Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi everyone

After much deliberation, I have bought myself this ark:



I cant wait to go fetch my chooks, but patient is a virtue and I'm just in the process of setting it up at the moment.

Can I get some opinions on this please....
I'm planning on getting 3-4 chickens. At the moment this will be a self contained run, but the plan is they will get a run of an area of around 5mx5m

The area at the moment has a wire netting around dug into the ground at 1500 high with around 8inches below ground. and then a further 5mx5m area within this to keep the chooks off the vegetable patch with a netting of 1050, with around 2-3 inches below ground.

I would like to set up a covered run within this eventually. does this sound okay to start?

I've read lots and lots and it says about having water within the house/run at all times, even of a night time - how is this done in this type of run?

I will have a galvanised drinker and feeder and would quite like a second one attached to the wire netting?

I went into our local farmers shop and there are so many food varieties to choose from...quite confusing for the beginner

Could someone also recommend which grit to get? and a grit feeder? found a small one on ebay but it seems to need 5cm to attach to, my netting is 19mm.

Anyway thank you for your comment on my other posts.

sooo looking forward to getting my hens

Everything sounds OK for a start but beware foxes. With no electric fence and no top on any run, they can, and ultimately will, come calling, no matter where you live.

Food - for layers, pick a layers pellet (or mash) - organic or not, as suits you. If you get a cockerel at some time and want to produce a few chicks, breeders pellets will make for hatchable eggs. Pellets/mash needs to be most of their diet, with some grain as a bribe/titbit. The simplest idea is to buy a bag of feed from the supplier when you pick up the birds.

Grit - some pellets require extra calcium (oyster-shell/limestone), some don't - it should say on the bag - if it doesn't just ask the seller. They should have flint grit available even if not a calcium/mixed grit.

You will struggle to provide a normal drinker in the house - you could try what are often sold as coop cups - a large hook-on cup.

That's a lovely looking ark. You do know though that it will be nowhere near big enough? Once you have a couple of chickens more just keep turning up... don't know where they come from.

__________________
Into each life some rain must fall........but this is getting ridiculous.

I've been told that keeping chooks can get quite an obsession and a joy, which leads me to my next question......

I have bought this to start with, I was hoping to get something a little larger, but my OH was adamant to start at this size, so I bought the largest ark with run I could find....(he wanted to see it before buying so ebay was out)

can you have more than one of these, or say another hen coop and this within the same covered run, or would that lead to having certain chickens excluded to the other coup on their own? after buying this as always the case I've seen a second hand large coup and run being offered locally for a good price?

Any ideas on the easier way to extend this, eg, could I put nest boxes on the end and has anyone extended the run on one of these easily?

Firstly, if you put 2 arks in one rune, the chooks may all choose the same house.
Second, in that ark I would use a 'hang-up' type drinker in the unroofed part, and probably a second drinker in the outer run.
Third, if the outer run is 5mx5m roofing would be tricky, bit 1050mm is NOT high enough to keep chooks in without a roof (some chooks will get out of ANY unroofed area).
Fourth, you need a bit more depthto the underground part of the fencing to prevent foxy digging in, or lay slabs inside and outside all round.
Fifth, has the ark got a meash 'floor' throughout? If not, add one (fairly small mesh) to prevent rats digging their way in. I assume the idea is for the Ark to be for 'shutting in' times and the run for 'when someone is there to watch over them' times, but unless you are going to be there most of the daytimes, that ark won't do for more than 3 (and even then they will be a bit confined), you will need a 'all day' run (fox-proof) of a MINIMUM of 1 sq meter per hen, that is NOT including the size of the ark, and still assumes an hour or so per day in a much larger space.

With a bit of ingenuity you should manage to add an external nestbox at the end furthest away as shown,

Loads of ideas, or you could use the bigger one you've seen, and store the smaller one for when you get a broody.....

__________________
Flowers come in too many colours to see the world in black-and-white.

You could have separate runs with separate breeds with the separate homes and even get them some boys to play with

__________________
Hayley B

An Egg is for breakfast, a chook is for life

Yes this was my idea, only having them in the run/ark area when no-one is there


Would yu then keep the door open and let them have the run and ark of an evening? or have a drinker inside the ark?

thats quite straight forward. I have some mess with holes of around 19mm would it need to be finer than that?

Yes, keep the door to the coop open from when you first let them out in the mornings till when they put themselves to bed at night. I wouldn't put a drinker inside the coop, once the chooks are in bed for the night, they sleep, they don't need the water there all the time (same with food)


Can't see why it shouldn't be ok

Good luck with your chooks, and don't forget to post some photos when they arrive

__________________
My girls found their way into my heart and now they nest there

Thanks maureen, will do, I will post a few of the chooks and their abode...

