Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[mum2boys]

Following on from our neighbours moaning about hearing the chickens (and certain other plans we have that I can't go into here... ).. we have decided to move the house/run.. unfortunately it seems the area I wanted to put them is not long enough so I have "ripped" out my large veggie bed (and I have a tiny garden) but am having difficulty working out how to move them - hopefully my photo appears below (ignore the hutch - holiday visitors!):

 

 

the vertical part of the "L" is along the fence between us and our other neighbours... I don't want the henhouse near our/their house incase they complain (and they have never said a word to us about the hens) however this is the only length we have to fit the house and covered run in one go (with the house on slabs rather than on the bed itself if that makes sense.. (on the photo you can see the edge of our greenhouse so they would be 3-4m away from the house if they were here)

 

the horizontal part of the "L" is along the garage wall, is furthest away from the houses but is not long enough to take the covered run and house without totally obstructing the garage door.. (just off the edge of the photo)

 

if we put the house next to the garage door and then used omlet netting to enclose the "L" which would form a run of about 6-7m - would this work? the run would be increased (our wooden house and run are the same size as an eglu and run and we have 3 chickens) - would the chickens be happy with this OR will they still want to free range? Will they jump over the netting? (they are clipped... maybe I should re-clip?) Dh doesn't want to rebuild the run..

 

am getting in a right tizzy... what would YOU do?

[mum2boys]

has anyone got any suggestions?

 

am begining to think I may have to rehome our girls and neither I or my children want this dh feels they *have* got noiser recently and we have no idea why...

[Egg Lou]

Hi I don't think anyone is ignoring your plea but think its quite hard to picture (even with the photo) how it would work against the garage door..so not sure anyone can advise to be honest.

 

From what I can gather it seems you cannot put the house at the furthest point i.e garage wall without removing run? this would worry me slightly as would they not then have a secure run area?

 

Personally I would suggest putting the house/run as far from their house as possible but keeping the whole unit secure.. I think this would mean by the fence? then also using netting to create a slightly larger free range area.. this may not stop them jumping over completly but should at least make it feel like they have been let out of main run.

 

Sorry if this doesn't help but it is really hard to advice on someone elses situation

[Egluntyne]

Why not give it a try and see how it goes.

 

Mine range in a dedicated "hen" area and not all over the garden as the cost od securing all the boundaries would be a joke.

 

There have been a few escapes.....nothing too dramatic though, as they only play out when I am home.

 

Good luck.

[mum2boys]

thanks for your replies... I know it isn't easy to see from the photo... just very hard to make the right decision at the moment..

 

thanks

[Hen Watch]

Mine got louder recently.

 

I put in an extra nestbox (well actually a ceramic roasting dish with Auboise in.......) and there are less noisy bok boks if 2 want to lay at the same time.

 

Do you mean they are noisy in the day, night, morning or all the time?

[mum2boys]

they bok when they are laying eggs and when they see us as expected...

 

but they then seemed to start bokking all the time - wanting to be let out of the run - we let them out as much as we can but there are times when they can't be out - I am out or the dogs want to be out (one isn't urm.. safe around the chickens). The run is the same size as an eglu run - I made sure that we had space for an eglu and run to be sure they had space. This bokking co-incided with red mites and refusal to sleep in their house - I have sorted the mites and they are now sleeping in the house again.

 

To stop boredom I put cabbages/whole kale plants from my garden (that were being pulled up) etc etc to occupy them and they were being demolished in minutes - I can't afford to buy several a day for them!! They always have water and a full feeder, 3 huge wood blocks to perch on, a dust bath of soil and sometimes sand plus 2 cd's hanging down.

 

I have bought some omlet netting and we are going to extend their run so that when we are home, they can have a much bigger run (so only confined when we are out) all the time and this will be better for us with the dogs. I am wondering if I should be strict and confine them to this as otherwise they may start bokking to be let out in the garden all the time?

 

We have decided to leave the house and run where it is and just put the extension on. Having spoken to many people - who have visited us at all times of day/night etc... they all said the same "we would live next door to those chickens, they are not noisy, it is a nice sound" etc etc... (in fact one friend - a farm vet if that makes a difference - laughed when he heard they were complaining about 3 chickens...). I have put a folded tarp over the house roof - doesn't stop ventilation but I hope will keep it darker for longer....

 

Should I be doing anything else? Have I forgotton something vital?

 

Hen Watch - there is only one nestbox - I do have a photo of all 3 sat on top of each other trying to lay(!) - maybe I should but a 2nd one in? I do have a cardboard box that would fit and I guess would be worth trying....

[RubyReckless]

No advice but plenty of empathy! It's awful when your lovely girls are the cause of problems with the neighbours.

 

In the gardens that abutt ours there are 2 kids who play the drums, one saxaphone player, 2 guitar playing teens who have their bands over for rehersals, 4 toddlers who are VERY loud (one is mine ) and at least one of the neighbours has had building work ongoing for 18 months. And still Her Next Door is irate about a loud chicken.

 

I wish you best of luck with your various efforts. We did convert one grumpy neighbour to the cause by droping over some eggs one day - now he loves us. (the other one would probably throw them at us...)