Just a Few Quick Questions- Newbie

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Hi

I am looking to get 4 or 5 hens. after browing through the forum i have gathered that i should idealy get chickens about 16-20 weeks from the same place and have a good idea about what to look for when buying them.

below is a picture of the house that i have ordered, it hasn't arrived yet. It says that it is large enough for 5 large hens or 8 smaller ones, but looking though some threads, would 5 chickens be too cramped?

it has 10 sqft of run and 6.5 sqft of coop

chickenhouse-2.jpg


also with the grit, do i put this on the ground or in a seperate feeder?

Thanks

P.S anyone any ideas of placesto look for chickens on the Nottinghamshire / Derbyshire border???
 
Just to add my dad is also planing on building a large square run that i move around the garden (about 15ft on each side) i would like to let them free range but my grandad has a large veg plot, also i can image me running around chasing chicken, so would rather confine them a little bit

Thanks
 
Hi there, If you are not able to let the hens out to free range for part of the day I personally think that 5 hens would be too many. Possibly 3-4 large fowl or 4-5 bantams. However there are a lot more experienced people than me on here who may advise otherwise. ;)
 
Wouldn't have more than three in there, it's tiny. We have a coop and run very similar and we use it occasionally for short periods for one or two. My rule of thumb is to divide the manufacturer's claimed capacity by two. Cramped conditions will stress the birds and rapidly lead to health problems. Can't see any air vents. Ours was the same and I had to add some. Also sealed the wood because it leaked through, added boarding along the run to reduce draughts and took the ramp out to create more useable space. The hens can easily jump up to the door. I would nail some sacrificial timber to the underside of the run frame so that the wood doesn't rot. Periodically the timber bits can be replaced thus protecting the original structure.
Moveable run is a good idea but at that size it will be heavy as ideally it needs a top.
 
They would love free ranging on your Grandad's veg patch ( he will need to keep crops covered!) but they will always respond and come running to you if you shake a tin with some corn in, so you won't have to chase them. There are of course always exceptions and in my case it is Hattie, who will sometimes decide she will go in when she wants to, not when I say!! :roll:
 
Hi, welcome to the forum!! :D :-)99 :-)99
Agree with whats been said, too small f they cant free range, no more than three hens
 
Thanks for the advice

a bit nervous about getting the chickens, trying to get everything right. am i right in thinking i would need a vent in the top and bottom of the house?? my dad is a joiner so he should be able to sort that out :) .

we have plenty of space in the garden for them to free range, but a bit scared about them running off, will get used to them first then maybe .
 
Ive just been looking through some of the older threads and thinking about will probably opt for a fixed run.

i can get a lot of wood chip, do will probably use this for the flooring. i gather that i will have poo pick daily, then rack it over. any other maintance you recommed???

What other things do you recommend putting in a run? i can think of perches, but what height / thickness??
and ive read about a dust bath, what would this have to contain??

Ive also read about grit and oster shells, Do I put these together in another feeder???

thank you for taking the time to read my questions, just want to get everything right.
 
Hi Horza. Don't worry, you won't get it more wrong than we did. We knew absolutely nothing about keeping chickens relying on a friend to tell us, so collected 7 Orpington chicks from her but didn't think about a coop until they arrived. Then we realised they were as yet unsexed! Hadn't got a run, feeder, drinker or a shelter either.
Wood chip is what we use, poo picking 10 minutes after letting them out as they all do their biggest poo first thing in the morning. It does rot down in time but we just keep putting more on top. Eventually we will have to dig it all out and replace it properly.
Dust bath is simply dry earth. Keeping it dry is a problem but if you have a cover over the run you can put some plastic sheet over part of it to give them shelter as well.
Perch height 450mm -wood 50mm across with rounded edges just to make it easier on their feet.
Oyster shell is in my opinion completely unnecessary and we have a near full bag in the feed store if anyone wants it (Southeast Staffordshire). It provides extra calcium for the egg shells but if you use good feed there is already sufficient in layers pellets. Ordinary insoluable grit can be lightly sprinkled in the feed or thrown over the run occasionally. It will build up in the feeder, which is when you know you have used too much. They look for and eat the grit which passes into the gizzard. As they move about the grit grinds together and also grinds up the feed helping it to be digested.
Don't be concerned about asking more questions, that's what the forum is for and there are loads of people in it willing to answer them to help you if they can.
 
just a little warning i brought a coop recently that looked good online in the pics and within my price range from a site that does all poultry housing and the wood is the same as in your piccy they are not waterproof i was gobsmacked beyond words when i got mine and it rained , i had already painted it 3 times with cuprinol and now have had to bolt bitumen roofing sheets to the roof as it comes up so you just lean in to clean it out or pull out the bottom floor yes mine is a small coop minus the run but its still made the same way so be warned get it under cover . since getting red mite i now use those large garden storage bins and converted those it only takes 30 mins to do it and the girls love them .
 