Cant wait

I was given a couple of cabbage plants, so I plan to get these in the allotment and treat the little-uns when they are ready!

After much deliberation i've built another chicken house,i just can't seem to help myself.

Attached Thumbnails

   

With that sort of ark, the chooks can be left their 'mini outdoors' all the time, except for really severe winter conditions. That way if they wake up before you do in summer, they have access to a drink. The biggest advantage to such an arrangement is that there is no need for water in the enclosed part.
Of the chooks I kept (in very haphazard ways) over a good many years, i don't think I ever shut them in 'just-the-indoors', but that is only viable if the pop-hole is well sheltered from risk of wind-driven rain or snow getting into the house (which basically means siting it so that the wind cannot blow directly in, not always easy with an ark).

Nice house Kevnsue

__________________
Flowers come in too many colours to see the world in black-and-white.

Wow kevnsue, that's brilliant!!! Can I pinch some of your ideas please for the next one I make? Detailed plans / cutting list / materials needed etc gratefully appreciated

__________________
My girls found their way into my heart and now they nest there

It is quite a windy site, but I am putting scaffold sheeting along the very outer wire fencing to reduce the wind for both crops and chooks.

Also I have a hedge the other side, so hopefully it will be quite sheltered by the time I've finished.....

So I could leave them in the whole area with the pop door open over night....I know one of the others on the allotment has a eglu and they do that

I have hinted that I need a walkin roofed enclosure to the OH so, hopefully this is now on the agenda for soonest rather than later

I second Maureens comment about the plans.....a winter project for the OH

nice coop kevnsue

You may need to shut them in on WINTER nights, but days are short enough then that it is surely no hardship to be there to shut the door just after it gets dark, and to open it as soon as there is daylight. In summer, the chooks may be wanting to be 'up and about' from 4am to 9pm (or possibly even later depending how far North they are), so letting them choose when to go in the 'garden' pays.
Yes, a proper roofed enclosure to keep foxy out when you are 'there but not really watching' is definitely a good idea!

__________________
Flowers come in too many colours to see the world in black-and-white.

No hardship to let them in and out in the winter, I would prefer to do this every day for my own piece of mind anyway.

Great news......I collect my hens tomorrow.....

I have chosen:

Cornish meadow white, Cornish Meadow ranger, Bovans Nera and Cornish Meadow red.....

I cannot wait to go and pick them up.

I have the small holders Layer pellet, and the super corn, from the same makers, I'm told the super corn has grit in it (both are gm food free) paying around £9.50ish for a 20kg bag

I have put the thought into my OH about the run, so this is now on the agenda.

Any suggestions on the best way to collect the hens????

Wonderful news
I use those collapsible crates from B&Q (5 for £10 or something like that). Fasten a cardboard lid onto them with string and when collecting 4, put 2 in each crate. You can use strong cardboard boxes, not too big though, make sure there's holes in so they don't suffocate on the way home, and again, put 2 in each box. Also cat-carrriers are ok, but you can usually only get 1 (depending on the size of the bird) in those. Oh yes, if you do use anything plastic or with a slippery bottom, put some newspapers in.

__________________
My girls found their way into my heart and now they nest there

good idea I have a couple of them in the garage.....

Depends how far you are going. For a really short journey (less than a couple of miles) I sometimes transported hens in paper feed sacks, 2 to a bag (the size that once held 40Kg sugar beet pulp), with 'armsized' holes right through the bag just below where the neck was tied. I really wouldn't recommend it for any longer journey, but it was sometimes all I had, and they must be plastic-free bags (which you probably won't find these days anyway).
The advantage is that it is so much easier to put a second hen in without the first one escaping.

__________________
Flowers come in too many colours to see the world in black-and-white.

The advantage is that it is so much easier to put a second hen in without the first one escaping.[/QUOTE]

I like the last bit Hilary. When I went to collect my first ex-batts I had been given a large basket which just fitted into the back of the car with the seats down. Easily big enough for 6 but try holding down 5 heads while trying to get number 6 in the basket.

I used the collapsable plastic thingy's, with a mdf lid on, tied in with a couple of plastic ties.

we only live around 10minutes from the breeder, so they werent too stressed, in fact in one, the two were sat all nice and calm!!

it took them around an hour before they ventured out of the ark into the run, but they seem to have settled so quickly

The down side to all this, is that i feel attached to them already!!! and didnt want to leave them up the allotment on their own

So chucking it down, I'm popping back in a minute

My OH, said he wanted nothing to do with the chucks....however he has been up and decide that the Bovan's Nera is called omlet and its his apparently

My cornish meadow ranger is so tame and has already took corn from my hand. The white leghorn is very nervous and the cornish meadow red is indifferent at the moment

the window of my shed overlooks the chicken run and I've spent about an hour just peering out to see how they are.....

