Daydream thread continues.....

alfie_1

LIR........im free either day this weekend. but no, ive not caught rubes cos my shoulder is unforgiving at the mo..... but i really dont expect you to come down if you have better things to do ! lovely if you can but no prob if not.

ROZEE.....one of my kitchen "units" consists of an old side board under a work surface, painted [actuall quite uniqley! as i did one coat of one color, didnt like it so repainted it and the paints split and gave it a rustic tatty look....] i then got some handmade/painted ethnic type china knob handles and hey ho..cost me a fiver at the tip and i always ask friends to let me have their "half empty " pots of paint they dont need...

alfie_1

rozeepozee wrote: »

Okay, stupid city person question coming:

Y'know these chilcken coops on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LARGE-DELUXE-CHICKEN-COOP-HEN-POULTRY-ARK-HOUSE-HUTCH-/110838378110?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Poultry&hash=item19ce7b6e7e? Are they worth buying? What's the catch? I'd love to start off with a few birds - not sure what - for the kids when we move up to the house soon but I don't want to spend on poor quality. Are these imports or something? I'm not sure how OH would make one of these for the price of the wood. We have no tools at the mo so we're a little hamstrung.

that is exactly the same as one we use [for the silkies at night ,they are free range daytime] its a great little house BUT the nest box [egg laying pad] is a hands on for cleaning out,you have to reach in to clean. [i actaully use sawdust so i have been known to use the Henry hoover for nooks and crannies...;)]
the inside floor has no removable tray in ours but maybe that one has. so its great and plenty roosting room for 4 big birds/6 likkle ones i would fit cross bar handles [poles] to aid moving around

rozeepozee

Just got Martin's weekly email. I love this thread, but the email has become increasingly less relevant since we moved here: there are no shops to buy the stuff in, very few high street names, and I don't spend any money anyway.

Who needs new clothes, make up, toiletries, eating out lunches, lattes?

My shopping list now is as much local food as poss, fruit and veg from the friday market and eggs from the egg lady, possibly some tools tomorrow and maybe some birdies in the near future,. Of course, there will be a pretty penny to spend on the house refurb which is a great motivator not to spend on anything else unless entirely necessary.

That's all folks, g'night!

rozeepozee

alfie_1 wrote: »

that is exactly the same as one we use [for the silkies at night ,they are free range daytime] its a great little house BUT the nest box [egg laying pad] is a hands on for cleaning out,you have to reach in to clean. [i actaully use sawdust so i have been known to use the Henry hoover for nooks and crannies...;)]
the inside floor has no removable tray in ours but maybe that one has. so its great and plenty roosting room for 4 big birds/6 likkle ones i would fit cross bar handles [poles] to aid moving around

Thanks, that's fab news, alfie. Add hen house to my shopping list above? :rotfl:(fortunately, I have a Henry!)

Lotus-eater

rozeepozee wrote: »

Okay, stupid city person question coming:

Y'know these chilcken coops on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LARGE-DELUXE-CHICKEN-COOP-HEN-POULTRY-ARK-HOUSE-HUTCH-/110838378110?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Poultry&hash=item19ce7b6e7e? Are they worth buying? What's the catch? I'd love to start off with a few birds - not sure what - for the kids when we move up to the house soon but I don't want to spend on poor quality. Are these imports or something? I'm not sure how OH would make one of these for the price of the wood. We have no tools at the mo so we're a little hamstrung.

I have to say, that for the price, this seems really good, postage free as well.
It will be a Chinese import, but so are so many these days.

No doubt you will find some things lacking on it, but nothing your OH can't sort out, I bet.

I wouldn't put any more than 3 full size birds in there though, I'm not sure how it measures up to the size of mine, but I think it's a bit smaller, I have 3 full size birds and it's ok, but a bit of a squeeze.
I'll measure mine up tomorrow.

It's also seems to have the right size perches, which is rare.

rozeepozee

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I have to say, that for the price, this seems really good, postage free as well.
It will be a Chinese import, but so are so many these days.

No doubt you will find some things lacking on it, but nothing your OH can't sort out, I bet.

I wouldn't put any more than 3 full size birds in there though, I'm not sure how it measures up to the size of mine, but I think it's a bit smaller, I have 3 full size birds and it's ok, but a bit of a squeeze.
I'll measure mine up tomorrow.

It's also seems to have the right size perches, which is rare.

