I have seen a plastic hen house from a place in Durham I'm wondering if any body has bought one of these or some thing like it and what you think of them also they say helps stop red mite any comments would help as they are alot of money for the size and I don't want to waste money on it
Plastic hen house
- Thread starter Roadrk
- Start date
What make of coop is it? There-are many threads on here about the relative advantages of plastic and wooden coops, and it's possible the one you saw has been discussed. Generally speaking, plastic is easier to keep clean than wood, and to take to pieces if red mite does occur, but redmite will inhabit plastic coops unless care is taken and if the seller is claiming his plastic coops will be proof against it, do not trust him.
Yes good coops are expensive, whatever they're made of, so you need to research carefully about what size you need and what its features are, eg ventilation, waterproof ness, ease of access for cleaning etc as well as whether plastic or wood would be better for you.
Yes good coops are expensive, whatever they're made of, so you need to research carefully about what size you need and what its features are, eg ventilation, waterproof ness, ease of access for cleaning etc as well as whether plastic or wood would be better for you.
Margaid
Well-known member
I have been looking at plastic hen bouses recently Roadrk, and also thinking about making one myself from recycled plastic.
If the hen house has no curves at all and is a darkish grey it is probably made from Ecosheet which exposes little voids when cut. That isn't a problem as long as the edges are sealed with car body filler.
Solway houses and Green Frog are made from Stokboard or a very similar product and don't have this problem - I bougth a secondhand Solway hen house on ebay very recently but I'm still evaluating it.
People who sell these may tell you that redmite cannot or will not breed in plastic which is not true, it is the lack of crevices for them to hide and the ease of cleaning which means they are more "redmite proof".
Is it on a website? Can you post the link because I might be able to tell from the picture what it's made from.
BTW, if it is a Solway it will probably be cheaper to buy direct - free carriage, the prices I have seen on eBay for new ones are more expensive.
If you can post some more information about it both Marigold and I can give you more information.
If the hen house has no curves at all and is a darkish grey it is probably made from Ecosheet which exposes little voids when cut. That isn't a problem as long as the edges are sealed with car body filler.
Solway houses and Green Frog are made from Stokboard or a very similar product and don't have this problem - I bougth a secondhand Solway hen house on ebay very recently but I'm still evaluating it.
People who sell these may tell you that redmite cannot or will not breed in plastic which is not true, it is the lack of crevices for them to hide and the ease of cleaning which means they are more "redmite proof".
Is it on a website? Can you post the link because I might be able to tell from the picture what it's made from.
BTW, if it is a Solway it will probably be cheaper to buy direct - free carriage, the prices I have seen on eBay for new ones are more expensive.
If you can post some more information about it both Marigold and I can give you more information.
Margaid
Well-known member
I've had a quick look at the site and requested a sample of the material of the Durham hen house. It is possibly Stokboard, going by the thickness, and that doesn't have the "voids in the cut edge" problem.
Personally I wouldn't put feeders or waterers inside the hen house, and depending on what breed of chickens you have you need one nest box for a maximum of 4 hens.
As with all house sold with attached runs, the run is too small for the number of hens they say it can house. Have a look at some of the threads - forum contibutors a lot of much more experienced than I am have commented on this frequently. The minimum recommended space is 2 square metres per hen.
I've just had another look at the site. Which house are you thinking of? The Eco House that is "U" shaped is from Solway Recycling , as is the Eco Hen Ark. The mini Eco Hen House is Green Frog who do a range of different sizes. You might want to look at their websites.
If you're near them it would be well worth going to have a look.
I will sometime soon post my observations of the Solway house - the house and my hens are at a friend's at the moment and she thinks that it gets quite warm inside even though it's in the shade, so it may need more ventilators cut into it. I had a look at a Green Frog house and I think they are possibly slightly better designed - they are certainly easier to dismantle completely for cleaning. The Solway house is part clipped, part screwed together, which is a bit of a pain whereas the Green Frog just uses lynch pins. The Green Frog is also better ventilated.
If I remember correctly Marigold has a Green Frog coop so she will be better able to tell you about them.