My OH said he didn't want anything to do with the chickens either, he agreed to help erect the house, construct the run and he drove me around when I bought them so someone could drive and someone could keep an eye on them - well an escaped angry cockerel flitting around the car whilst you're trying to drive over one of the Pennine passes wouldn't have been healthy. Anyway, shortly after we bought our growers I broke my toe, couldn't really manage the day-to-day care and he did it for me with the result that all the chickens, but the growers in particular, now think he's some kind of god... he started choosing names too, and this is a man who's had no input into any of our dogs' names... or any children's names either come to think of it.

__________________
Into each life some rain must fall........but this is getting ridiculous.

well i'm back from my first day of chicken keeping and have locked the safely away for the night.....

My Cornish meadow red - still to be named

My cornish meadow white - leghorn is souffle

My cornish ranger is Hen-na

and my nera is Omlet

the jury is out on my red's name, choices are Cilla, Lulu, Chicken Joe (from surfs up) or ????

my only regret was not buying the run/house from the local supplier....in hind sight, I'm finding the ark too small

which was the first thing the guy said to me when I went to see him, dont buy small as your'll buy twice

Any ideas on extending this ark?????

Me too! Or should I say me Three!

Welcome to Chook-addiction. BUY A SHED, sorry to shout, but I ignored the advice too - got a small coop, got 8 chooks, got addicted, ordered 8 more, so had to get a shed and convert it!

It actually works out cheaper too, these Arks and Coops cost more than a cheap shed, and all you have to do is provide somewhere for them to lay their eggs, and perches for them to roost. Oh yeah, and a run. I bought a leccy fence kit and a 2nd hand lorry/bus battery and all is well.

Got 2 leccy kits now for a bigger run (20 Chooks now ) they are soooooo fab I waste hours just sitting talking to them - they even listen which is more than him indoors does!!! LOL

__________________

I tend to build from scratch so i make it up as i go along.
The price of good timber these days is so high,you might as well buy a shed but avoid the cheap and nasty ones.
I do like a challenge though.

Attached Thumbnails

   

well what a morning.....

The chucks were all ready to come out this morning (thought they should be kept in the coup overnight as they are used to the barn.....

Well trying to clean up after them - not a problem, but the white leghorn was insistent on getting out and once she got out into the main run (they are not allowed in yet) she was then so desperate to get back in...that she was banging on the wire....so I showed her where she had to go and she wasnt too chuffed at that

alls well ends well...but panic I absolutely did, I had visions flash of her flying over the fence and disappearing into never land

I'm not so sure she is gong to settle as the others, are, I thing she is going to test my new chicken handling skills before the week is out

Leghorns are ....shall we say .....flighty!

i did read this somewhere I'm sure of it.....I think I should have two rangers my henna is quite the little quiet bird.....

But I didnt take on the allotment or chucks for an absolutely easy life, so my OH had better get that run done

Piece of advice though, will she get as friendly as the others, as I've read somewhere that they are friendly and somewhere else that they are a knightmare?

My four are all Rangers. Lovely friendly birds. I can heartily recommend them.

__________________
Whoever plants a garden believes in the future.

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com Updated March 11th - My first Seed Guardianship

www.henheaven.blogspot.com - Updated February 27th - Rooftops and Caulis

my ranger is the best of the bunch so far, as she is the only one that will interact with me, but it is early days (only 2 days in)

Quick question:

I am putting around 4oz of food down per chicken per day - they are eating around 1/2 of this (which equates to two semi full chinese plastic take away dishes!

What do you do with the balance when you take it up at night? throw it or re-use it next day???

Unless it's been pooed in, or got well rained on, my lot get the food topped up. I don't throw it away unless it's really manky

__________________
My girls found their way into my heart and now they nest there

I have two hoppers one is huge, fill them to the top when getting empty the two lasts nearly 2 days.

__________________
Hayley B

An Egg is for breakfast, a chook is for life

Also another quick question if I may;
At the moment i'm putting down their layers pellets in the morning in a feeder. I usually add some greens to the run whatever is going spare, lettuce, rocket, etc

I then have a cup of Super mixed corn which I put in a little red cup attached to the side of the run.

Is this right and if it is do I need oyster shells as well, I was told that the super mixed corn had grit in it, but do I need anything else as well

I would only offer corn (just a handful between them) in the evening. I mix this with grit - both stone and shell grit and scatter it in the run. It's natural for them to scratch around for grit and corn. It also means they've filled up in the day on their pellets and only have a little corn as a treat at night. Our breeder likened corn to doughnuts. Lovely but fattening!

__________________
Whoever plants a garden believes in the future.

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com Updated March 11th - My first Seed Guardianship

www.henheaven.blogspot.com - Updated February 27th - Rooftops and Caulis