The Chicken Hen House

I had chickens… Long story all covered very recently. I now have four new ones….I have learned a lot recently. A real case of if I knew then what I know now. In brief snippet format here’s what I know

• These hens are just over 6 months old.
• All hens start laying at approximately 7 months
• The run I have is over 6′ tall.
• Its very sturdy [and built from old timber]
• The wire mesh runs to the top and is very well attached
• Foxes wont go in if there are dogs present
• The shed faces away so I can collect the eggs/ clean out easily
• The hens will only sit in the hatches if they are laying
• They will eat anything… within reason!
• It will take them 2 weeks to settle in
• They are very friendly
• I have called them The Supremes
• Cocks are very loud – I didn’t take one
• They will be fed on barley and whatever is leftover
• My green waste bin should be very empty from now on
• there’s a lot of money to be wasted on bad ‘eco’ books
• not one book on sale could tell me what it would be like
• Eggs are expensive
• Eggs can be bartered for potatoes
• Don’t cut the grass for the hens before they arrive – they will mow it for you
• hens like a little bit of height a pole to perch upon

Regarding what I built for the hens… here’s the facts

• the area of the run is 5m x 2.3m and just over 2 metres tall
• the shed I got is a 6′ x 4′
• the hens ‘boxes’/ rooms [?] are the shed width divided by 4-ish and are 40cm off the ground. Do include a lip so the eggs don’t fall out.
• the wire mesh is just ordinary chicken wire – as its called
• I used the green ‘tennis court’ type mesh because it was left over and I had ran out of chicken wire
• the timber is approx 1.5″ x 2.5″ – it was whatever I had lying around
• the timbers are 2′ below ground level and compacted in. No concrete was used.

anything else I’ve missed out on? what do you think… ?

Oh and have a happy easter 😆