i somehow acquired 2 runaways and i have questions. please help

[pollipazzi]

it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do... blocking the nestboxes and then leave. they gate crashed my last minute blocking plan and were probably in there. but they were both in the run when i got home

 

[BDutch]

also!
they DO seem to use the little greenhouse like a run. they are always in there to get out of the rain and be in a DRY pot. and i can sit in there with them in a chair (and not on a roost. lol!)
but there is nothing else in there that would be interesting for chickens. just tools and empty pots and stuff.

Cant you use /rebuild the little greenhouse to use as a coop? And use the chicken coop for the pots and small tool?

A second coop can cone in handy in the future if you ever decide to add chicks or to let one of your hens sit on fertilised eggs.

Btw, last year I bought a children’s playhouse and made a few alterations to use it as a coop. I cant walk in. I use a garden-rug, to get in on my knees.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/altered-children’s-playhouse-for-bantams.79447/
The reason why I added a second coop is explained in my thread, see my signature (summer 2024).

 

[BDutch]

i was just wondering...
how does one know when the other is going to go lay an egg?
it's happening now and i've seen it a lot, where they will be in the pot all quiet. one will just get up and stroll away and the other one stays. like she knows.

when they are just getting up to forage they will go together.

just something i noticed and wonder about

Chickens communicate with each other. Sometime with a lot of noise. Sometimes very soft. Like a whispering.
Im sure a hen feels she needs to lay an egg and can tell her friend she is going away to lay an egg .

 

[tlcmurphy]

If I had something that size come out my butt every day I’d B***h to my sister too!

 

[RoyalChick]

i was just wondering...
how does one know when the other is going to go lay an egg?
it's happening now and i've seen it a lot, where they will be in the pot all quiet. one will just get up and stroll away and the other one stays. like she knows.

when they are just getting up to forage they will go together.

just something i noticed and wonder about

Well they chat to each other all the time - I imagine that is one of the many things they talk about. Along with how clever they were to escape to your place!

 

[pollipazzi]

Cant you use /rebuild the little greenhouse to use as a coop? And use the chicken coop for the pots and small tool?

A second coop can cone in handy in the future if you ever decide to add chicks or to let one of your hens sit on fertilised eggs.

Btw, last year I bought a children’s playhouse and made a few alterations to use it as a coop. I cant walk in. I use a garden-rug, to get in on my knees.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/altered-children’s-playhouse-for-bantams.79447/
The reason why I added a second coop is explained in my thread, see my signature (summer 2024).

thank you!
i have been considering this!

the little greenhouse (with the polytunnel beside it) used to be where the new greenhouse is being built.
i made my husband help me move it, which wasn’t as easy as it sounds. (and him being really annoyed about me wanting to change it is only a minor deterrent )

we lost a few roof panels during storm eowyn and replaced them when we moved it. also, the handle on the door, which is what keeps the door closed is broken and i can’t find a replacement or think of a good way to rig it (yet)

there is very nice garden soil under the weed barrier that is on the floor. we were going to get pavers for it. but i definitely don’t need to do that.

i’m telling you these things because these are part of the pros and cons i have been thinking about.

it is much warmer in that spot. from the sun, and it is only about a metre away from the boiler shed where the vent comes out of the wall (i will take some photos but it is still a bit dark outside yet)
where warm air, when the heating for the house is on, comes out)

my questions and concerns (that i can think of at the top of my head) are:

ventilation. there is a window on the roof, and the door. that’s it. the side panels go the whole length from top to bottom. i don’t remember, but i think i would have to remove them whole roof to get them out.
would i need to remove all of the side panels and put hwc there instead? would keeping the wall against the block wall be ok?

the roof. can it be clear like it is and hwc outside? it would keep the panels from blowing away.
i was looking into this a couple of days ago and someone mentioned something about the panels flying off in storms (which they obviously can) and it giving a greenhouse effect.

in short… how much of the plastic would need to be removed to make it suitable?

it is hardly ever hot in ireland. and always rainy.
i think that’s why they go in there so much because it is warmer and dry. also, they can see more of their surroundings.

i do understand that hwc is necessary all over. (how i would attach it, i don’t know? self tapping screws with washers?)

i know there is stuff that i am forgetting. maybe i will think of it when i get the pictures.

but yes! i was even thinking it would be drier for them there too. between the sheds where the polytunnel thing is now seemed like the safest place with the 3 walls around it, but it doesn’t get as much sun (sun? what’s that? ha!) and it’s not as warm.

my heart won’t be broken to not have a potting shed.

 

[pollipazzi]

Cant you use /rebuild the little greenhouse to use as a coop? And use the chicken coop for the pots and small tool?

