedding taking out on occasions, but at least the floor won't rot; the internal nest box (removed on ours) makes cleaning out even more awkward. It would be fine for 4 bantams- we have two large fowl in ours and there is easily room for another.

Would I buy another? Yes if the price was right because, although it has minor issues it does work sufficiently well, but that would mean buying second hand for me. Our neighbour thinks it looks like an old fashioned oil central heating boiler (as it's been fitted with an external nest box which looks like a burner unit) but we think it looks OK, although we do prefer apex roofed wooden coops.

 

[Marigold]

In the light of Chris's post, I find my Green Frog answers most of those problems. Build quality is excellent - mine is several years old now and functionally as good as new, I can't see how it could ever wear out. Ventilation is very good, as the roof has a 1" continuous strip of space between the top and the walls - the roof bends and overlaps the edges and is supported on small protrusions on the top of the walls. There are 4 adjustable ventilators as well, and also the door can be adjusted from fully open down to closed - it's a triangle supported on the apex, very easy to adjust if needed. The back side removes easily and completely, making daily poo picking and occasional more thorough cleaning a doddle. The two nestboxes are external, removable and come to bits when thorough cleaning is necessary. Two perches, slotted through the walls, easily removed. My run is under cover, so rain isn't an issue, but I would imagine it would be as waterproof as any other coop. I would like it to be higher off the ground, but you could always set it up on concrete blocks, to make more room underneath for the hens and to make bending down easier when attending to cleaning. I have the Medium one, which has plenty of room for up to 6 hybrid-sized birds. (Beware - many coop manufacturers wildly overstate the number of birds their coops will hold.) GF comes in various colours - each to his own, but the green and black version fits well into the garden colour scheme.
I would recommend a roof on your run if possible - the hens and their keeper stay dry, clean and comfortable, there's no mud to contend with, food doesn't get mouldy, and if you can completely exclude wild birds you won't get redmite. (They shake the mites off their feathers when they perch on a mesh roof, or if they're able to enter the run to eat and pollute the chickens' food.) And if you use 1/2" mesh for the walls, and also lay this under the floor, you will be protected from predators burrowing in, mice, rats or foxes. Put permeable weed proof membrane over the mesh on the floor, peg it down well with metal tent pegs, then top this up with Aubiose (shredded hemp) or any other dry bedding. Lovely, soft and warm for the girls!
Oh, and make the run as big as you possibly can - nobody ever says their run is too big! We recommend 2 sq. metres of run space per bird, and this ratio is especially important for small numbers of birds in little runs where there's less room for them to escape dominant hens.

 

[Margaid]

Actually it was third hand when Chris bought it as I found it second hand on eBay. It was an early version of the Eco Hen House which now have external nest boxes as standard. If you look at this one on the Solway website you can see the access door that Chris mentions. I had it raised off he ground but well secured as it was in a field and quite exposed. The only problem is that you wouldn't be able to stand up in the run, which makes cleaning out very uncomfortable. So you may be better of putting the hen house inside a taller run, either built yourself or maybe one from Green Frog - the Green Frog site keeps crashing so I can't give you any details. The Solway houses are of course built from recycled plastic. I only sold it becaue I had to give up keeping hens

Marigold's beaten me to it - I bought the Solway in 2012 ...

 

[Marigold]

I don't know where you live, B-B, but found this ad on Preloved. It'd in a village a few miles N. of Swansea, convenient for the M4 if you live in Wales or the Midlands.
http://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/show/117395534/complete-chicken-set-up-bargain.html?link=%2Fsearch%3Fkeyword%3Dgreen%2Bfrog%2Bcoops

 

[Bantams=Banter]

Thank you all for the information and insight!

I'm surprised nobody mentioned any Omlet products, but I'm also pleased because I absolutely can't afford anything of theirs!!

I'm also looking at Cosy Coops, but I'm worried they look a bit flimsy...

Mucking out won't be a problem because I have 100sq ft flagged area at my disposal to move it around on so I can disinfect one area while the run is on another...

