What makes a chicken coop easy to live with?

[sew-1]

Hi all,

 

I have posted a few times in the past and my desire for chickens has been ongoing for 6 years now!! (still have no chickens!)

 

6 years ago it was Monday morning, I was about to click ORDER on my brand new omlet order but then stepped away from the machine to take a pregnancy test - positive! Hence I cancelled my order. One gorgeous child later and I still want my chickens.

 

I have baby sat my best friend's 25 chickens and shovelled sh8t in the pouring rain, had to deal with aggressive cockerels (not my fave!) and red mite and still came out wanting my own chickens.

 

I am constantly on Gumtree, Preloved, Ebay trying to find an Leaf Green Eglu Go but either they never come up or I have to re-mortgage to afford it. So I decided to give in and get a wooden coop but then read about red mite again and really don't fancy the despair that comes with wood.

 

So now, I have still left buying eggs at a premium from the farm shop, wistfully wishing I was getting them from my little ladies and still stalking Ebay daily.

 

Hmph.

 

I do worry that when the time comes that I do get my girls (hopefully before I lose the will to live), I will find it more difficult to care for them than I had imagined. Please can you tell me, is it that hard? What's it like getting up in the cold of winter??

 

Thanks for listening!

S x

[emmalou]

It is good your are taking time to think about it. I will say that I am 6 weeks down the line with chickens and adore them, however they are high maintenance. Funnily enough we have seen friends today who had a baby 3 weeks ago and seeing their routine etc I would not of taken them on if I was planning or had a family. This is just my view, and someone else will come along and disagree. I am not sure your home background but if your home workload is high then chickens may create more problems than you need, no matter how much you want them.

The first 2 weeks I found difficult to get into a routine and whilst it is now easier I deepoo the coop every morning, although know some only do it once a week. I personally could not leave ours for 2 days let alone a week. Also I deepoo the run twice a day to prevent nasties and to try and keep the hens healthy. Also I do let them freerange for an hour a day which means I need to keep an eye on them. They have a 12 metre run but even still want to ensure they can munch away at grass etc outside the run. As far as bedtime goes they put themselves to bed and get themselves up, although we do have an electronic door which is a real godsend and would recommend this for sure. It has change our routine considerably. Good luck whatever you choose to do. They are great fun and have amazing personalities and there is nothing like collecting your own eggs each day

[sweetpea08]

HI There

 

I have had my 3 from the beginning of June I am also the mum to a 2.5 year old boy. I have found them to be easier to keep than I first thought.

 

Everyone on her has a different routine what works for one is different to everyone else.

 

In regards to the winter as I am in NZ where its still winter although it feels more like spring today the worst thing about it has been the frosty mornings and going out to break the ice on the glug and yes the mud we hav had a bit of rain more than usual but thankfully we have plenty of grass (well more like moss) that I can move them onto.

 

Looking back I really wonder why I didn't get them sooner just as I often wonder why I didn't have my son sooner.

 

we are getting eggs and gthere is nothing like your own eggs although I only have one laying at the moment.

In all honesty they are easier to look after than a cat or dog many others will vouch for that.

[grahamrhind]

There's no one answer to this - I see some people find chickens high maintenance. I find exactly the opposite. It depends on your setup and the chickens.

 

My ladies are very low maintenance - food in the morning and opening their enclosed run; food in the evening and closing their enclosed run. And cleaning the Eglu once every 10 days or so. But my setup is rural area, hybrids, they have a huge run (c 100 square metres for two of them - spoiled madams - so no need to poo pick or whatever), no predator issues and they look after themselves. What discourages me is dealing with sickness and death (hybrids don't live long). Up to now when any have died they mostly just dropped dead. I dread coming home to find one very ill - there's no out of hours veterinary care around here and the idea of wringing one's neck [when did this become sanitised into "dispatching"?] fills me with dread.

 

But I would say I don't regret having them at all!

[Blackrocksrock]

I think they can be as high maintenance as you want them to be - I work full time - they are let out in the morning and they free range all day - am in the country with a large garden - so no poo picking except off the back doorstep!! - they have a hopper in the run my hubby keeps topped up and we check water daily - I clean out the eglu once a week on a sunday and never have felt it was a chore - takes such a short time. Once in a while pressure wash the whole lot and then its lovely and clean again - worst at moment is bird you know what on the eglu with blackberries in the droppings - so the whole eglu is purple!!

[emmalou]

Can I just clarify that hig maintenance does not mean regret. I am just weighing up how much harder it would be with children to look after as well as other animals. I love them dearly and have not watched TV since having them as they are so entertaining!

[BridieLou]

I was similarly up-and-down on whether or not we should get them for about 6 months. I read lots of forums, lots of Eglu reviews and would decide that we should definitely get some, then changed my mind again! Same reason; could we look after them, what about holidays, foxes etc etc. In the end we (ahem) decided to, mainly down to my mum giving us the final shove!

