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 😆