The Poultry Keeper

HelenP · Joined: 12 Mar 2006 Posts: 144 Location: GLOUCESTERSHIRE

If I were to convert a garden shed to a chicken house would it be better to have the shed sitting directly on a slabbed area or should it be raised off the ground on blocks? If it's off the ground aren't you likely to have more problems with predators?

Also, is it the size of the house or the run area that governs how many chickens you can have? We're thinking of building a fixed run of about 7ft wide by 16/17ft long (just over 2 metres by 4??). The shed will be 7ft by 5ft. As the run will be 6ft high is there any point putting in things the girls can 'climb' on - was wondering whether to put in tree stumps/trunks etc so the birds could move off the floor if they wanted. Again, your help/comments are appreciated. (Bigger run may mean more chickens are allowed by OH).

George · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 5661 Location: London

The shed should be on a concrete slab or paving slabs, we put weldmesh underneath and then bent it up the sides of the shed and tacked it on.

Both the size of the house and the run governs how many hens you could have. (although, in the house, it's more about perch lengh)

We've got a bench in the run, which they enjoy sitting on and watching the world go by.

HelenP · Joined: 12 Mar 2006 Posts: 144 Location: GLOUCESTERSHIRE

I've enjoyed watching mine react to the blackbirds/bluetits etc in the garden - they're really quite nosey creatures.

George · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 5661 Location: London

LOL,

Yeah, mine adore chasing pigeons Wink

summayah · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 4289 Location: luton

I had my shed put on slabs and have had no problems. In their run I had an old coffee table with bamboo bars across it underneath ~ the little ones loved perching under there ~ thebig ones were too big for the space. I also had a buddleia bush in there which lifted the netting and you wuld always find . someone perching in there during the day. Big tree branches would be an excellent idea for them to perch on. You could also put some in the house to give it more interest for them.

fenwoman · Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:13 pm Post subject: Re: Fixed houses

HelenP · Joined: 12 Mar 2006 Posts: 144 Location: GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Another stupid question then.... presumably if you raise the house you'd need a 'ramp' for the birds to get in and out - do they adapt to using them OK?

As regards the run I hadn't thought about cleaning it out - how dense is that! I'd thought if we put wire on the bottom (as per the sides) to reduce pest problems we could them let them scratch around on the grass until they destroyed it, then we could use bark (not the type that harbours mould) or straw and remove it when soiled and replace with fresh. Wouldn't gravel get 'blown' away with a pressure washer?

fenwoman · Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:58 pm Post subject:

Chickens are more than capable of hopping up a few inches to the pop hole. My sheds are raised 3 bricks high. No need to build walls or use mortar, simply lay 2 bricks side by side, lay another 2 crossways and another on top of that. I don't have any ramps at all.
Don't use chipped bark, use woodchips. Cleaning the run is more important than cleaning the house since they spend most time in the run and scratch and peck where they are shitting. In the house all they do is sleep, feed, drink and lay eggs.
Since gravel is heavier than woodchips it is less likely to get blasted away by the pressure washer and the idea is to set the nozzle to spray not jeot since the jet can blast holes through timber. Gravel lasts longer too since it will not decompose away .A layer 3 inches deep of the larger grade means that a quick spray every week washes the shit down to the earth floor where the worms drag it down and the run stays clean and sweet all the time. You will of course need to board along the base of the run to contain the gravel. I costed out woodchip versus gravel last year and phoned several tree surgeons only to find that woodchips were more expensive!
If I only had one run I would definately use gravel.

mojo · Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:12 pm Post subject:

i am in the midst of putting 4 inches of gravel 10/20 size about thumb nail size and bigger .....and another advatage is disinfectant can be sprayed on it in the pressure spray as often as needed washing the crap down to the wiggly things

summayah · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 4289 Location: luton

You're a mine of information fenwoman. So for example with an 8' x 6' shed ~ how many brick piers would you have and where would you place them? I believe the floor is in 2 pieces, each being 6' x 4'