Please advise if this cage/run looks suitable?

[cocky]

Hi I have one of the first two you showed and they are only big enough to keep three at night. the run is too small for even 3 chucks. please give your chucks more room. Build the thing yourself with at least 1 square metre per chuck outside if it is enclosed. The coop should be at least a square foot per bird perched. Anything else will be crap and you won't feel good about keeping your chucks there
cheers and good luck

[ChrisB]

Please think carefully before buying, as I agree with Cocky that they are too small for six birds.

I work on the following:

12" perch space each - minimum
2 square feet per bird inside the house
4 square feet per bird in the run

Hope this helps, and good luck with your girls when you get them, you'll get endless hours of enjoyment from them, to say nothing of the eggs

[Salina]

Personally I'd think you'd be better of with something like a garden shed and a large DIY run. hens like to wander around as much space as possible and those runs seems ridiculously tiny. I wouldn't even consider putting hens in it, sorry, just my honest opinion. :/

[Scubabe]

Of course Salina everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I have already purchased my house & run and I am sure my girls will be very happy in it, it looks the bees knees! The run is not ridiculously tiny at all, and besides which I have already stated above that
A) They will be allowed out for free ranging every afternoon so will have plenty of opportunity to wander about
and
B) DIY is not an option so your suggestion of making my own run was a waste of your time to type it.

Thanks for those who gave feedback, I didn't end up buying any of the 3 I linked to, I bought a similar style but from a different supplier and it's bigger than the ones I linked earlier. I am sure my girls will be very happy, have already bought them organic pellets and corn, now I've just got to twiddle my thumbs until the rescue happens!! I'm so excited about them, can't wait till they get here!

Thanks all for your help, much appreciated

Ness

[roadkill]

well done on getting the birds are they laying well?

I made my coop first time too and it does i good job i think , fit the perch's yourself they are quite simple , i also wouldnt worry to much about nest boxs i dont have any for my nine and only lay the eggs on one side near the corner so they are easy to find

[Stamford]

Of course Salina everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I have already purchased my house & run and I am sure my girls will be very happy in it, it looks the bees knees! The run is not ridiculously tiny at all, and besides which I have already stated above that
A) They will be allowed out for free ranging every afternoon so will have plenty of opportunity to wander about
and
B) DIY is not an option so your suggestion of making my own run was a waste of your time to type it.

Thanks for those who gave feedback, I didn't end up buying any of the 3 I linked to, I bought a similar style but from a different supplier and it's bigger than the ones I linked earlier. I am sure my girls will be very happy, have already bought them organic pellets and corn, now I've just got to twiddle my thumbs until the rescue happens!! I'm so excited about them, can't wait till they get here!

Thanks all for your help, much appreciated

Ness

Which option did you buy eventually ? I opted for the 1st one you mentioned but slightly larger. When it arrived the roof was slightley damaged, not much but thought I'd complain anyway and they sent me a new roof Ive now extended the length of the run with the old roof and doubled it in size for basically nowt Havent been and got the chickens yet, still have another 2 weeks to wait as we're away to France soon on holiday - Cant wait !!

[Scubabe]

G'day Stamford,

I ended up getting this one. We've got the girls in there for the morning, and then in the afternoon they can free-range. In a couple of weeks time we're going to look into making them a safe, sectioned off bit of land they can range on all day long... but neither of us is "handy" so go knows how we'll manage it. I did manage to hang a gate last weekend though, so there's a chance we could muddle through it ourselves

Your damaged roof sounds, although initially a pain, in the end it was a fab bonus! Wish I'd thought of that

My chooks only arrived a couple of days ago, the rescue happened on the weekend. Already they are my biggest daily timewaster They've all got names, and emerging personalities... Naked Dave is so far the bravest and even ventured onto the ramp on her first evening with us, so I can't wait to see what she looks like with feathers!! (She's called Naked Dave because she's no feathers, she's practically oven-ready - the rest of my rescues aren't half as bad as her... but as soon as I saw her in the shed I knew I needed to have her!)

Cheers,

Ness

[Hilary B]

Looks like the one we had when we first had a big garden and kept hens. Once they knew where the food was going to be, and the nest box, we let them out most of the time, and they just went back to lay eggs and eat.
I've got more money-conscious since then<g>