Margaid
Well-known member
Am I stupid or what? No, don't answer that 
Not having television, when I collapse in a heap I amuse myself looking at poultry keeping stuff on ebay. I found a nice looking coop with run, useful I thought for separation if I have any problems when I get the new birds (bearing in mind my Welsummers are still "on their hols"). Being wooden, I planned to treat it with a couple of coats of creosote as I have plenty of time to let the fumes evaporate. It was larger than most similar coops advertised and was only half an hours drive away which was a definite bonus. Unfortunately I didn't have time to take a look before bidding, but I bid anyway and won it at a very reasonable price.
Went to collect it this evening and was very disappointed in the quality and the layout of nest box and perch. The worst thing though was discovering, by asking the question that I should have asked much earlier, that there had been a red mite infestation. I was assured that the coop and run had been disinfected, and indeed it was still damp, and that there had been no hens in it for a couple of months.
What I cannot understand is that the coop had been sprayed without being cleaned properly first. The nest box had straw in it, and there was some on the floor although this was slatted with a droppings board. Needless to say I asked if I could remove the straw as I didn't want to risk bringing it back here, potentially full of red mite. (I know my hens are clean, as on Saturday all the coops were cleaned completely, sprayed and the hens checked for any sort of infestation and we found nothing.)
There was caked poo at the bottom of one of the walls, which was streaked with poo because the perch was too close to it, and the perches were fouled as well. I can't get my head round someone selling a coop like that, but he seemed to think he had done a good job cleaning it.
To get it out of the garden the nest box had to come off, but we put it on the trailer still assembled. OH thought that was not a good idea but the seller thought it was too difficult to dismantle. It wasn't. Halfway home we stopped at the side of the road and took it apart as the bouncing wasn't doing it any good. There are some other bits still to unscrew to get it completely in bits, then I can (1) hit it with the airline to get muck out of the cracks, (2) vacuum it to get rid of all the loose and caked on stuff (3) steam clean it and finally (4) coat it with proper creosote as I found two 5 litre containers in one of the outhouses.
I am going to scrap the slatted floor and droppings tray and put in a solid floor as there is a cleaning door at waist height. The nest box is really only fit for the bonfire, as are the perches - they're too small and in the wrong orientation anyway. So I will reboard the side where the existing nest box is, fit an external Chick Box and put a single perch along the long axis of the coop. Then I'll take the felt off the ramp and turn it into a ladder and maybe take the felt off the plywood roof and put Onduline on it (we have some offcuts from another job which will probably do.)
As I paid cash on collection I suppose I could have rejected it on the grounds of it having had red mite (didn't see any signs of any when we were hurriedly dismantling it, but I know they're cunning little b*****s.) and probably would have done if I had my own Ebay account. As I use OH's account I didn't want to mess up his rating by being a "timewaster".
So folks, learn from my experience. If you're tempted by a nice looking hen house on ebay the most important question to ask is "Has it had redmite?". The answer I had this evening was followed by the comment that you can't keep chickens and not have red mite. Well if you use straw in the nest box and don't clean the coop properly that is probably going to be true.
So now you know what I'll be doing over the next few days, weather permitting. At least it might keep me from browsing on Ebay!!!
Not having television, when I collapse in a heap I amuse myself looking at poultry keeping stuff on ebay. I found a nice looking coop with run, useful I thought for separation if I have any problems when I get the new birds (bearing in mind my Welsummers are still "on their hols"). Being wooden, I planned to treat it with a couple of coats of creosote as I have plenty of time to let the fumes evaporate. It was larger than most similar coops advertised and was only half an hours drive away which was a definite bonus. Unfortunately I didn't have time to take a look before bidding, but I bid anyway and won it at a very reasonable price.Went to collect it this evening and was very disappointed in the quality and the layout of nest box and perch. The worst thing though was discovering, by asking the question that I should have asked much earlier, that there had been a red mite infestation. I was assured that the coop and run had been disinfected, and indeed it was still damp, and that there had been no hens in it for a couple of months.
What I cannot understand is that the coop had been sprayed without being cleaned properly first. The nest box had straw in it, and there was some on the floor although this was slatted with a droppings board. Needless to say I asked if I could remove the straw as I didn't want to risk bringing it back here, potentially full of red mite. (I know my hens are clean, as on Saturday all the coops were cleaned completely, sprayed and the hens checked for any sort of infestation and we found nothing.)
There was caked poo at the bottom of one of the walls, which was streaked with poo because the perch was too close to it, and the perches were fouled as well. I can't get my head round someone selling a coop like that, but he seemed to think he had done a good job cleaning it.
To get it out of the garden the nest box had to come off, but we put it on the trailer still assembled. OH thought that was not a good idea but the seller thought it was too difficult to dismantle. It wasn't. Halfway home we stopped at the side of the road and took it apart as the bouncing wasn't doing it any good. There are some other bits still to unscrew to get it completely in bits, then I can (1) hit it with the airline to get muck out of the cracks, (2) vacuum it to get rid of all the loose and caked on stuff (3) steam clean it and finally (4) coat it with proper creosote as I found two 5 litre containers in one of the outhouses.
I am going to scrap the slatted floor and droppings tray and put in a solid floor as there is a cleaning door at waist height. The nest box is really only fit for the bonfire, as are the perches - they're too small and in the wrong orientation anyway. So I will reboard the side where the existing nest box is, fit an external Chick Box and put a single perch along the long axis of the coop. Then I'll take the felt off the ramp and turn it into a ladder and maybe take the felt off the plywood roof and put Onduline on it (we have some offcuts from another job which will probably do.)
As I paid cash on collection I suppose I could have rejected it on the grounds of it having had red mite (didn't see any signs of any when we were hurriedly dismantling it, but I know they're cunning little b*****s.) and probably would have done if I had my own Ebay account. As I use OH's account I didn't want to mess up his rating by being a "timewaster".
So folks, learn from my experience. If you're tempted by a nice looking hen house on ebay the most important question to ask is "Has it had redmite?". The answer I had this evening was followed by the comment that you can't keep chickens and not have red mite. Well if you use straw in the nest box and don't clean the coop properly that is probably going to be true.
So now you know what I'll be doing over the next few days, weather permitting. At least it might keep me from browsing on Ebay!!!