Personally I wouldn't put feeders or waterers inside the hen house, and depending on what breed of chickens you have you need one nest box for a maximum of 4 hens.
As with all house sold with attached runs, the run is too small for the number of hens they say it can house. Have a look at some of the threads - forum contibutors a lot of much more experienced than I am have commented on this frequently. The minimum recommended space is 2 square metres per hen.
I've just had another look at the site. Which house are you thinking of? The Eco House that is "U" shaped is from Solway Recycling , as is the Eco Hen Ark. The mini Eco Hen House is Green Frog who do a range of different sizes. You might want to look at their websites.
If you're near them it would be well worth going to have a look.
I will sometime soon post my observations of the Solway house - the house and my hens are at a friend's at the moment and she thinks that it gets quite warm inside even though it's in the shade, so it may need more ventilators cut into it. I had a look at a Green Frog house and I think they are possibly slightly better designed - they are certainly easier to dismantle completely for cleaning. The Solway house is part clipped, part screwed together, which is a bit of a pain whereas the Green Frog just uses lynch pins. The Green Frog is also better ventilated.
If I remember correctly Marigold has a Green Frog coop so she will be better able to tell you about them.
With a lovely big run of about 24 square metres, you could have up to a dozen hens, though it would be better to start with fewer, give them space, and get used to keeping them through your first winter. Then, if you wanted more and could cope with all those eggs, you could add younger hens gradually, so you got a flock of mixed ages rather than a group where at some point they all got old at the same time.
Lots of advantages to plastic - easy to wash, wipe dry with an old towel, great in winter especially when the hens mustn't go back into a damp coop at night. Redmite less likely, fewer nooks and crannies, coop should be easy to dismantle and scrub all the edges etc if necessary. Never any need for creosote, which is messy, toxic and takes up to 3 weeks to dry, necessitating a spare coop for the hens whilst the fumes go off. good-quality plastic will last for ever, to all intents and purposes, compared with wood, so your coop will keep a good resale value - nobody wants a second-hand wooden one, possibly with integral redmite, difficult to dismantle and transport. So you want to get it right from the start - as i said, research what design features are needed, and the right size of coop for your birds. If you decide to get another coop, keep the wooden one if you can, it will be very useful when you need to introduce new birds as you can quarantine them in it, or let young ones grow on until old enough to join the flock, dividing the run with netting to keep them separate. Maybe cover it with a tarp when not in use to keep it dry and clean.
As you'll gather, i'm a big fan of plastic coops, I'm very happy with my Green Frog, and the design of this one has improved in the past year since I got mine. The more modern ones are coming down in price as production increases, (Omlet is still very expensive and in my opinion not the best for the money) and I really think they are the future for chicken keeping, at least on a domestic scale.
Lots of advantages to plastic - easy to wash, wipe dry with an old towel, great in winter especially when the hens mustn't go back into a damp coop at night. Redmite less likely, fewer nooks and crannies, coop should be easy to dismantle and scrub all the edges etc if necessary. Never any need for creosote, which is messy, toxic and takes up to 3 weeks to dry, necessitating a spare coop for the hens whilst the fumes go off. good-quality plastic will last for ever, to all intents and purposes, compared with wood, so your coop will keep a good resale value - nobody wants a second-hand wooden one, possibly with integral redmite, difficult to dismantle and transport. So you want to get it right from the start - as i said, research what design features are needed, and the right size of coop for your birds. If you decide to get another coop, keep the wooden one if you can, it will be very useful when you need to introduce new birds as you can quarantine them in it, or let young ones grow on until old enough to join the flock, dividing the run with netting to keep them separate. Maybe cover it with a tarp when not in use to keep it dry and clean.
