Breeze block/brick housing & red mite etc?

[budgetboo]

This is my first post so please be gentle.

The property we are hoping to move to already has a structure that was previously used as a chicken house. It's constructed of white painted breeze blocks with a corrugated metal roof. It looks dry, is totally secure from foxes etc and would be ideal. It's approximately 6 foot by 9 foot.

I do need to construct a pophole in the wooden door & install a couple of internal nest boxes but then I think it may be good to go.

I have a few questions I'm hoping you can answer

1/ What's the best way to maintain it internally in order to deter redmite etc - should I paint it with an old school limewash or a modern concrete paint to seal the myriad of tiny holes breeze blocks have? Do I treat the floor with a different product to the roof?

2/ Those plastic rollaway nestboxes - are they worth the £25 apiece? (They'll have to be internal simply because I don't fancy knocking out breeze blocks to create external boxes straight away as the family home needs a few jobs doing too)

3/ If I construct wooden perches am I better making them freestanding so they can be removed and treated for redmite more easily?

4/ If I add a chicken wire divider and store the food in galvinised dustbins inside the henhouse will this be OK?

5/ Anyone used happychicks.co.uk as a supplier and if so are the birds nice and healthy? I'm attracted to their delivery service, and they also do the breeds my son has identified as wanting. (In partticular are their Cream legbars breed standard as I've been a bit put out at the full price oddities masquerading as this breed by some suppliers tbh)

6/ Is the following mix of breeds OK to get started? 2 black rocks, 1 speckedly, 1 maran, 2 cream legbars? (as an add on to this is the house size OK?).

The garden is secure but all scrub grass so we are thinking to let them free range over winter, (as it needs turning over anyway)and then building a nice covered run next spring to protect the vegetable beds we'll be creating. Would a timer on the pophole be a smart thing to do in the first instance?

 

[Marigold]

Hi Budgetboo, and welcome to the Forum.
The coop setup sounds fine, with plenty of room for the birds you plan to keep. I expect other people will be able to advise on what sort of paint to use. Once you have installed the pophole and nestboxes it should be good, except that you didn't mention what system of ventilation it has. Its very important that the coop is well ventilated, ie with more than one vent round the sides, ideally constructed so you can close or open them depending on the wind direction. It would certainly be good to construct perches which can easily be removed for cleaning and for redmite inspection, but if easier these needn't be free standing, just fixed to the walls would do if you can invent a way of lifting them out. You will need about 10-12 inches of perch per large bird. It would be better to make the nestboxes off the ground, but they don't have to be anything fancy - the rollaway ones are a bit pricey, and some people have recycled wooden or plastic boxes, eg wine boxes, to good effect. So long as they are dark and cosy, the hens aren't too fussy. Two boxes will do for 6 hens.
The perch for six hens could go along the 6 ft side, or if you instal it on the 9 ft side there would be room for expansion if you get infected by MoreHens Disease.
Whilst the coop sounds very secure, if they are going to be in the garden free ranging all the winter, you may be in danger of fox attacks during the day when you are out. Foxes are everywhere nowadays, and the only way to be totally happy about security is either to have them behind electric fence (even this is not always fully safe) or in a secure covered run. We've had some heartbreaking tales on here from people keeping back garden hens who have come home to a scene of slaughter, and we wouldn't want it to happen to you.
As regards the choice of pullets, the selection you suggest sound fine, and you should get a good variety of colours in the eggs. I don't know anything about happychicks as a supplier, but I've had a look on their website and have identified that the birds they are selling as 'Blackrocks' (sic) are not what you would suppose if you were after genuine Black Rocks, which all originate from a hatchery in Scotland and then go to a small number of selected dealers for bringing on to POL. Only female BR pullets are for sale, as the hatchery controls the pedigree of these special birds and never sells cockerels. See
http://www.theblackrockhatchery.co.uk/
There are many other breeders selling Black Rock lookalikes, bred from a similar hybrid cross, under such names as Bovans Nera, Black Star etc, and many of these are good birds that will be healthy, hardy and lay well. But I was a bit put off by the way happychicks were suggesting they had Black Rocks, as this is actually illegal in that they appear to be using a registered trade name, or something very close to it. In any case, genuine Rocks are feisty birds, need lots of space, and are bred for extremely harsh outdoor Scottish conditions, and they don't always fit in very well in a domestic setup. With this in mind, I wouldn't be 100% confident about the breeding of their Cream Legbars. As you say there are so many crossbred pullets around that pure stock is hard to find. Also bear in mind that the breed standard for CLBs allows green eggs as well as blue ones, so if you want blue eggs you need to enquire closely about the egg colour in their breeding line.
Personally, I wouldn't want to buy pullets by post, half the fun of getting new birds is going and choosing them yourself, examining each one personally, and also you can then see what conditions they are being kept in, and consequently form a better idea about how well they've been raised and how healthy they might be. Some of us on here have reported walking away when they actually got to aplace which aounded fine from the online information. If you could give us some idea of whereabouts you live, maybe some people on here could point you towards a local tried and tested breeder of good chickens. I expect happychicks buy their POL pullets from an even larger supplier and then sell them on, as is common with many outfits selling birds for laying/pets/back garden keepers. Nothing wrong in that, but also bear in mind that moving home is very stressful for chickens, and it often depresses their immune systems so that diseases can emerge within the first week or so after you get them, which were latent but not apparent. Long journeys being transported all round the country, such as happychicks offer, might stress the birds unnecessarily, and really I can't see the point, since they are not valuable pedigree stock but ordinary, common hybrid breeds you can buy more or less anywhere in the country, and bring home quietly yourself, with minimum disruption. Its certainly best to get them al at the same time and from the same place, even if this may mean some compromises on your original shopping list, but the main thing is to get a set of healthy, trouble free birds that you can introduce with the least problems about integrating or health issues.