I'm going to faff about this, I can feel it in my bones... 07

Oh, and we're in the North West

 

[Marigold]

just my opinion, but I think Omlet coops are over-priced, over-insulated, poorly ventilated, (just a few small holes in the sides) and don't have proper perches - the hens have to sit on a sort of plastic squared toast rack which catches the poo and is hard to clean. I have used a small Omlet coop, which would have been OK for a broody coop but was inadequate for the three hens it was supposed to hold. We also had someone on the Forum here, who was devastated when a weasel or stoat came up through the 1" drainage hole in the base of the nestbox in one of the ground-level coops, and killed the hen inside.
Be aware that hens get in a flap if you move the coop round. I've only moved mine once, and the hens spent ages looking at where it used to be, the Leghorn kept on jumping up in the air to try to find it in the clouds, and none of them seemed to notice that it was just a few feet away in a different corner of the run. I had to physically put them to bed that night or they would have camped out in their old corner!

 

[Bantams=Banter]

Gosh, I had no idea about that!! But I suppose it makes sense... So would you suggest I kept the set up in one place, disconnected the run once a week, and gave the floor a good disinfect??

 

[Icemaiden]

Does anyone know anything good or bad about Arkus plastic coops please?

Father Christmas might finally be persuaded to bring me a new coop so long as he doesn't have to bring me any more Christmas or birthday presents for the next three years!

 

[Bantams=Banter]

Does anyone know anything good or bad about Arkus plastic coops please?

Father Christmas might finally be persuaded to bring me a new coop so long as he doesn't have to bring me any more Christmas or birthday presents for the next three years!

Oh Lorks! I've never seen these before. Yet another choice!! AAARRRRRGGGHHHH....I can't decide!!! 07 07 07

 

[Marigold]

Gosh, I had no idea about that!! But I suppose it makes sense... So would you suggest I kept the set up in one place, disconnected the run once a week, and gave the floor a good disinfect??

It will be OK having the run on a slabbed area, safer from foxes trying to dig in, but it would be better to cover the slabs with some warm soft bedding, such as Aubiose, which the hens can use to sit on and dig around in, and also you can easily poo pick every day as the aubiose is incredibly absorbent and will coat the poos so they are easy to remove. Just keep a poo bucket and some rubber gloves , takes about 5 minutes, and makes superb compost. This will be more effective, of course, if the run has a plastic corrugated roof and a gutter along the down side, so everything stays dry and comfortable. If you don't use any bedding and try to hose down the slabs, you'll get horrible slurry spreading out round the sides and clogging on the mesh which will build up into heaps, stink, and not go away. A layer of Aubiose lasts a long time and you can top it up when it gets a bit thin. Also use it in the nestboxes and on the floor of the coop. It's designed as horse bedding so you may be able to get bales direct from a local stables, which will be much cheaper than buying from chicken retailers such as Flytes of Fancy. You can also get ground sanitising powder called Stalosan which you put down dry under new bedding when disinfection is needed.

Not sure about where you say 'disconnect the run once a week ' - are you planning to have a low run that is fixed to the coop? How could you get in there and catch the hens without kneeling in the poo and damaging your back? If at all possible, go for a free standing coop in a walk-in run, basically a garden room for the hens, with room to stand up in comfortably. If you ever give up hens, you can always use it as a fruit cage!

 

[Marigold]

As you say foxes are around where you live, you really will need to plan for security. Have a read of this thread, including the links within it to other threads on here.
http://poultrykeeperforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9903

 

[Bantams=Banter]

Thank you so much for your advice Marigold!! There's so much to think about...I just want to get it right, the coop and run set ups are an expensive mistake to make...

