Soggy run

[docsquid]

Well, after months of trying to get permission, I've finally got my WIR! Lewis (who now runs Aviaries 4 you) made a custom WIR that is 5 feet tall at the back so it doesn't overhang the neighbour's fence. I am only 5ft 2 so it is still completely walk-in for me.

 

He arrived at 7:15 - I had wet hair and DH was still in the shower as he'd said 8:00 but there was no traffic and he got here straight away. We had to forego breakfast for a bit to dismantle the cube and get the run detached. Then I had to do a thorough scrub while the sides were off. But 2 1/2 hours afterwards we had a chicken palace. And Blodwyn christened it almost immediately with a lovely egg!

 

Lewis went off with 4 eggies as a prezzie and I was doing frantic cleaning, and putting Bliss bedding into the base (Bliss is very like Hemcore but 2 quid a bale cheaper), and generally making them as comfortable as possible.

 

And then when we finally sat down for a cuppa in the sunshine, DH said "Well, that WIR is ridiculously big for our three girls - YOU'D BETTER GO AND GET MORE CHICKENS!"

 

Piccies

 

The chicken palace - the view from the back door

 

A really lovely job

 

Beautiful inside too

 

Blodwyn was in the cube almost immediately to lay her egg

 

It is REALLY FABBY! I'm just so excited I could all day!

[Patricia W]

That looks fanatastic! I'm sooo envious. So how many are you going to get? And what kind?

 

Tricia

[scarlettohara]

It's lovely - I like having my cube inside as you can clean it without getting wet or too hot My WIR still makes me every time I go in and would be foolish not to get more girls

[docsquid]

The original agreement was for 2 bantams, which I have stretched to 3...

 

...probably Pekins so they will be quite feisty and non-diggy, and able to hold their own with the big girls. However I would really love a silkie...

[Mercedes55]

Looks really lovely, you must be very pleased with it

 

I like how you have that big door behind the cube, does that give you enough space to take the back off to clean it? We were going to have our Cube at the back of the WIR to start with but then realised we would need to access the back for cleaning, so we changed the design so that it was 3ft from the back, but seeing yours has made me wonder if we should go back to our original plan but have the big hatch to enable cleaning and the small one for the trays. Does that make sense

 

It's all been quite hard for us to work out as we haven't got a Cube yet and it's hard to visualise what it will be like and seeing pics of it doesn't show you how easy or hard it is to dismantle to clean or how big each section is

[pipistrelle]

It looks fantastic

[Plum]

Wonderful, congratulations better take two cat carriers.

[bigmommasally]

Beautiful run, its good to see that "a Lewis" is as good as "a Tony"

[Lewis]

Looks great Sarah!

 

I see they've gone back to the old stain/colour, still looks well built though

[docsquid]

Looks really lovely, you must be very pleased with it

 

I like how you have that big door behind the cube, does that give you enough space to take the back off to clean it?

 

There is a large door so you can get right in and round the cube if need be to clean it. But there are also two small hatches - one so you can pull out and empty the poo trays, the other at the side so you can reach in and get the eggs out of the nest-box. These are handy if you don't want to let the chickens out into the garden but still want to do the necessary cube maintenance. They are optional extras though - you do have to pay extra.

 

The cube is also a lot easier to move when it doesn't have the run attached so if you wanted to clean it under cover in the WIR, then you could just jiggle it about a bit to clean it.

 

The chickens LOVE it!

[Mercedes55]

Looks really lovely, you must be very pleased with it

 

I like how you have that big door behind the cube, does that give you enough space to take the back off to clean it?

 

There is a large door so you can get right in and round the cube if need be to clean it. But there are also two small hatches - one so you can pull out and empty the poo trays, the other at the side so you can reach in and get the eggs out of the nest-box. These are handy if you don't want to let the chickens out into the garden but still want to do the necessary cube maintenance. They are optional extras though - you do have to pay extra.

 

The cube is also a lot easier to move when it doesn't have the run attached so if you wanted to clean it under cover in the WIR, then you could just jiggle it about a bit to clean it.

 

The chickens LOVE it!

 

Thanks for that, we will make some changes to our design, really want to get it right first time

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Congratulations . That looks fabulous .

[Snowy]

Sarah that looks fantastic!

[Egluntyne]

It's a work of art. There is definitely room for a few more in there!..

 

Congratulations.

[The Dogmother]

That looks fab Sarah, I can't believe that OH said you can get some more!

[docsquid]

That looks fab Sarah, I can't believe that OH said you can get some more!

 

No, nor can I. I'm really looking forward to getting some little banties. DH said originally 2, so that will be 3 by the law of chicken maths. However, because of other things happening and concessions I am making in other areas, which I haven't reported on the forum yet, I might be able to get away with one more.

 

The chickens are SO much happier when they have to be left in the run for any reason because there are more places for them to go, and more for them to do, and they can have a really good dig on the deep bedding. I'm going to build them a lovely assault course some time this week, so they have plenty to do and lots of "up" places to go.

[scarlettohara]

I love chicken maths I was asked yesterday how many chicks I wanted (one !) and I answered 2