Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[micstrachan]

Will they need a protected run?

This one is Australian but there must be something like it on the market in the US.

Yes, they will need a large run. Their current run is about 16x18.

 

[micstrachan]

I think it depends on how much fighting they do. If they don't fight at all in their current coop, then perhaps they can tolerate a downsize.

They don’t fight, but there can be some mild bickering at roosting time.

 

[micstrachan]

Would it cost less to pay someone to disassemble, relocate and reassemble your existing coop?

Maybe.

 

[micstrachan]

If he doesn't want to do it, then pay someone else to.

Yes, I’m considering that.

 

[Ponypoor]

That’s pretty tight for ten hens. They mostly use it for sleeping, though.

My gang fits into my 4x10 hen house but yes it's only for sleeping at night, and laying eggs in nest boxes. I have 14, they have lots of roosting spots. But seem to want to cluster together...

 

[Ponypoor]

My DeWalt reciprocal saw (I call him The Beast), and my pickup and horse trailer and we move it were ever you want

Oh its just too bad you are a continent away....

 

[Ponypoor]

If he doesn't want to do it, then pay someone else to do it

I like that idea best.

 

[micstrachan]

You could use a wooden shed easily for now, especially in your climate, because you could take one of the man-door frames, replace the filler boards with hardware cloth and have plenty of light & ventilation immediately (you could do the top halves of two doors instead). Then put in a table (functions as poop board) with a roost on a couple of small blocks fastened to the top. Stack milk crates for nest boxes under the table or on the side. Just an idea, I read a couple of articles or a thread or two here on BYC about renovating a Rubbermaid double-wall shed this way. Wood is better protection against chewing predators though.

Great ideas. I kind of prefer the shed idea. Love the idea if hardware clothing the doors! I’ll see if I can find a shed with a bottom. And we’ll have to level the ground snd put pavers or something under it.

 

[BY Bob]

That’s pretty tight for ten hens. They mostly use it for sleeping, though.

For sleeping in would keep 10 in a coop that size but not for living. That's why I'm asking the run question.

 

[BY Bob]

Poor hen! Hawks are awful creatures. I had a coopers picking off the babies of my Rogue Mama when they were about a month and a half old and starting to stray further away. I think 11 were just too many babies for her to keep track of. It took two before I saw it, one each day, when it took the third I saw it and chased it into the woods throwing rocks at it. If I had neighbours they would swear I am crazy… but it didn’t come back after that.

I lost Sylvie, a Candy Corn Polish pullet to a Cooper's hawk late last year. They are nasty things.