What a chooking great weekend.....

[ralf]

Ok guys long time lurker here and many thanks for all the plentiful anonymous advice i gathered,
So i finally bit the bullet and decided to build a house and run......main requirements was to fit in with what i had and not break the bank!
I had the chooks located locally and booked.
Started construction on friday night at 8 for an hour or so,got the timber and wire the next morning at 10.30 ish and the hens arrived to their new home at 5 pm..phew!
So chainlink wire 6ft tall,plus 3 by 2 by 18ft long and other bits and bobs were purchased to compliment an unused 4 ft square dog house and a ball of bits of plywood.
So this is where i started..


This was a dog kennell that i added laying boxes too.



Room for improvement.



A roost!!



A run!!

[ralf]

6 new chooks and 2 free chicks arrive €5 each......



There are 4 ladies there....



And two ladies and two little uns there......

OH MY GOD........they are just so addictive how will i be able to work tomorrow!


Many many questions to follow.......

[Newtothis]

That looks great Ralf.
I can't wait to get my flock now.
I'm green with envy
well done.
I bet your looking forward to your first eggs.

[ralf]

Hi there,
your not going to believe this but..........I let them out this morning from their house and watched...and watched.....like a lunatic....kept watching.....and first egg produced at 12.15 pm and 3 more since!!!
I love it!

[jessmorris]

Hurrah!
Its great isn't it!

[julesapple]

LOLOL Did you go to work today? If you did, I bet you can't stop talking about your chooks and wondering what they were doing without you.

I noticed that you've put wood preserver on the outside of your henhouse. You might also want to put creosote/creocote on the inside to help prevent red mites before they get a chance to become established.

Jules

[ralf]

Thanks for the advice,i will creosote the inside and i think i might just run a silicone seal over all joints bar the floor,
BTW we had 5 eggs today these gals are getting up to speed quickly.
Ralf.

[lyndonj]

Awesome Ralph, i am also a long term lurker, i find this site absolutely enthralling

[Glutton4...]

Congratulations - on the handiwork, and the Chooks - they are addictive though!

[Suechooks]

Thanks for the advice,i will creosote the inside and i think i might just run a silicone seal over all joints bar the floor,
BTW we had 5 eggs today these gals are getting up to speed quickly.
Ralf.

Don't creosote unless you can let the hens sleep somewhere else for a couple of nights. You need to get rid of fumes before you put them back.

[Glutton4...]

A small point, but better to know now Block off the nest-boxes at night to stop them sleeping in them. They poo a lot at night, and you'll be forever cleaning them out. Much better to have them perch properly, and poo on the floor. (I also think sleeping in the nest-box encourages broodiness in some Hens, too - but that's just my opinion.)

[Newtothis]

A small point, but better to know now Block off the nest-boxes at night to stop them sleeping in them.

Sorry to butt in - and this is probably a silly question - but how do you block off the nest boxes? Do you need a sliding hatch or something?
I'm just building a coop and would be able to do this pretty easily at this stage.
Or am I just over complicating it?

[chris]

I only block the nestbox off when I have a broody.. She still would sleep on the floor by the nestbox opening though

[Newtothis]

OK Chris - I was getting too complicated then....
Ta