I'm Looking to keeping chickens but ................

[hamsterhead]

Good Afternoon

I'm seriously keen to keep chickens and realise that this is the best place for advice. I don't actually have any ground, all of my garden is either slate, gravel or patio slabs so am I still OK to keep chickens providing I put bark chippings on the ground in the run, which would be replaced on a regular basis.

I've searched the dreaded internet for a chicken house and run and so far my favourite is this one Chicken House - RS 709S | Poultry Housing | Chickens | Rabbit Hutches, Chicken Coops & Multi-Purpose Animal Housing from Wilkinson Plus. I'm planning to start with four chickens, possibly rehome some battery hens, so would this setup be Ok?

I look forward to your replies

Pete

[baldrick]

sorry cant see your link but yes deep woodchip is fine,its all i have since my grass turned to mud. Ensure a house is as simple and easy to clean as possible. Avoid roof felt or fancy bits as red mite breed in there. Look up red mite. Personally if i ever replace my coop it will be home made plain board with onduline roof and holes with the perches poked through not perch rests. It will have a plain shelf with plastic or card boxes instead of built in nests. It will be bolted instead of screwed together for dismantling & creocoteing twice yearly&it will be stand alone inside the run for ease of cleaning all round. House/run set ups to buy often have a house which needs 6birds to stay warm in winter but a run fit for 2. Whatever you buy creocote and diatom before use. Good luck X

[baldrick]

just managed a look. It looks easy to clean. u may find extending the run will be necessary for 4ex batts tho after where they have been maybe not. I wouldnt keep 4 pol full size birds in a run that small tho any they will argue. My ex batts were over the moon with their little aviary but i soon realised it was too small and had to let them out. now i have other chooks who know better they are let out all day and only in the aviary at night.

[hamsterhead]

Thanks for your replies.

[its hilly]

TBH if these will be your first chooks then I wouldn't go for ex-batts (or even free-rangers) It sounds a great idea but thay tend to be stressed out system wise and can have quite a lot of problems. I'm not saying they all do, there will be others who will say they haven't had any problems with theirs, but others who have. Its no trouble if you've had chooks for a year or so and learnt the symptoms and cures, but is very hard on a new keeper as chooks don't tend to show much sign of illness untill the are at deaths door.
Other than that give 'em plenty of stuff to scrat about in and they wont mind your paving one little bit. But I second Baldrick, they could do with an extension on that run, chooks are busy people apart from when they are sunbathing.
But they are well worth it..

[Snadger]

My allotment neighbour has one of these. They had three small silkies in it and decided it was too small for even these. They have now built a large walk in run around it.

They are VERY small. Even three LF birds would be no better offf than in a battery cage I would think.

They just use straw as bedding to keep the silkies feathered legs clean.

[chris]

For my run, I laid down a ~100-150mm concrete base. I put wood shavings on top of it, and they're fine in there. They do come out in the garden too, but if I have to leave them in there, there's plenty of bugs and what not that they find when sratching around in there !

[hamsterhead]

Thank you all for your replies, its given me something more to think about.