 

We got our three hybrids the first week of June and have had them, very happily, for the past 3 months or so. We’ve got an Eglu Go Up, with 2m run and they are quite happy in there for a few hours a day, or a whole day, now and then. My husband and I both work from home 2-3 days per week and they free range from 9am till dusk 4-5 days per week. If we’re at work we leave them in the run, though I still let them out when I get back at 6pm for a few hours to stretch their wings, have a run and poo all over the garden.

 

They poo like you wouldn’t believe and they can be destructive if you’re used to having a manicured garden. We have big flower beds with established plants and they potter around there happily, but young plants and flowers will not last long around them. Ours are on a woodchip run which right now is pretty low maintenance because it’s been dry, but we had a few soggy weeks in June which were less easy. But, I’m more relaxed about them being FR now and the longer they free range the happier and less destructive they seem. I clean their Eglu completely once a week and I find it quite therapeutic! I’m sure that’ll change when the winter comes, but caring for them is a pleasure, I find. They produce more eggs than we can use – get used to a lot of frittata and omelettes!

 

All things considered, I consider them to be low maintenance. I love having them around, their clucks are soothing and they make me laugh every day. Especially yesterday, in fact, when I came in to the kitchen to find one standing on the dining table…

 

The initial outlay is expensive, there is no doubt about it. But I haven’t spent much since – just food which comes in at £12 per 20kg (lasts me about 8 weeks, if not longer), and bedding.

 

If you get lucky and find one on Gumtree/eBay, brilliant. Otherwise it is a pricey start but, in my opinion, worth it. They are funny little things

[emmalou]

I cannot believe how much they poo either. They have a masisve garden when we do let them loose but they choose to be with us all the time which is up by the house, which whilst isn't a bad thing does mean poo on the grass near the house!

[merlina]

I started with a wooden ark (not a very cheap one - I'd worry they were flimsy).

Although I also now have a cube with its extended run, I still use the ark (currently for a couple of bullying ex-batts with a feather pecking problem if they stay with the rest of the girls).

Never (touch wood!) had a problem with red mite. But I did coat the inside with diatom powder before I put chooks in it for the first time and have used it liberally ever since.

Generally my hens have been very low maintenance. I worried *loads* at the start about every symptom. A few years on I'm much more relaxed. I have to be - I work long hours at some points in the year - the hens are just fine on 'benign neglect'. Like any animal they can get sick and that can take up a lot of time - but like any animal you'd be unlucky if that happened.

 

I too thought about hens for years. I reckoned that I would get some when I was 'settled'. Then one day I was at a country show where there were hens and an ark for sale and, ooops a purchase seemed to happen. Never regretted it for a second.

[Mars]

I find hens are very low maintenance, I have fenced garden, automatic door opener and feeders and drinkers which contain enough food and water for weeks. the hens actually help me by eating the grass so I don't have to cut it.

I used a plastic shed.

sew-1

Hens are not very fussy about their house. you don't need to buy an expensive house. the requirements are: fox proof, dry, good ventilation and "for you" as easy as possible to clean floor.

If you can find good priced plastic shed that would be absolutely fine, just put roosting bars in it and pave the floor with concrete or slabs for easy cleaning.

you can add a walk in run depending in your circumstances. to build it you can start with chicken wire and later you reinforce it with fox proof weldmesh wire.

for a feeder I recommend trigger happy chicken feeder, cheap, rodent proof and low maintenance. but you need a hole making drill bit or tool or someone to make 20 mm hole in a plastic container

for a low maintenance drinker you need a plastic container or dust bin and cub drinker

This one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Large-Auto-Cup-Drinker-for-Poultry-Chicken-Chick-Cage-Hatching-eggs-Automatic-/141366998723

Good luck

[Luvachicken]

They will be worth the wait

I waited a long time for mine and eventually got them for my 40th birthday 7 years ago.

They do take up time but then so do lots of other things in life.

 

Not so many eggs for me at the moment but their antics and almost constant chatter make up for that and they always make me smile.

 

I hope you get them soon.

[chooksRCute]

I'd just jump in, lots of young families enjoy chicken keeping.

High maintenance - I don't find it so, & I've now got 2 coops with separate runs. I find its down to having an effective routine, takes me 15 mins in the day to do a visual check, chat to them all, do the egg/food/water run....& that's it.