 

[budgetboo]

Thanks for responding so promptly.

I'm hearing various things, good & bad about the Cream Legbars from Happy Chicks, and combined with your comments on the Black Rocks it's making me a bit wary tbh. We'd really like a couple of bog standard "wee brown hens" & the happy chicks "Black Rocks" seemed closest to this. In a perfect world we'd have rhodebars or RIR but these are thin on the ground generally + additional cost.

I think I'll go with raised winebox's or similar for nesting boxes and invest the money saved in some simple fencing. We do have a dog that's "chook trained" (over years of visiting our local city farm with us, rabbits would be a disaster but chooks are OK). I'm hoping her constant presence will deter foxes when we are out of view.

The ventilation looks great tbh - the corrugated roof has gaps under it and I intend to replace the window on the non-prevailing wind side of the structure with the strongest wire I can lay my hands on just to be safe. We do intend to create a covered run sometime next year, it's just in what order do you tackle each job when you move to a new place where both the house & garden need work? I thought I'd see how the ground drains for a month or two first before building the permanent run. Perhaps I'm trying to run before I can walk out of excitement and need to slow down a bit?

We'll be in the Swansea area & are looking for a varied egg basket and friendly chooks as I have a 9 year old. I think I would prefer to collect if possible. I suppose I could start with 3 from one supplier and then add more later on maybe for more variety?

Or get hatching eggs in the spring from somewhere like Poultry Park that do a variety? Poultry park does seem to have a VERY good reputation & it does RIR & NHR's, marans and Cream Legbars. I think a second hand incubator + electric hen wouldn't cost much more than pure bred pol pullets by the time you've resold the kit after use + and my best mate, (a chef) keeps making noises about the delicacy that is Maran meat so I know we wouldn't have any problem dispatching the cockerals once plump enough for the pot. (sorry if anyone is offended by that). I'm not sure how many eggs to order of each variety though to end up with approx 2 pullets each of RIR, Cream Legbar & Marans .

 

[foxy]

If you are in South Wales, I would highly recommend a visit to Sals Poultry.

http://www.salspurebreedpoultryinwales.co.uk/

They do sell a selection of high quality hybrids as well as some gorgeous pure breeds and hatching eggs!

