Does anyone keep chickens in an EGLU?

Poet_2

Yategirl wrote: »

another thought... what do people do when they go away? I know I can ask friends but it would be physically difficult to take a large hut and run to their garden.......

need to cover all angles before I work on dh! Yes... I know we go camping therefore large field + hens = bliss but we never have enough room in the car for 2 adults, 2 children and our camping stuff as it is!!!!!!!

well, we thought we'd ask parents (who don't live too far away) to come and let them out in the morning, to do the feed/water and then put them to bed later on. We'll also ask next door if they don't mind doing it. Then again, we only ever go away for weekends- if you go away for longer periods, I'm not sure what you'd do- maybe you could pay someone to "chicken sit" for you?

angchris

Yategirl wrote: »

another thought... what do people do when they go away? I know I can ask friends but it would be physically difficult to take a large hut and run to their garden.......

need to cover all angles before I work on dh! Yes... I know we go camping therefore large field + hens = bliss but we never have enough room in the car for 2 adults, 2 children and our camping stuff as it is!!!!!!!

i was under the impression after reading the eglu site that you can leave the chickens with enough food/water for a couple of days so long as they are safe etc so you should be able to go camping for the weekend in the summer no probs or get a friend/neighbour to pop around and let them out in the mornings and i have also seen on ebay a door that opens on a timer

Pink.

Yategirl wrote: »

another thought... what do people do when they go away? I know I can ask friends but it would be physically difficult to take a large hut and run to their garden.......

need to cover all angles before I work on dh! Yes... I know we go camping therefore large field + hens = bliss but we never have enough room in the car for 2 adults, 2 children and our camping stuff as it is!!!!!!!

We have friends who keep chickens who also go away quite regularly and my 13 year old son goes down first thing in the morning and last thing at night to let them in/out and feed them. They slip him a couple of quid for doing it and he's delighted as he'd be happy to do it for nothing. Would you have a local teenager you could trust?

Pink

Yategirl

it is a possibility... I can think of people I could ask and yes.. I'd be willing to give eggs from that week and a bit of ££ for the helping hand

Penelope_Penguin

Yategirl wrote: »

another thought... what do people do when they go away? I know I can ask friends but it would be physically difficult to take a large hut and run to their garden.......

need to cover all angles before I work on dh! Yes... I know we go camping therefore large field + hens = bliss but we never have enough room in the car for 2 adults, 2 children and our camping stuff as it is!!!!!!!

We have feeders/waterers that will suffice for long weekends away. For longer than that we have friends who will come in every other day for the eggs (and other produce from our garden). The last couple of years we've had young hens during our fortnight holiday. They needed checking daily. For that we employed teenagers (not sure how much we paid - Mr P dealt with that ).

Penny. x

furball

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Gorgeous-CHICKEN-COOP-HEN-HOUSE-ideal-for-2-chickens_W0QQitemZ150165935475QQihZ005QQcategoryZ46292QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
This is only 30inch square and i am going to fence of an area the side of my house so they can free range. Glad so many of you love the omlet link but this is more my price range just too far to collect

Poet_2

it's kind of cute and compact, not worth the £114 buy it now price though! Wonder what the reserve price is on it.

Spirit_2

Oh a chicken thread wonderful. Can I offer advice born of experience!

• One: When acquiring your hens, make sure you do get Point of Lay.
• Two: I would also buy as locally as you can from an enthusiast.

I wanted 4 laying hens, definitely no cockerel, and got them from a large supplier (advertises on the web). However the comedian who sold me my first four pure breeds took me (a newbie) for a complete mug and my pretty chooks developed into 1 bantam hen and three cockerells!:mad:
We re-homed one handsome cockerel but had to despatch another.

Our neighbours are all fine about the crowing so we have kept one and set about starting again. I now have 2 large fowl hens, 2 bantam hens, a cockerel and 2 bantam chicks (who are adorable).

We have not spent anything on housing. The adult birds live in a stable (you could use a shed) within which we have created a coop from an old pine wardrobe. It lays on its side, raised a foot off the floor and a pophole has been cut in the door. The door drops down for cleaning. We use shavings in the coop and straw in the nestbox. We also have straw on the floor of the stable for them to scratch around in and throw corn in to help to keep them occupied when they are indoors.

Most of the time they are free range in our garden, they have wandered next door and into a neighbouring field but have returned or been reasonably easy to round up. Given the choice they prefer to wander indoors. They get on well with the dog, terrify the cat and mostly ignore the free ranging rabbit. A kind neighbour looks after them when we are away.

The chicks have a seperate coop/run (a former rabbit run) within the stable, are on shavings and have a nest of hay. We are handling the chicks every day as we want them to be pets.

As well as layers pellets the chooks also eat leftovers and all of the tender plants in the garden. I learned that they do fly/jump, when I was out one day and they polished off the Busy Lizzy planters I had put up on top of the garden table out of their way.

It took me 10 years to get around to getting Chickens and they are wonderful.

dND

When I got my first chickens, I converted my 4’ x 6’ garden shed into a chicken house. I lined the walls to cut down any draughts – which chickens don’t like – put in a couple of perches and 3 nest boxes. I also put wire mesh across the floor and the window to help stop badgers and foxes getting in. If I’d thought about it I would have used much smaller mesh to deter rats as well. Oh and I also raised the shed up on a couple of breeze blocks too, this again was to deter rats and improve the dryness of the hut but also gave the chickens extra ground space and shelter if I kept them in the small run they had around the shed. I usually let them out into the main garden though.


Although the roof was felted, I had no problems with red spider mite, probably because there was a lot of light in the hut (but I still dusted it out with the anti-mite powder when I changed the bedding).


I had around 4-6 hens/ bantams (number variable depending on whether the fox had visited) in the hut, and would occasionally leave them in there for 24 hours if I were going away. They had a large food and large water in with them. The food was suspended to deter rats and the water had to be raised up a few inches in order to stop them scratching the sawdust bedding into it which would cause the water to flow out across the floor.


The main worry I had with leaving the chickens was not food and water but heat. Even with the large amount of space per chicken, the house got hot. I was going to fit a mesh door but then my neighbour who also has chickens insisted that she would let them out and put them to bed instead.


I really miss not having my chickens (had to leave them in the UK) who were fun to have round the garden despite the damage they could cause but I get my new chooks tomorrow :j so fresh eggs are back on the menu.

Yategirl

it is really interesting to read people's experiences and about your hen accomodation! thank you everyone!

have been trying to find some plans to help us build our own hen house and run (a shed would be too big for the space) - most that we find are just too big - I figure if I find as many plans/ideas as possible then we will be able to build something just right for us!