If I'm home I let each coop have their free range time while I poo pick/sort food. Personally I like to poo pick most but not every day (takes a few minutes) & then I do the coop clean once a week, mite powder bottoms & disinfect the runs..about an hours work- Sorted

 

As an after thought, I leave my coop doors open so I don't have to let them out/in. Have never shut it but would if we have a bad winter. I add the insulated jackets in winter which are fab & they still squabble for the hanging out the door position even on the coldest night! In fact I have one who prefers to sleep just outside the coop most nights, on the log step up to the cube. This bit of the run is covered all year with clear tarp so keeps the drafts & rain out the coop.

[Sil-El]

We've had hens for 3 years now and I wish we'd done it years ago!

 

We did a lot of research and a lot of "should we, shouldn't we?" talking, but in the end my husband got a wooden hen house online and put it all together himself over a weekend, then we found a farm and got 4 lovely ladies and haven't looked back.

 

We've had ups and downs, we've had ladies pass away and had to replace them, now we have 6 of them running riot in the garden - 2 of them are from the original 4 and we have more eggs than we can use so our friends and neighbours get free eggs all the time.

 

I would say, if you want to have hens, just go for it, start off with a small number, get used to them and as your confidence grows maybe you could add more ladies later if you want.

 

They're not really high maintenance, a lot of it is common sense and you will learn as you go.

 

They are great fun, huge time wasters because you just find yourself spending ages watching them as they potter and chat away to themselves in the garden.

 

Good luck

[sew-1]

Hi everyone,

 

I can't thank you enough for your very helpful replies and taking the time to 'chat' to me.

 

Well, it's my birthday in September and hubby asked yesterday what I want. He's not too happy about it but I said I want to start saving money to pay for my chickens. I am thinking that hopefully in mid-winter I'll be able to pick up an Eglu on ebay (as hopefully others won't be wanting to get their chickens in the middle of cold winter) and I can get the eglu then and the girls in April so that I can cut my teeth through spring/summer.

 

Sound reasoning??

 

To confirm my thinking and what I plan - please can you tell me where I have got it right/wrong...

 

- want Eglu Go and will have the run on concrete slabs at back of garden with hard wood chip. Rain cover to help keep it dry. I understand this will look after itself well and just need to be changed every month or so?

- will let out in the morning for the day (very safe enclosed garden) and put back in at night. I work from home on Mondays and most afternoons so they will have time out at weekends and during the week - although may have to limit where they go as hubby won't be happy if they ruin our small lawn grass.

- will clean at least once a week inside eglu - just tip into bin, brush and spray off and put fresh sawdust - yes?

- only planning 2 girls so they don't wreck the garden

 

When I imagine my girls, it's the chatting to them that I dream of most and their little personalities. My bestie has chickens and my back neighbour has them so I "live" with them and hear them everyday but don't get any of the benefits!!! Hence wanting my own!

I also think it would be good for my son (now 5) to have something to take care of.

 

Your posts really made me want them even more.... oh dear! But I don't want to go into it blind (and embarrass myself infront of hubby if they turn out to be more than I imagined!) hence why I want to make sure I imagine and understand it correctly.

 

Thanks again!!!!!!!

[Cat tails]

I wouldn't line the poop drawer with saw dust. Used it in the beginning but it went mouldy very quickly. I know line the drawer with news paper. Oh and wet wipes are super useful, to clean the roosting bars with.

[Olly]

Great news that you're formulating a plan! The set up sounds good. However ...

 

Sorry, I always feel as if I'm being Mrs Gloomy on these posts but I don't let my hens free range during the day unless I am outside in the garden. The risk of them being 'foxed' is high, notwithstanding that your garden is enclosed and even though you may never have seen a fox in there. Maybe see what your neighbour does, if hers are out all day with no problem then that might help you decide, but round here I know they'd be gone in hours. I watched Inspector Fox stroll nonchalantly down my garden at 11.30 am the other day, without a care in the world. The hens didn't bat an eyelid, which tells me he's a regular visitor, since a strange cat can send them into paroxysms.

 

The other thing is that yes, they probably will wreck your lawn quite quickly if they have unlimited free-ranging. It's the scratching more than what they eat. Personally mine get prescribed play hours and they seem fine with it.

[mullethunter]

I agree about the lawn. If keeping a decent lawn is important to keep the piece, dont let the chickens on it at all.

 

The run on slabs and woodchip is the best way to keep clean and tidy and will look after itself for months as long as you regularly skip out the poo.

[mullethunter]

PS My OH wasn't too impressed about getting them either (we did have a very small garden which they did destroy), but now he likes them.

[sweetpea08]

sounds like you have got a good plan there. I second the wipes for cleaning they are very useful you will find your own routine that works the best for you for example in the beginning I emptied both litter trays on the cube each week as I have now figured that my three all sleep on one side I just swap them around on moving day (I move my cube weekly) and clean and refresh newspaper every fortnight.

 

The main thing I think is to be flexible have a couple of ideas about what you want even if they are only on paper it helps most of us probably have/had a book filled of ideas etc.