Poorly chicken

[ajm200]

Spent the day adding heavy gauge weldmesh to the greenhouse.   It is still a work in progress so still looks scruffy with temporary shading paint on panels that will eventually be painted with rubberised glass paint to provide a near looking long term solution. 

The weldmesh is very heavy gauge.  A nightmare to cut even with specialist snips.  It has 13mm holes so should be pest-proof.  

Tomorrow i will be installing the heavy duty shade cloth on the inside of the roof

Monday when the glass ship reopens i’ll be getting the old glass cut down to 18” to reinstall arind the base in the outside to keep the bedding in and stop critters climbing the wire.

Eventually the mesh and all metalwork will be painted black as will the storage box.  Hoping that painting the wire a dark colour will trick the eye and make it less visible.

 The children use the box to sit on when the go out and read to the chickens .  

[Beantree]

That is heavy gauge weld mesh Ajm200; best cut with an angle grinder with a 1mm disk. You may find getting paint to stick to galvanised mesh difficult until it has oxidised a bit though? Reading to the chickens is a great idea as they respond well to being talked to. Old timers (and us) talked constantly to their chickens as it has a calming effect when moving around them. They usually talk back.

[mullethunter]

Excellent work ajm- that’s looking superb and so cosy! Lucky chickens.

[ajm200]

Thanks 😊.  Have to rearrange the perches and move the highest down.   We left the girls in this am while we popped out and came home to find the grey one sat on the frame of the roof window looking out.  Think she used the perches like a ladder to get up there.  She always likes to be at the highest possible point.  😳

[Chick Chick]

That looks great @ajm200, where did you get the mesh from?

[ajm200]

5 minutes ago, Chick Chick said:

That looks great @ajm200, where did you get the mesh from?

eBay.  

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Welded-Wire-13mm-Holes-16G-3FT-x-12-5-Meters-Dog-Foc-Proof-Cat-Safe-Aviary-Mesh-/391813582110?txnId=896485437026

We bought more than I needed as we will move the greenhouse at some point and the eclipse will move to the end panel so we will have to redo the front 8ft run with new wire.

Wire with larger holes is cheaper but I wanted it rodent proof as well as fox proof 

 

[Valkyrie]

Looks great.  Love the set-up inside too.  

[ajm200]

On 4/7/2019 at 5:11 PM, ajm200 said:

eBay.  

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Welded-Wire-13mm-Holes-16G-3FT-x-12-5-Meters-Dog-Foc-Proof-Cat-Safe-Aviary-Mesh-/391813582110?txnId=896485437026

We bought more than I needed as we will move the greenhouse at some point and the eclipse will move to the end panel so we will have to redo the front 8ft run with new wire.

Wire with larger holes is cheaper but I wanted it rodent proof as well as fox proof 

 

Eglu not eclipse 

[Chick Chick]

Thanks for the link @ajm200 😀

[christyrose12]

Wow.  I love this and given me some ideas.  I would like to attach mine to my greenhouse but it has a 2 m run.  The greenhouse has got toughened glass which I was going to leave in and take just one pane out where I attached the run but will have to put mesh along the top where it joins ....

[mullethunter]

You can’t put hens in a greenhouse with glass - they’ll cook

[ajm200]

@christyrose12 hens in an unmodified greenhouse will die from the heat very quickly.  With snow on the ground as outdoor temperatures below zero  last winter we could sit comfortably in the unmodified greenhouse (when the sun was out) with the hens with a candle under a flowerpot to heat the space (away from all combustible material).  By March it was noticeably warm in there and would have been too hot by mid April.  Those photos were taken in April when we noticed how fast the suave was warming up each day.  The girls were already free ranging all day at that point 

We removed all the glass from one long side, the top triangles to the horizontal supports on both ends to 1.5 ft from apex and replaced with weldmesh.  All other glass is painted with undiluted shade paint and covered with 80% sunblock shade cloth.  We will remove the remaining glass in the end furthest from the door later this month but for now that glass is obscured with a curtain of 80% shade cloth inside and a tarp outside to provide total sunblock as that side faces the sun.  (Would have been done already but lost 2 family members recently and trying to administer two estates.)

With the glass removed the greenhouse cool enough but I’m home all day and the hens spend most of their time  in the garden foraging under shrubs. 

Not at home to do new pictures but all the glass visible in the bottom picture is now covered with thick black shading and painted with thicker shade paint than you see in that picture 

Edited July 29, 2019 by ajm200

[Luvachicken]

Wow, not sure how I missed this in the first place, but your set up looks fab.

If I converted my greenhouse they wouldn't have enough space  - it is only 4 growbags big.

[Patricia W]

That looks great.  That weldmesh is what Omlet should use for the WIR.  Rodent, small bird AND fox proof! 

[ajm200]

Thank you.  Not been on much lately.