Chicken Hoose

[SpoonsbySven]

So we ordered some hens last year. Spring was ages away, right?! Suddenly work went crazy and there were no free weekends, and the hens were arriving… So a bit of a mad rush to get Chicken house Mark II ready for their arrival. Anyway, here it is. Thought I’d pop some pics up- I have a Sketchup model if anyone’s interested. It’s a bit brighter than I’d planned- I used marine ply for simplicity and was just going to oil it, but then started to worry about marine ply and delaminating edges etc.

We've just got three at the mo, with a fourth on the way, but I reckon this would house 6-8 comfortably.

The nest box is removable for easy cleaning.

A machine that turns slugs and dandelions into fresh eggs. Hard to beat!
S

 

[woodpig]

Smart! I'd like some but we get lots of cats around and the gardens a bit small. Let's see some more pics of the Chooks.

 

[doorframe]

Do the chickens get free run of the garden, or are they enclosed? I've got 2 cats, and I don't think they would bother the hens, but we also are over run with foxes. That would be problem.

 

[doorframe]

And I like the idea of recycling slugs!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Hens rarely eat slugs - ducks do, though.

 

[doorframe]

So, ducks eat slugs!!

You learn something every day. :shock:

 

[MARK.B.]

Duck's do indeed eat slugs,have kept chickens for years and never seen one eat a slug yet.

 

[Peter Sefton]

Nice looking house, I have also just finished making a coop and house, a great way the get out of the workshop and into the open air each day. I am still finding out what the girls will eat.

I just posted some pics on FB

https://www.facebook.com/peter.sefton.75

Cheers Peter

 

[graduate_owner]

Our hens used to eat small young slugs, but once they grew (the slugs, not the hens) then they wouldn't touch them. We had a visit from mr fox recently, and habe decided no more hens.

K

 

[Peter Sefton]

I lost all my chickens to a fox when I was a teenager, My latest one is an A frame made from builders wire mesh security fencing panels including the base. I hope this keeps them safe!

Cheers Peter

 

[whiskywill]

I have two coops for my four hens and two guinea fowls. Two of the hens roost on top of a fence. Two roost in a tree and the guinea fowls in another tree. Wind, rain, snow and frost doesn't seem to bother them. We also have many neighbours cats wandering around the garden and have never had any problem with them.

 

[Zeddedhed]

I'd be keen to have a look at the sketchup model if the offer still stands.
We have some cooks arriving in a few weeks and I need to build a hen house pronto.

 

[SpoonsbySven]

Hi Zeddedhed,
Sorry, I've been away with work this week, and only just saw your post.
I've uploaded the model to the 3D Warehouse- search for "Chicken House MarkII", and you should find it. It's the first time I've uploaded anything, so let me know if it doesn't work, and I can have another go, or PM me and I can email it to you

I don't claim that it's the best design in the world, but it worked fairly well for me. The last one I built was the "ark" design, but that didn't really suit us. I chose marine ply for the walls a) for speed and b) to minimise nooks and crannies for red mites to hide away in. There are a few things I didn't get around to showing in the model (but they're probably pretty obvious anyway:
- roof is made from Coroline/onduline
- Nest box roof has a covering of lino (or anything flexible) so that it can hinge up and down
- I drilled some 10mm holes straight up into the bottom of the legs, and inserted some 100mm lengths of steel rod most of the way in, so that 30mm or so was left sticking out. These rest on bits of paving slab, which lifts the ends of the timber legs up out of the wet.
- I put some polycarbonate between the legs at the bottom on two sides, which gives a sheltered but "open" area for the chooks to hang out in when it's wet/snowy.

Interested to hear any feedback.

Good luck with your hens! One bit of advice I would give any first time hen owner is to make sure your garden is properly hen proof BEFORE you get them, and clip their wings. Once they learn what the boundaries are, they tend to stay put, but if they learn early on that it's possible to escape, they'll keep trying!

Cheers,
Sven

 

[Zeddedhed]

Sven, the 3D warehouse upload worked just fine.
Like the design, I'll probably have to adapt it a bit as SWIMBO has decided that an old tree stump is to be the base for the new chook palace.

We are quite used to having chickens having had up to 5 at a time. The last lot succumbed to the neck wringing treatment to make way for the workshop build. Even though they were layers almost at the end of their laying life they tasted great in a monster Polish Style chicken stew!!

 

[wallace]

Ducks are much better at slug hunting, hens tend to eat any green shoots off plants, Ducks like to swim in ones nice clean koi pond and have big poos in the water. If you get a duckling it will inprint on you and follow you everywhere and be quite affectionate.
Nice hen hoose by the way, are you going to run a cockerel as well. Then you can have some chicks

 

[JJ Woodman]

I would love to keep chickens, but the Fox's are a pain in the backside where I live. They run riot at night and I'm sure they would get into the hoose somehow. Damn you basil brush!