 

[Marigold]

Yes, that's right - the initial outlay is expensive, so you need to do your research and get it right for your own circumstances. Many people go into chicken keeping by buying a cheap wooden coop which is too small, leaks, and has a tiny attached run which is totally inadequate for the space the chickens need, on the basis of what the manufacturers say about how many hens it will hold. Then, the next year, they have to start over with what they should have got in the first place. If you can afford a new plastic coop, you'll never have to treat it with preservative or use all the anti-redmuite powders etc that are involved with a wooden coop, and if you move house, or decide chickens are not for you, you can easily disassemble it and sell it if need be. And at least the hens themselves are not very expensive to buy or to look after, and will partly pay for their keep in beautiful eggs that you can trust for your family.
How many are you planning to get? Everyone who starts up from scratch has the urge to fill the run, of course. With 100 sq feet of room, about 9 sq. metres, you will have room for 4-5 medium sized hybrids. But bear in mind that they will each lay nearly every day for the first year, ie 2-3 dozen eggs per week, and unless you have very hungry family, friends and neighbours that's a lot of eggs! Also, if you stock to capacity at the start, after three years or so egg production will decline as they will have used up most of their egg cells and you'll then have a run full of pensioners for the next few years, that you won't want to cull because theyr'e pets. So, if you got 3 this year, you'd have plenty of eggs and could concentrate on training them to be tame and companionable, and then in Autumn of the second year you could give in to More Hens Disease get a couple more (you should always introduce a minimum of two at a time as a singleton will be bullied, and do it in the autumn as hens are less territorial then.) Subsequently, as they drop off the perch the other end of their lives, you can get another two whenever you have room, egg production will stay steady and manageable from the younger birds, and the oldies can enjoy their retirement.

 

[Bantams=Banter]

Yes, I was thinking of having a max of four bantams, but now I'm considering hybrids, I think a max of three for the time being. I've also got to take my children into consideration with regards to the chicken poop mess in the garden. So I think three will be plenty...

For now....

Just need some help with which are the smaller of the hybrids...??

 

[Icemaiden]

Blue egg laying hybrids such as the Chalkhill Blue are quite small. Leghorns are small too, though not very cuddly. For their affectionate nature, feel-good factor & cuddles I definitely recommend ex-commercial layers from the British Hen Welfare Trust- their first 18 months of egg laying might be behind them but you'll still get a good supply of eggs.

 

[Bantams=Banter]

Hello all! What did I tell you....? I have almost finished faffing.....

Only kidding, we've had a load going on at ours and acquired two guinea pigs, but now we're almost ready to go ahead and get some bantams.

I've got the walk-in run sorted and I'm still looking at plastic coops. Solway are the leaders in my opinion, but I don't know if any more are new on the market or coming on the market??

 

[Icemaiden]

How many eggs are you getting from the guinea pigs? :lol:

For what it's worth, I've not been blown away by our Green Frog coop... I chose it for its rollaway nestboxes, which work well, but parts of the coop are hard to reach for daily poo picking, the door often jams on the bedding & doesn't close at night (a vertical door works much better with an auto door opener than a door that pivots), the back door that you remove each day for poo picking doesn't fit properly & is difficult to put back on, the perches are too high for ex-batts & light Sussex to get up onto & if you ever take the curved roof off for cleaning, heaven help you when you need to put it back on, as it's too thick to bend back into place.

Apart from that, it is easier to clean than our old tongue & groove wooden coop and it doesn't leak in the rain, so it's not all bad!

Keep us posted on your new flock 17

 

[Bantams=Banter]

How many eggs are you getting from the guinea pigs? :lol:

For what it's worth, I've not been blown away by our Green Frog coop... I chose it for its rollaway nestboxes, which work well, but parts of the coop are hard to reach for daily poo picking, the door often jams on the bedding & doesn't close at night (a vertical door works much better with an auto door opener than a door that pivots), the back door that you remove each day for poo picking doesn't fit properly & is difficult to put back on, the perches are too high for ex-batts & light Sussex to get up onto & if you ever take the curved roof off for cleaning, heaven help you when you need to put it back on, as it's too thick to bend back into place.

Apart from that, it is easier to clean than our old tongue & groove wooden coop and it doesn't leak in the rain, so it's not all bad!

Keep us posted on your new flock 17

The guinea pigs are more takers than givers!