Thanks Lotus Eater. I'm thinking that in the medium term we will have more than 3 hens. But really, it's a sweetener for my son who has all his toys stored in Sheffield and is very sad about it (we didn't know they'd be in storage for this amount of time or that we wouldn't be moved in after this long as we assumed we'd buy something we could live in!) Might there be a use for it in the longer term as a nursery coop for chicks? I have to admit, my knowledge of the need for such things is the children's book Prickety Prackety which my children love and is one of their bedtime books! :rotfl:It tells the story of a little brown hen who "steals a nest" in an old drum behind some nettles and has 12 chicks! It's very sweet

There's this one too, which looks the same but is £15 pound cheaper... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wooden-Chicken-Coop-Poultry-House-Hen-Ark-Run-/200634422362?_trksid=p4340.m1374&_trkparms=algo%3DPI.WATCH%26its%3DC%252BS%26itu%3DUCC%26otn%3D5%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D6989870544352829536

lostinrates

rozeepozee wrote: »

Thanks Lotus Eater. I'm thinking that in the medium term we will have more than 3 hens. But really, it's a sweetener for my son who has all his toys stored in Sheffield and is very sad about it (we didn't know they'd be in storage for this amount of time or that we wouldn't be moved in after this long as we assumed we'd buy something we could live in!) Might there be a use for it in the longer term as a nursery coop for chicks? I have to admit, my knowledge of the need for such things is the children's book Prickety Prackety which my children love and is one of their bedtime books! :rotfl:It tells the story of a little brown hen who "steals a nest" in an old drum behind some nettles and has 12 chicks! It's very sweet

There's this one too, which looks the same but is £15 pound cheaper... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wooden-Chicken-Coop-Poultry-House-Hen-Ark-Run-/200634422362?_trksid=p4340.m1374&_trkparms=algo%3DPI.WATCH%26its%3DC%252BS%26itu%3DUCC%26otn%3D5%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D6989870544352829536

Within reason, better to have more than less. So long as you only buy three new hens at a time it can be your equivalent to davenaves peckadilly circus. Or indeed a place for a broody hen....rozzee...befire you go that route please make sure you can deal with cockerals . You hen will produce boys, and boys and boys if you let her sit on eggs, and they will fight if you keep them at home free ranging, which will be very distressing for you. Initially with the reservations you have expressed i would recomend point of lay pullets, so you know you have girls and no boys.


Edit: my broddy is similar but bigger. I dislike it as i have to get on the floor to catch chickens for var ious reasons, or to lift chicks up befor they have learned to walk up at night. Kneeling in chicken poop is not so nice.

Davesnave

With wooden buildings you tend to get what you pay for, but that doesn't mean that a cheap Chinese import will be a bad first buy, though I'd tend towards paying a bit more than £100. Perhaps something from the cheaper end of this range:

http://www.pandtpoultry.co.uk/index.php/fuseaction/shop.category/categoryid/10

DD2 bought a sub-£100 ferret house to take Eric to uni, but it took me a day or two to give it decent latches, a bit of strengthening where it flexed and several coats of weatherproof stain. However it wasn't bought as a long term solution, because Eric was old. That was cost-effective.

When we bought our first small chicken house, we paid £400 for a Steve Fisher model, which will probably last a very long time, but it's probably not what we'd get now, given some practical experience.

Until you've had a chicken house out in all weathers it's hard to imagine the pounding it will get, and where wind is an issue, it's important to consider stability too. Some houses which are light and raised off the ground have been known to flip!

I suppose the ideal thing at the moment would be something cheap & cheerful that you can later retire to an open fronted outbuilding to use as a broody coop etc, or for occasional use, as we do, for isolation when we buy in a few birds.

rozeepozee

lostinrates wrote: »

Within reason, better to have more than less. So long as you only buy three new hens at a time it can be your equivalent to davenaves peckadilly circus. Or indeed a place for a broody hen....rozzee...befire you go that route please make sure you can deal with cockerals . You hen will produce boys, and boys and boys if you let her sit on eggs, and they will fight if you keep them at home free ranging, which will be very distressing for you. Initially with the reservations you have expressed i would recomend point of lay pullets, so you know you have girls and no boys.


Edit: my broddy is similar but bigger. I dislike it as i have to get on the floor to catch chickens for var ious reasons, or to lift chicks up befor they have learned to walk up at night. Kneeling in chicken poop is not so nice.

I think I've got my head round the cockerel killing thing. I buy free range chickens to eat and I don't mind doing that so I'd rather know they've had a good life, albeit a short one, on our place than buy them from someone and not know how their welfare has been catered for. My OH has absolutely none of the qualms I have - he used to work on his uncle's farm in his youth and he's very pragmatic about these things.

Dave, thanks for the link. We are on a windy hill, but I envisage this house to be as you suggest, a Prickety Prackety broody house. However, OH assures me that we aren't buying anything until it fits in with our permaculture design scheme:rotfl:He's not taken his nose out of the Earth Care Book since I bought it last week. It's a good job he's super sensible when it comes to shopping...

Davesnave

Complications on the garden selling front this morning, but I won't go into detail here. Enough to say that someone isn't 100% happy and that it could yet go paridae-up......or partially so.

Bah!:mad: