What makes a chicken coop easy to live with?

[Nature Chick]

Hi everyone

on the 17th September we will be taking delivery of our new wir

I am beside myself - it took some persuading of OH and some trade-off to give him more vegetable growing space but it has finally happened!

We opted for an Omlet wir for various reasons but really looking forward to personalising it.

I have been looking at everyone's wir designs and have a few questions.....

1. I read somewhere that people have had problems with rain soaking the base of the run. We currently have our non-wir on garden weed-matting with linkaboard around the inside and filled with aubiose. The run has a polycarbonate roof and the base has never got wet. With the wir we had planned to lay paving slabs on sand and make a linkaboard surround (on the inside) and fill with aubiose. Are there any pit-falls we need to be aware of? I had looked at using stable matting instead of paving but it would be more expensive. I don't want to get pavers if they aren't the right thing. We had also planned on just having the paving inside the run (stopping at the run walls) so that we could still peg it down.

 

2. We had planned to use corrugated plastic sheets to make a roof with a decent overhang - some clever person here put guttering upside-down on the apex to stop water getting in so we were going to copy that! My OH also wants to put guttering on the roof so that we can have an extra water butt. Again - anything we need to think about here?

 

3. Dust bath!! I was going to buy a cheap plastic sand pit and put it in the centre of the run - has anyone else tried this?!!

 

4. Edging - We don't think linkaboard will be tall enough to stop the girls kicking the aubiose out of the run so we wondered if it would be possible to stack it so that it is double the height - any other ideas??!!

 

Finally......plants! I would like to have plants in and around the run - some edible and some not! For plants not to be eaten I saw someone reccommended rosemary and ornamental grasses - is this okay for chickens?

 

Thank you in advance for any tips - the run cost so much I don't want to spend money on the wrong bits when it comes to installation!!!!

S

[hopingforchickens]

Well done, it sounds like your plans have been very well thought out! I have just gone from bare soil to slabs, and from what I've read on here it's the right decision - my girls haven't actually moved in yet. My dustbath is an old dog basket, so yours sounds fine. The roof sounds good as well, I think you will still get some wetness inside, unless you have 'blinds' up the sides, like some do here, but it won't be anywhere near as bad as without a roof, so the bedding can be raked over, which also isn't a problem. I don't know what link board is so can't advise on that, my WIR has kickboards, apart from in the doorway, so I'm using some garden screening, which I've also used as shading elsewhere to stop the easybed coming out there.

 

Good luck with all your plans, looking forward to pics when it's done!

[Nature Chick]

Thank you for your reply!

The area for the run is shaded by trees but I had thought about investing in some side protection for the winter!

I am interested in your kickboards and garden screening - having switched to an eglu 5 years ago I am paranoid about having wood due to the risk of mites (although my new bantams brought red mite with them which I have just managed to eliminate ). I wonder if kickboards may be a more simple solution to keep the bedding in - would sealing them with something help with the risk of mites?

Thanks

S

[johnandkymberley]

Hiya,

It all sounds exciting! I can't comment on all of you things as I haven't tried them myself but...

With a sandpit in the middle it will give the girls loads of opportunity to get stuck in and dust! I bought a shallow tubatrug - pink to match the cube and classic- think it was about £15 with delivery but really recommend it, all ten of mine used to get in it and it's got handles so easy to move.

And with plants (I just moved my girls into a netted area etc, see my other posts for pics) and I bought artifical. I didn't want to but to withstand them they had to be. I don't want to spend £10 on a plant that will be eaten in 5 hours lol but if you look at my pics I have lined up some gerberas at the front in pots, which I'm really proud of a d got lovely green leaves in the area!

Nothing is safe with hens, since my girls have moved into netting - last Monday, by lawn looks stunning already!!