As you'll gather, i'm a big fan of plastic coops, I'm very happy with my Green Frog, and the design of this one has improved in the past year since I got mine. The more modern ones are coming down in price as production increases, (Omlet is still very expensive and in my opinion not the best for the money) and I really think they are the future for chicken keeping, at least on a domestic scale.
chrismahon
Well-known member
In PP's article this month 'Our Chickens' it summarises the year long project and compares the two coops they used. Wooden coop from Flyte so Fancy and a Green Frog plastic coop. Both nest boxes leaked which is a problem with many designs and I have spent a lot of time (and money) totally eliminating it. But the plastic coop had minor leakage between the components, which in todays weather would be major leakage. Of real interest was that the egg production over the year was noticably lower in the plastic coop than the wooden one.
the problem with the leaking nestbox has now been sorted in the newer Green Frogs, and i've not experienced any leakage myself. The article did say that the lower rate of egglaying in the plastic coop probably wasn't related to the coop itself, as this group of hens had other health problems. Certainly mine have laid steadily and comfortably for the 18 months i've had mine.
At one point the roof blew off the Flyes o Fancy house, which is about the most expensive wooden coop on the market - I can imagine what would havce happened to one of the e-bay Chinese ones!
At one point the roof blew off the Flyes o Fancy house, which is about the most expensive wooden coop on the market - I can imagine what would havce happened to one of the e-bay Chinese ones!
chrismahon
Well-known member
Matchwood springs to mind Marigold! Im a bit worried about that on our new 'breeder coops' as well. The wind in France is unbelievable -mini tornadoes. We were in our tent when about 1" of rain fell in a minute and the wind was so strong we lost all the guy rope pegs on one side and were hanging from the roof struts to keep the thing on the ground. That was scary!
Margaid
Well-known member
I fitted an external Chick Box to my Solway house - it was the old style with internal nest. Having bolted it in place we then sealed round it with Frame Sealer so ther's no chance of it leaking. The house is at my friends and one of her Light Sussex is roosting and laying in it. We've decided the perch is too high so I'll get OH to lower it and maybe move it nearer the back if we can as it's a long way to reach in to put a hen on the perch. It is destined to be my standby as I want to build something as soon as I stop dithering about what material to use.
chrismahon
Well-known member
There's nothing wrong with a bit of dithering Margaid. My Mum used to say the same as her Mum "act in haste, repent at leasure"! There are times though when you just reach an impasse and have to just do something. This cropped up a lot in 'Designs by Committee'. There was no apparent 'best solution', some things were still unknown and the 'right' decision couldn't be made. The choice is to sit and do nothing or build something that may be wrong, but would then give you more information to get it right for certain. The Britsh solution is to endlessly debate, no-one having the courage to make a decision that might be the wrong one, which is why most automotive design work is now done abroad.
Margaid
Well-known member
That's the problem Chris - I don't have to do anything. My hens are quite happily living at my friend's in her "Poultry Palace" and they can try out the Solway if they want to.
What I need to do is sit down and draw my redesign of the "Poultyr Palace" but I still have drawings of the roof, bathroom, kitchen and my workroom for the rebuilt barn conversion to finish - someone commented to OH that my hens would be better housed than we are at the moment! Once I've done that I can then discuss with OH (wearing his Engineer's hat) which material would be best suited to what part of the construction - I'm quite happy to mix the recycled plastics.
BTW I had an email from Durham Hens who are sending me a sample of the material they use - they said it's "Agriboard" . I think actually it may be Stokboard as agriboard when googled is an insulating board, or rather was asit is no longer made - there may be trademark issues with the name.
Be interesting to see what it's actually like. The Durham Hen House is screwed together and they don't recommend taking it apart, but I found gunge between the screwed together surfaces of the secondhand Solway - just the sort of place to get redmite. Again they assured me that they have 30 houses in use and have never had an attack of redmite - they use Poultry shield and Diatom regularly, maybe they're just lucky.
What I need to do is sit down and draw my redesign of the "Poultyr Palace" but I still have drawings of the roof, bathroom, kitchen and my workroom for the rebuilt barn conversion to finish - someone commented to OH that my hens would be better housed than we are at the moment! Once I've done that I can then discuss with OH (wearing his Engineer's hat) which material would be best suited to what part of the construction - I'm quite happy to mix the recycled plastics.
BTW I had an email from Durham Hens who are sending me a sample of the material they use - they said it's "Agriboard" . I think actually it may be Stokboard as agriboard when googled is an insulating board, or rather was asit is no longer made - there may be trademark issues with the name.
