Where to buy chicken coup ?

touch*my*food*feel*myfork

Many thanks for your comments lotus-eater, this is what i need to know, i think i need to go and have a real look at some, perferrably where they also sell the chickens as hopefully they would have more of an understanding

chloecat_2

MaximumImpact wrote: »

I have a home built run which is pictured below.....It cost me less to build than an Eglu and quite frankly is better to look at than some gopping piece of plastic. I have never suffered from foxes breaking into it and in fact have only seen a fox once at night which my geese alerted me to. As for it being mite riddled, I have never heard such tosh in my life....Also, don't expect to ever break even when you keep your own eggs as the cost of food, bedding and medication will outweigh any money you may make on eggs. I keep around 10 hens at any one time, along with geese and ducks and barely make enough to pay for their food and meds.








Where on earth do you buy your materials, it cost me £150 to build the whole hen house????

For what it's worth MaximumImpact, I think your chicky house is lovely.
Each to their own everyone:T

chloecat_2

philgee wrote: »

We're looking at getting a chicken coup, and have been thinking about something like this having decided that an eglu is too expensive and won't look right in our garden anyway.

Has anyone else bought one (seems to be lots for sale on ebay)? Are they any good?

Thanks

I've been looking too, now lovely hubby has relented to my constant chook loving nagging!

Its got a 10 year guarantee and unlike many on ebay, doesn't say its likely to be split and chipped on arrival which is a plus :rotfl: Am tempted I must say.

Good luck to you
Chloecat♥

Umski

beaujolais-nouveau wrote: »

I hope that the materials you use will withstand foxes. The small run I built cost me over £100 in materials alone.

Do you have a pic? I'm interested in your design if you're willing to share. This is a learning experience for me so happy to take advice

tightbarsteward

http://thechickenhousecompany.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=10&osCsid=3143df289548d86ed5dde61827da7ff1

This is the one I got for my 6 ex-battery hens. Don't keep them in there all the time. They have a good wander round my big garden. Must be getting 3-4 eggs a day from my hens. They sell their coups on ebay cheaper. Mine was £146 inc delivery.

angelavdavis

Umski wrote: »

Do you have a pic? I'm interested in your design if you're willing to share. This is a learning experience for me so happy to take advice

I found some links on the web, I am sure there are more to be found:

http://www.buildeazy.com/chicken_coop_1.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/Turn-Old-Pallets-Into-A-Chicken-Tractor/

I quite like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsP-MljU84o

fsdss

i have some chickens - i was seriously tempted by the eglu's too- but decided against it because of
1. size - restrictions to amount of hens i could keep
2. cost
3 the cube wouldn't fit in the area that i wanted to build my run.

so operation chook took over, and i built my coop from scratch for about £10. how did i do that?
well i wanted something in the garden that would be "in keeping" with my house and cottage garden. i trawled the internet for plans (there are plenty of them around if you search) with plenty of good tips on self building on poultry web forums. i then used a design of a dolls house for the carcase (making the dimensions bigger) and popped a nest box on the back end.
i got the materials from the local wood merchants - i went down with the plans and sizes and trawled through their broken wood bin. i had everything cut to size and screwed it together. this cost £5 (they were glad to get rid tbh). i got given a broken fence panel (new) to line the exterior. and the interior is lined with marine ply (picked up from wood merchant at same time).
the floor is not a pull out tray version for cleaning - i have managed to bag a spare square of horse matting (rubberised), which gets pulled out and powerwashed (i spray the interior at the same time with anti insect spray bought from my poultry supplier).

the house was painted with paint i found cheap at the local diy store (end of line), currently it is a country cream exterior fence paint (animal friendly) sage green (left over and in my garage) cost £4
it sits on a broken pallet which has been recycled and painted(so off the ground).
the only way it could be moved is by taking a chainsaw to it!! it is dry and the chooks seem happy.

the run cost me more i have a 12ft x 4 ft run made of trellising lined with with mesh wiring, 3 fence posts some of these have been recycled from friends who have had them laying round their garage. its only a temporary measure as the chooks get free ranging when i am at home.
i have seen many designs of housing, and think that the idea of the greenhouse conversion is an excellent idea and looks fab

arkonite_babe

Have a look at the chicken coop construction thread for advice and previous hints on building your own

touch*my*food*feel*myfork

Thanks again elliejay, i have been to Thornes this morning and the man there was most helpful, answered all my questions. We had a good look around and hubbie has decided to make one, but we will definately be back there for the chickens and feed - definately recommend this place.

betterlife

hi i have 2 ducks, there house is a large plastic dog kennel which i bought 2nd hand, its perfect as it comes apart for easy cleaning, its cool for the summer and snug for winter , waterproof, low mantinance,has ventilation and my husband made a lockable door for it so there nice and safe at night. as for the run they have the end of my garden which was enclosed 3 sides with 6ft fences so i only had to fence off the front. o managed to get all the fence posts from freecycle and the chicken wire was from mole valley farm which i found the cheapest place, infact i paid for 10 mtres and the yard man got one and put it in my car for me, when i got home i realised he1d given me 25mtres instead! it cost me less than £40 to do everything. and my ducks are very happy, and should start laying eggs soon.