Unsecure chicken perches

[Lorax]

We're planning a WIR. Although we have a very big garden - lucky us - we'd really like the chickens near the house for all sorts of reasons.

 

But are we mad? It'd be about ten feet from the back door, and right near my washing line - will it be hugely stinky in summer?

[fluffy chick]

I can see why you want them near to you. But personally I wouldn't put them next to your house and washing if you dont need to.

 

I did have mine next to my back door and decided I wanted to claim it back for us ( for barbeques and a table and chairs and stuff). I love sitting and watching the chooks but not all our guests appreciate them!

 

Perhaps you have a different set up to me, but I put ours half way down the garden as a compromise!

[teacake]

ours are going right near the house as it's the only flat bit of the garden, I'm hoping for the best.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Have a look at my WIR link in my signature - the first photo shows how close my WIR is to my kitchen . There is also now a whirlygig just on the right of the photo. I've never had a problem with smells (even when I've not cleaned it out as often as I should ) .

 

I love being able to watch them while I'm in the kitchen and it makes going out to them so easy .

[Redwing]

You are more likely to upset the neighbours if you have the chooks near the house, they can make quite a noise when they are startled or have laid an egg!

[Chickybaby]

I don't see why you would have a problem, my WIR is about 8 feet from the back of my house and only about 5 feet from the washing line. Maybe I'm lucky but I never have any bad smells from my run in the summer, there are some flies but that can't really be helped. Both my neighbours sleep at the front of the house too so I don't need to worry too much about noise, besides I let mine out to free range at dawn which keeps the noise down but does mean getting up at 4am in the summer!

[Barkisland]

We sited our WIR right at the farthest corner of our very large garden, which seemed like a good idea at the time.

Unfortunately, it's yards away from a hosepipe or power supply, and traipsing up and down the slippery paddock with bales of aubiose, sacks of feed, bowls of steaming porridge and buckets of water does tend to lose its appeal in midwinter.

I don't find my run stinky in the slightest, and I would be happy to hang my washing out close to it at any time of year.

[mollyripkim]

Mine are close to the house too, I like to be able to see them from the kitchen window and haven't had a problem with smells or flies.

[Space Chick]

My first WIR is near the house, my second is further away. Makes no difference either way to me so do what makes you happy

 

The one thing I would say, is on the perch in WIR1 they can nose into the kitchen window and shout for attention

[LolaLayla]

Our eglu was quite near the house last year and during the summer I was certainly aware of more flies in the kitchen (and I did clean the area every day!) I have recently moved the run further away and hope this summer will be better.

[beach chick]

I agree with barkisland - if the run is far away it can be a real slog come the winter months... plus our hose spends most of its life uncoiled and lying across the garden because it's such a faff to roll it up again.

ideally I would go for closer, but I'm not sure there's ever an ideal situation - ours is where it is because it used up a redundant area of decking, and allows me to move the electric fence round to different areas of our field.

if they never FRed, I'd be more inclined to have it nearer the house - but take the point about perhaps not letting them see you all the time!!

[Egluntyne]

I agree about the slog in winter months. On the other hand, it might be too close for comfort in the summer months, or after a rainy spell, when things can sometimes get a bit whiffy (easily remedied) and you might get the odd fly or two knocking about.

[Lorax]

Wow thanks everyone. For some reason I didn't get any email notifications to say I'd had any replies so I only just saw them!

 

I was worried about smell/flies. We do have a fly curtain on our back door (I got a silver one made to measure from http://www.kempes.demon.co.uk/ that is great - great service and so cheap!) but I remember last year, even though we got our chooks in September, there were lots of flies.

 

We're lucky to have a very big garden, but it's about finding the ideal place isn't it? Too far away and as some of you have said, it's a big old schlep, especially in the winter. And ours will be pretty much in their WIR full time in the summer so if they're in the back of the garden, we won't see them very much. I will miss having them FR but I won't miss the poo everywhere. Plus where they'll be will be near everything we need to keep them clean and fed.

 

Thanks again, your experiences are really helpful!

[beach chick]

just another thought - if you do go for the 'far away' option try and build in some storage? we have some rabbit hutches in our WIR which I'm now turning into storage for chicken-related stuff so it's all exactly where required. I also keep the food in the WIR in a metal dustbin so topping up feeders is a doddle.

means I only now have to schlep the hose about - and working on OH for a new hosepoint nearer to the WIR, so that even if I cba to wind the hose up its not running across the garden...

[Alis girls]

My washing line is right nest to line and even the sight of my smalls doesnt put them off laying

[sandyhas3chucks]

Mine is about 4 ft from the back door, originally it was just for the winter.. but 3 winters on wouldn't have it anywhere else. it is a 4 x 3ish metre WIR