Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

Gigervamp

Aww...sorry to hear that Badger Lady.

I'm still saving for a chicken house, so I'm not quite ready to get chickens yet, otherwise I'd have offered to take Sheila.

mrcol1000

If you own your property or get your landlords permisson as long as the chickens do not cause a nusiance to anyone (well anyone makes a complaint to the local council) then its fine. One thing you need to consider is making sure they are kept clean and their food does not attract rats. Also there is no smell nusiance. Again the council would only act if your neighbours complained and even then they would come out an inspect it. So the best thing to do if your getting chickens is chat to your neighbours and try not to upset them.
By the way anyone can get property deeds from Land Registry via their website. You just have to pay £3.

batcatz

edmund_blackadder wrote: »

I haven't checked my title deeds (not sure where they are) but have asked neighbours and they seem fine with it... so hopefully that should be OK?

Henhouse has been delivered and I built it yesterday .... just got to wait til we get back from holiday to get the chickens!

I've started to put my coop together today. The side door with windows wasn't made very well and has a split in the wood. I have emailed the company twice as the coop I ordered has a ten year replacement part guarantee. I'm a bit suspicious though as there has been no answer and I can't seem to print out the guarantee.

The screws were really bad and some won't go in all the way. I had to use my own, but some are halfway in and threaded. The bit underneath the house is too small for chickens to go under and anything else really!! Otherwise its fairly sturdy, but you can't move it unless you modify it and put wheels on it.

I bought it to go down the side of the house, but am going to move it as its tight to get past the roof on the house to collect eggs and also to open doors etc. I wish I bought the bigger coop that I first wanted, but it couldnt fit down the side of my house.

I might be disappointed partly because my catrun where the chickens are housed now is made of great quality red wood and is 9 x4 ft. Am not looking forward to transferring them into the smaller run, but I will extend it in the future and let them out anyway,

Am thinking of buying some wood to go on the bottom that can support the whole thing including the run and hopefully to make it higher. Any ideas of what would work.

Also I want to put patio slabs all around it to stop foxes digging. Will that work?

Amanda

edmund_blackadder

batcatz wrote: »

I've started to put my coop together today. The side door with windows wasn't made very well and has a split in the wood. I have emailed the company twice as the coop I ordered has a ten year replacement part guarantee. I'm a bit suspicious though as there has been no answer and I can't seem to print out the guarantee.

The screws were really bad and some won't go in all the way. I had to use my own, but some are halfway in and threaded. The bit underneath the house is too small for chickens to go under and anything else really!! Otherwise its fairly sturdy, but you can't move it unless you modify it and put wheels on it.

Hi Amanda,

I must admit I had a few problems with the screws too when putting the four sides together... some of them just would not go in all the way and they threaded ... fortunately I had some deck screws which were very close to being the same size so I used them and they worked fine.

I did notice that it wont be that easy to move once the run is attached but I'm not planning to move mine much anyway.

Hopefully we'll be letting our chickens out during the day so the size of the run shouldn't be too much of an issue.

I hope you manage to get hold of the supplier ... if you don't get any reply from them after a few days, leave some negative feedback on ebay - that'll soon get a response!

Frugaldom

Sorry to read about 'Fred', Badger_Lady, can you find company for 'Sheila' in the meantime? Hope you can find her a nice home.

batcatz

edmund_blackadder wrote: »

Hi Amanda,

I hope you manage to get hold of the supplier ... if you don't get any reply from them after a few days, leave some negative feedback on ebay - that'll soon get a response!

Hi, the supplier has responded. I was getting worried! I have sent them some photos and will keep you updated on their response. I think the sturdiness/size of the house is ok, but the run is not very good. I may end up getting a walk in run from pads4pets! Its £370 though, but he made my cat run which is excellent.

I am going to buy a hinge to put on the run lid so I can open it from the top to rake over the wood chips. Am also going to replace all the locks or add more locks as the tiny screws are threaded from whoever built it. It doesn't feel fox proof to me, but I am extra nervous about foxes haha.
Amanda

Frugaldom

Hmm... not holding out much hope of this new chicken coop and run being overly sturdy from what I'm readin, especially in Scottish winter gales. We're hoping to be able to reinforce wherever we can and also secure it in a permanent position on a slabbed area, as it's only going to be used for secure overnight accommodation and nesting/laying, rest of the time they'll have access to a much larger run. Can anyone post a photo of their fully built with chickens inside it so we can get an idea of the true size? None of the advertising photos show chickens or if they do, they aren't in same ratio as the run.

edmund_blackadder

nykmedia wrote: »

Hmm... not holding out much hope of this new chicken coop and run being overly sturdy from what I'm readin, especially in Scottish winter gales. We're hoping to be able to reinforce wherever we can and also secure it in a permanent position on a slabbed area, as it's only going to be used for secure overnight accommodation and nesting/laying, rest of the time they'll have access to a much larger run. Can anyone post a photo of their fully built with chickens inside it so we can get an idea of the true size? None of the advertising photos show chickens or if they do, they aren't in same ratio as the run.

I would do but I haven't got any chickens yet!

To be honest, I think it should be sturdy enough to house your chickens overnight, especially since you are not planning on moving it about and it will be on a paved area.

Hopefully I won't need to reinforce it but I will do if necessary. I'm also hoping the run will be adequate enough for them as we hope to have them running about the garden for the majority of the time.

edmund_blackadder

batcatz wrote: »

Hi, the supplier has responded. I was getting worried! I have sent them some photos and will keep you updated on their response. I think the sturdiness/size of the house is ok, but the run is not very good. I may end up getting a walk in run from pads4pets! Its £370 though, but he made my cat run which is excellent.

I am going to buy a hinge to put on the run lid so I can open it from the top to rake over the wood chips. Am also going to replace all the locks or add more locks as the tiny screws are threaded from whoever built it. It doesn't feel fox proof to me, but I am extra nervous about foxes haha.
Amanda

I'm hoping that I do not need to be too worried about foxes as hopefully the dog and the cat should be enough of a deterrant to keep them away... although you can never be sure ... I hear some foxes really don't care about much at all (?)

batcatz

nykmedia wrote: »

Hmm... not holding out much hope of this new chicken coop and run being overly sturdy from what I'm readin, especially in Scottish winter gales. We're hoping to be able to reinforce wherever we can and also secure it in a permanent position on a slabbed area, as it's only going to be used for secure overnight accommodation and nesting/laying, rest of the time they'll have access to a much larger run. Can anyone post a photo of their fully built with chickens inside it so we can get an idea of the true size? None of the advertising photos show chickens or if they do, they aren't in same ratio as the run.

Hi, I put my chickens in the run today so they could get some grass and to test the size. I'll post photos tomorrow, but its just the run. Patio slabs are coming tomorrow!

My 2 silkies and large speckled hybrid fit in comfortably, but, I would prefer a larger run as I am getting a lavender aracuna in Sept. 4 birds will fit in there okay, but a bigger run is always better and you have that already.


Amanda