Be interesting to see what it's actually like. The Durham Hen House is screwed together and they don't recommend taking it apart, but I found gunge between the screwed together surfaces of the secondhand Solway - just the sort of place to get redmite. Again they assured me that they have 30 houses in use and have never had an attack of redmite - they use Poultry shield and Diatom regularly, maybe they're just lucky.
Margaid
Well-known member
The sample from Durham Hen Houses is the same as Stokboard so doesn't have the problem of voids in the cut edges which Ecosheet has.
Margaid
Well-known member
It's the same sort as my Solway house is made from but a couple of mm thicker - the Solway house is an 8' x 4' sheet bent over. It is also very similar to the material used by Green Frog although GF say theirs is food grade - can't see that it matters. Marigold posted that she is very happy with her Green Frog.
Because the Solway house is at a friend's I don't get to feel what it's like inside but they have told me they think it is too warm. I don't think there is enough ventilation so I'm going to cut some more high level vents. The Green Frog house I looked at had more than twice the area of ventilation holes.
I'm not qualified to comment on whether or not it would be worth the money - your best bet is to have a good look at it, particularly at ventilation.
Red mite will live in plastic houses but they have only a few places to hide. You'll find a number of posts telling you not to get paranoid about it, just be vigilant and deal with the occurrence promptly if it happens.
I'm very interested to hear what you think of the hen house.
Because the Solway house is at a friend's I don't get to feel what it's like inside but they have told me they think it is too warm. I don't think there is enough ventilation so I'm going to cut some more high level vents. The Green Frog house I looked at had more than twice the area of ventilation holes.
I'm not qualified to comment on whether or not it would be worth the money - your best bet is to have a good look at it, particularly at ventilation.
Red mite will live in plastic houses but they have only a few places to hide. You'll find a number of posts telling you not to get paranoid about it, just be vigilant and deal with the occurrence promptly if it happens.
I'm very interested to hear what you think of the hen house.
Well I have looked at the plastic Durham hen house it seemed to be quite good except I have a few problems with the size of the vents and the Buber of them also you have to pay for extra nest box I think more than one should be standard I'm also worried about how the natural perches just slip into a very small slot wich is just small pieces of the plastic made into u shapes think I might have to think a little longer before make mind up if I'm going to get one.I would be interested in comments from anyone who has already got one and using it
Margaid
Well-known member
Interesting comments Roadrk. I'm going to move the perch in the Solway house as we think it is too high and too close to the pophole, which also means it's too far from the door to reach in and put a hen on the perch.
The perch goes right through the house and sticks out each side, held in place with a lynch pin. OH drilled another hole on one end which tightened up the sides - there were quite large gaps before he did that.
Sounds as though your perches are fixed on the inside - it depends how much the walls flex whether or not they pop out which is presuamably your concern. What material are the perches - wood or plastic? Maybe you could replace them with longer perches going out the sides and fixed with a lynch pin. Green Frog apparently use decking balustrade (the vertical bit) for their perches and the whole houes is held together with lynch pins.
It galls a bit though doesn't it, having to redesign and spend extra money on a new coop.
The perch goes right through the house and sticks out each side, held in place with a lynch pin. OH drilled another hole on one end which tightened up the sides - there were quite large gaps before he did that.
Sounds as though your perches are fixed on the inside - it depends how much the walls flex whether or not they pop out which is presuamably your concern. What material are the perches - wood or plastic? Maybe you could replace them with longer perches going out the sides and fixed with a lynch pin. Green Frog apparently use decking balustrade (the vertical bit) for their perches and the whole houes is held together with lynch pins.
It galls a bit though doesn't it, having to redesign and spend extra money on a new coop.
chrismahon
Well-known member
Think its pretty obvious that these designers have never actually used their products long term, nor done much user research Margaid to be carrying such basic faults. The wooden coops are often just the same. They are not much better than a first prototype from a design point of view. Sure they are well refined in terms of production, to ensure a profit though. Smaller coops are a lot of compromise to ensure every aspect works acceptably, but not necessarily perfectly, as I have discovered. Things just get in the way of each other!