Newbie want to keep chickens

[Jimster]

[MaureenHall]

That's a lovely coop and your chooks are gorgeous They certainly look happy enough don't they

[Snadger]

What chooks are they! With my limited knowledge I'd guess at Dorking and Sussex!

[HayleyB]

Hi guys

How do I get ex-bats, also I will be keeping them in the stable yard during the day (away from our naughty doggies) and they will have a large stable to sleep in at night, will I need to mesh the top half of the door? The door is just under 5ft and I can't see how a fox would be able to get in the yard (it's puppy proofed) but I would want to be safe.

I thought 4 hens but OH said why not 10

[MaureenHall]

Get in touch with the Battery Hen Welfare Trust, the website shows who's your nearest co-ordinator and when the next rescue is. Why stop at 10 If you've got the room, go for more. If you're 100% certain that a fox can't get at your chooks, then there'd be no need to mesh the top half of the door. They're really crafty devils though, and I think I'd feel the chooks would be safer with some kind of upper door

[HayleyB]

MORE

I have decided I will mesh the top, I'd be devastated if anything happened. The stable is about 16' by 12' and I need to think what I can use to build nesting boxes.

[Snadger]

I've meshed the top of my door as well.

Apparently we've had a young fox prowling around our allotments so I've just spent all day digging trenches and burying corrugated sheeting around my runs perimeter.
They are now totally fenced in, including roof and hopefully foxproof! Says he as he touches wood!

[Flummery]

I've heard of someone using polythene boxes for next boxes - the sort you buy for storage - about 12" x 15", put on their sides. They are dead easy to clean out and won't harbour the dreaded red mites. I'm looking into this as a possibility for our chook house (when we get around to building it!)

[Jimster]

What chooks are they! With my limited knowledge I'd guess at Dorking and Sussex!

I belive they are welsummers and light sussex

[HayleyB]

I've heard of someone using polythene boxes for next boxes - the sort you buy for storage - about 12" x 15", put on their sides. They are dead easy to clean out and won't harbour the dreaded red mites. I'm looking into this as a possibility for our chook house (when we get around to building it!)

Brilliant idea Flum, I'm off to Henschool 25th October and waiting for BHWT co-ordinator to get back on a collection in November in Coventry.

Maureen, we are having more hubby made me type 12 on the email told him he has to clear the stable before they move in

[alexihen]

With my first hens, I had a smallish run, but had a pophole in one end and used to set up plastic fencing on the lawn so that it included the pophole, temporarily, moving it each day. I threaded lamp hooks, the sort road mending teams use to put their warning lights on, through the fencing to hold it up. This meant the girls could have a larger run moved each day very easily which limited the damage to the lawn in any one part. At night I just closed the pophole in the temporary fencing and then shut them up as usual. It worked well for me so it may for others.

[MaureenHall]

Brilliant idea Flum, I'm off to Henschool 25th October and waiting for BHWT co-ordinator to get back on a collection in November in Coventry.

Maureen, we are having more hubby made me type 12 on the email told him he has to clear the stable before they move in

Brilliant I might see you at the November rescue then. Depends on what I'm getting for my birthday My friend suggested a couple of "pretty" chickens as a present, but yesterday I got the impression that he'd changed his mind about that, so there's space at Chuckingham Palace for some more.

[BrideXIII]

Thanks for the advice, so if i fenced off an area in the garden, 8' x 10', with the fence around 6' high, would I still need to cover the roof area wire to keep foxes out, or would 6' fence be enough?

Also what would be best to go on the ground in this area, at the moment it's a rock & compacted soil.

Should I leave it like this, concrete it, slab it, or something else??

As regards to type of chooks, not thought that far ahead yet, was just going to see what they had local, my wife likes the idea of getting them as chics

please please PLEASE!! roof it, there is nothing more devasting than to find your stock ripped apart by foxes, and 6 foot will not deter them in the least when they are hungry and have young to feed. my brother even had one living in his roof! how it got up there was a mystery until they spotted it one night climbing the nieghbours fence, and leaping across and i have regularly seen 'ours' climbing an eight foot hedge.

[Snadger]

I belive they are welsummers and light sussex

Ah well, half right, half wrong, not bad for a rank amateur!

Both traditional utility breeds I believe, good for meat and eggs!

[digthatchick]

As has been said before - please roof your pens and runs, also take weldmesh 6'-8" underground (mine is also set in concrete as we have foxes in the garden most nights!!) NEVER underestimate what a fox can do to get food. Also one thing to bear in mind with chooks that I have not seen mentioned .. they poop a great deal, so bear this in mind if they are let loose on your patio! With poops bigger than the eggs they lay it makes great fertiliser but do not put directly onto young plants, compost it first. Not a great pic as it was shot through the kitchen door but gives you the idea as to why chooks need locking up at night http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...1&d=1222280969