Garlic as a deterrent for dreaded mites!

[Naser]

Any plastic shed will be good home for hens. just install roosting bars and pave the floor with concrete. be sure there is enough ventilation.
You have a better chance finding a cheap plastic shed "used or new" than finding a cheap coop

 

[HPH lady cluck]

Thankyou Naser, i think you're right about looking at plastic sheds. I seem to be on top of the problem, but no matter how much i jet wash, steam, spray, dust this old coop, i fear the little beggars will always find a crevice to hide in! Husband wanted to convert our existing wooden shed, but now that creosote can't be used in the UK, I'd rather do as you recommend and look at buying a small plastic one!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I have looked at the plastic sheds, but didn't see adequate ventilation and have came up with a way I thought would install without ruining the shed. Though I am sure there are some with windows that should be easy to screw on some hardware cloth. I see used metal sheds here all the time, but rarely the plastic ones. I think the plastic would be easy to clean.

 

[HPH lady cluck]

Thanks. Some plastic ones do look like sweat boxes, and the off ground ones by Eglu are a wee bit pricey for us at the mo! But they do look like a good long term investment if it means not having to do all this again next spring/summer. I'm knackered!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Plastic also conducts a lot of the Sun's heat into the nest, so what ever you do don't leave a plastic nest out in the open.

A plastic nest sounds like a good strategy to separate you from pictures of either "Dead" Presidents or else pictures of an alive Queen Elizabeth II.

Besides a plastic nest without a deep layer of soil in the bottom is a poor place to hatch chicks under a hen because the plastic cuts off any humidity that may rise out of the Earth and any nesting material like straw or shavings negates any anti-mite advantage that a plastic nest 'mite' enjoy.

Four short 1x10 or 1x12 boards, some scrap 2x4s and leftover ply wood will make a much better nest than money can buy.

All the nests for sale are designed to appeal only to the chickens' keepers and not the poor hen who at the end of the day must do all the hard work of laying eggs.

The simple fact that store bought nests are designed so to keep you the poultry keeper from bending down to collect the eggs is prime evidence of the above fact.

Of course if you collect your eggs multiple times a day and store the eggs that you intend to incubate in an acceptable manner before giving them back to a either a sitting hen, or else an incubator, it is immaterial what the eggs are laid in, except that those eggs laid in a plastic nest and left to marinate in the scorching Sun are not going to hatch anyway.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Any plastic shed will be good home for hens. just install roosting bars and pave the floor with concrete. be sure there is enough ventilation.
You have a better chance finding a cheap plastic shed "used or new" than finding a cheap coop

If you intend to keep heavy breed chickens then I don't recommend a concreate floor except that is unless you cover the concreate floor with a deep layer of sand and if the shed is weather proof a deep layer of wheat straw or shredded corn shucks. A heavy breed hen leaping down from the roost and landing on a concreate floor will become a permanently crippled hen.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

If you intend to keep heavy breed chickens then I don't recommend a concreate floor except that is unless you cover the concreate floor with a deep layer of sand and if the shed is weather proof a deep layer of wheat straw or shredded corn shucks. A heavy breed hen leaping down from the roost and landing on a concreate floor will become a permanently crippled hen.

I think they were just doing a plastic house, not nest.

But I do agree with you about the other stuff. Especially the concrete floor. Many have found their heavy breed chickens to have bruised breasts from jumping off the roost and landing to hard. Plus the possibility of broken legs... uhg, no thank you.