I agree with Marigold and would suggest not to go down the delivery route but visit a recommended breeder with a reputation for healthy birds. They will be more than happy to show you around and offer sound advice in the path you wish to follow..be it purchasing POL or the hatching route.

 

[Marigold]

That looks a brilliant place, Foxy. I notice they sell Chalk Hill Blues, a hybrid CLB developed at Chalk Hill Poultry in Wiltshire, where I get my pullets, and I know Chalk Hill would be very choosy about where they chose partners to sell their birds. I see they do a Bovans Nera, i.e. a Black Rock -type hybrid, and some others that look as if they will lay a good dark brown Marans-type egg. If you are after 'little brown hens,' Budgetboo, you might also consider their Columbian Blacktails, which are small, neat, smart little birds that lay surprisingly large eggs for their size, almost every day.
How lovely, to be starting out and able to buy a lot of new pullets! With my small space, I'm very envious!

 

[budgetboo]

I noticed those Columbian Blacktails - they do look like the archetypal "wee brown hen" don't they?

I'm glad you all recc'd Sals as having looked at the site and hunted around at online reviews their Cream Legbars do appear to be the real deal. My son would love a trip to choose 1/2 dozen hens and if we ask nicely we might even get a few off heat youngsters to grow on?

I think I may wait until next spring so that I can work out what on earth to seal the inside of the house with. Breeze block is so porous that I am quite concerned about red mite, but it seems a shame not to put a solidly built fox proof structure to good use iykwim. Would a DE slurry applied a few months before I get the hens (say I apply it in the autumn and wait till spring for the hens? ) mean I could be sure the building was red mite free to start off with? Would an annual DE slurry painted inside + regular dusting work to keep the evil mites at bay?

I'd love one of those covered runs that Wells Poultry do, but they are soooo expensive! They look like if treated annually they'd last a lifetime though, so we may order green onduline roofing from wickes and save hard for some of their DIY panels to build in spring. The run will need to be covered as I think we are moving to the rainiest part of the UK.

 

[Icemaiden]

Sorry Budgetboo, I thought you were moving to Swansea, not to Manchester? :lol:
You know you're in Manchester when you go brown from rust, rather than from a tan :lol:

Hope your move goes well. You're wise to get your coop & run sorted before you get the hens, that way you'll know that they're safe from foxes from the start.

 

[Marigold]

I'm wondering whether porous walls will actually be a problem, unless you get a really massive outbreak of redmite, as they like to hide away in places like perch ends and nooks and crannies near where they can crawl out at night and get to the hens. If you're aware of the possibility of an outbreak, thats half the problem solved, as you would never let it get to the stage where all the walls were crawling with them, would you?
It would be a good idea to paint the inside before any hens go in, and I have heard that old-fashioned line wash does deter mites, but I don't know if this is the best stuff to use. For simply sealing the bricks as far as possible, I should think a couple of big tins of trade paint from a builders merchant would be the cheapest solution, all nice and clean inside, and any redmite possibly lurking in the bricks would be entombed?

 

[chrismahon]

Traditional limewash for the blocks will be fine Budgetboo. That's what they use here, but no good for wooden housing as it just flakes off. Put potash on the floor as well (wood burner ash) to suffocate the mites. Both treatments are the French authorities only recommendations -all the chemicals have been banned apparently.

 

[URCHIN]

I used to have a workshop/retail shop many years ago, we moved into a new build so had fresh grey walls. We painted with trade emulsion.... Again and again and again..... It soak in so much the walls were never really white. A builder friend recommended a thin plaster slurry I could brush on to fill the many holes and nooks and crannies. This worked a treat, gave a flat surface with no holes, a quick coat of a sealer, pva I think we used then on with the paint - job done. If you plaster then lime wash I think this would be perfect for your poultry.
Can't wait to hear how you get on with your new venture.
I'm in Cheshire, we certainly know what rain is! Lol
Good luck
Urchin