A second coop can cone in handy in the future if you ever decide to add chicks or to let one of your hens sit on fertilised eggs.

Btw, last year I bought a children’s playhouse and made a few alterations to use it as a coop. I cant walk in. I use a garden-rug, to get in on my knees.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/altered-children’s-playhouse-for-bantams.79447/
The reason why I added a second coop is explained in my thread, see my signature (summer 2024).

also! what did you mean in your article about painting with de and oiling the roosting bar?
how much distance, approximately, from the ceiling does the roosting bar need to be?

great idea!

 

[RoyalChick]

thank you!
i have been considering this!

the little greenhouse (with the polytunnel beside it) used to be where the new greenhouse is being built.
i made my husband help me move it, which wasn’t as easy as it sounds. (and him being really annoyed about me wanting to change it is only a minor deterrent )

we lost a few roof panels during storm eowyn and replaced them when we moved it. also, the handle on the door, which is what keeps the door closed is broken and i can’t find a replacement or think of a good way to rig it (yet)

there is very nice garden soil under the weed barrier that is on the floor. we were going to get pavers for it. but i definitely don’t need to do that.

i’m telling you these things because these are part of the pros and cons i have been thinking about.

it is much warmer in that spot. from the sun, and it is only about a metre away from the boiler shed where the vent comes out of the wall (i will take some photos but it is still a bit dark outside yet)
where warm air, when the heating for the house is on, comes out)

my questions and concerns (that i can think of at the top of my head) are:

ventilation. there is a window on the roof, and the door. that’s it. the side panels go the whole length from top to bottom. i don’t remember, but i think i would have to remove them whole roof to get them out.
would i need to remove all of the side panels and put hwc there instead? would keeping the wall against the block wall be ok?

the roof. can it be clear like it is and hwc outside? it would keep the panels from blowing away.
i was looking into this a couple of days ago and someone mentioned something about the panels flying off in storms (which they obviously can) and it giving a greenhouse effect.

in short… how much of the plastic would need to be removed to make it suitable?

it is hardly ever hot in ireland. and always rainy.
i think that’s why they go in there so much because it is warmer and dry. also, they can see more of their surroundings.

i do understand that hwc is necessary all over. (how i would attach it, i don’t know? self tapping screws with washers?)

i know there is stuff that i am forgetting. maybe i will think of it when i get the pictures.

but yes! i was even thinking it would be drier for them there too. between the sheds where the polytunnel thing is now seemed like the safest place with the 3 walls around it, but it doesn’t get as much sun (sun? what’s that? ha!) and it’s not as warm.

my heart won’t be broken to not have a potting shed.

Oh we all love a good chicken housing design project!
Is the greenhouse glass or plastic? And if plastic is it rigid like Perspex or floppy (I am thinking how easily a predator could break in)?
Also you said you are in Ireland. I know you have foxes, might you have weasels?
Finally, I would get a cheap thermometer that records min-max temperature and humidity and get some data on that for the greenhouse. Where I live the shade is essential but you may be OK.

 

[BDutch]

it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do... blocking the nestboxes and then leave. they gate crashed my last minute blocking plan and were probably in there. but they were both in the run when i got home

Sorry my tip worked out totally wrong. But at least they had enough space to pass their time.

 

[pollipazzi]

Oh we all love a good chicken housing design project!
Is the greenhouse glass or plastic? And if plastic is it rigid like Perspex or floppy (I am thinking how easily a predator could break in)?
Also you said you are in Ireland. I know you have foxes, might you have weasels?
Finally, I would get a cheap thermometer that records min-max temperature and humidity and get some data on that for the greenhouse. Where I live the shade is essential but you may be OK.

it's a little floppy. it's noisy when it's windy but it doesn't seem to bother them. they are used to it. even when i open the door that has a very strong magnet at the bottom, it makes a really loud sound. but they don't even flinch.

we do have pine marten and stoats, probably mink too. i have never seen any in the village but there are farms nearby and it's always a possibility.

also i have seen dead badgers on the road but i am not sure what they eat, and again, never seen one here.

i was thinking if i covered the whole greenhouse with the wire mesh on the outside, it would both secure it from predators and also help keep the panels from blowing off.

i was just out there taking pictures and there are little triangle panels. i could probably just take one or two of those out and cover with wire mesh too.

i have a thermometer. i have had that greenhouse for about 7 years. it was more out in the open before with direct sun all day and it would on the very hottest days (which is so rare) get up to 100F if i forgot to open the door or something. but that’s a rate occurrence and where it is now, there's trees around. i will post pics now