Looked at our coop today (came free with hens), one year old and the roof panels are disintegrating so will have to rebuild them -long job. I could have built a new coop in the time I have spent messing about with this cheap one. All things considered Horza I would get a better quality new coop or a second hand one that's been treated with creosote to kill any red mite and their eggs.
Tempted to take my coop to the tip, but have a bantam cockerel moving into it for a few weeks later this month.
 
does make you wander wether its worth building your own sometimes , i am still very tempted to build my 4'4 wooden houses for next year just how i want them { all depends how the plastic coops go though the winter } but its the thought of red mite hitting me again that puts me of .
 
The online coops are OK as long as you give them 3 coats of a good quality preservative.
My own has been out in the weather for months waiting for me to buy some chucks and it looks as good as when it was bought.
A friend of mine has had one on an allotment for over a year and it looks good. She did the same as me initially ,using clear preservative when new but after the winter used a stained preservative.
From what I have seen to get better, like for like you need to pay 2 -3 times as much but spend up to £20 on preserver and you will have a decent home for your hens.
My friend used cuprinol but I used clear decking and garden furniture preservative. I have had good results in the past when using these type of products on garden sheds and suchlike.

One of the houses has an overlap wood roof while the other is mineral felt that is bonded to the roof boards there is no sign of it lifting and neither house is leaking despite our wet summer.
 
It is a felt roof version we have. The underlying timber is blockboard. The b.b. slides into the side pieces so water gets into the joint. Because the b.b. adhesive isn't the slightly more expensive waterproof type the blocks in the boarding have all split apart. The replacement plywood (far eastern hardwood) is £45 plus cutting charge, as you have to buy a full 8 x 4 sheet -sure I'll eventually use the remainder. Plus a roll of felt at £15 -sure I'll eventually use the remainder (there is an echo in here!)
 
Hi chrismahon.

That seems to be the problem with these Chinese imports they just don't get it right with regard to weatherproofing and sealing . I am almost certain that the original finish on mine was purely a decorative wood stain and from what I have read here probably only suitable for indoor use.

Hope you can sort your roof out.
 
We got our coop from http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/ i can recommend them. ours is well weathered over 4yrs now and doing brill other than some greening on the outside. vented and felt roof so not too drafty and has a little window with plexiglass. only problem we have is the door opening gets clogged sometimes and is difficult to dig out for the door to close properly.
 
Must admit that we've had our present hen house for just over a year. It's an imported 1 & just didn't cope with the weather & I honestly don't think it would survive another winter here. With hindsight I'd have put on a couple of coats of good preservative before assembling it & sealed the tongue & groove-type roof with silicone sealant, but I didn't so we now have a leaky, draughty hen house with various tarps & rubber-backed picnic blankets to keep out the wet & draughts.

Have a new hen house coming in a few days - have opted for a 6x4 resin/plastic shed this time (rot-proof, easy to clean, reduced red mite & room for plenty more chickens). Obviously will need to do some alterations (add perches & nest-boxes & cut a pop-hole) but works out cheaper than a proper hen house & will be less time-consuming to maintain.
 
It would be cruel to keep Any confined is a coop especially like that size,
 
Hi Horza Im a newbie too . Great site huh :D . Im still doing my research :-)05 and it seems to me most of these Chinese imports I've seen don't do well for the money they cost . I'm a bit obsessive :ugeek: :-)07 :-)07 when I get an idea and I must have looked at almost every import there is, on line. I also, because of work spend a lot of time in different garden centres that are stocking these Chinese imports. you should go and look at a couple to get an idea , I'm sure dad the joiner would laugh , And I bet he could knock up something far better from some 18mm treated ply and some 2"x4" . there seems to be a much more 'honest' selection ( as far as cost) available from british manufacturers ie. people who build them as opposed to people who buy in a pallet load of flat pack boxes from china then relist them on e-bay with a picture of one set up in there garden That said if you've already orderd it , maybe lose the attached run and place the whole thing inside your 15 x15 run , then put some clear corrugated roof panels on top and it will keep them the coop and the bedding/feeders etc, much more dry so the chickens dont have to spend so much time in the tiny coop. also some 6" ish Gravel boards ( planks of wood ) round the bottom will, I'm told, keep the draft off them, apparently chickens dont like drafts :-)11 I've decide on bantams for my first go with chickens there a bit smaller maybe this could help. Oh by the way. Almost all of what I've just said is plaggerised from others on this site :oops: . As I said Great site :D
 
Ohh, I Ain't got nothin' against the Chinese or their craftsmanship , Just some of their marketing strategies
 
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