This is the chook house and run my hubby put up for me on Christmas Eve. We have just started with raising chickens. They are still babes (3 weeks) so I keep them in a brooder at the moment. We live in a fairly warm climate and I just wanted a simple place for them to lay eggs and roost over night and somewhere with a roof. This is a cool shady spot in the garden and is tucked away in a corner. So much so you can't really see it until you come upon it. I would like to have a vine climbing on the front too so it's fairly inconspicuous. Not much to see in this picture. The basic frame is up. This space measures roughly 8 square meters, intended for 3 hens.
We have chicken wire on the roof and down the sides. Trenches were dug between posts to bury the wire into the ground to fox proof - (which is the equivalent to cat and dog proofing - I am yet to see a fox in Perth). Apart from snakes I can't think of any other predators..
The ends of the chicken wire are neatly tucked behind this board drilled to the post. It's probably unnecessary but looks super neat, keeps the wire very taut whilst protecting the chooks from catching themselves on any sharp wire edges.
The lay box is very simple. Three boxes - roughly a foot square in size (little taller maybe) with a bit of a covered veranda for privacy. Three is apparently more than enough for 3 hens. I think one may have sufficed. These are some of the chicks sussing out their future abode. The roost is a wide ladder resting against the opposite wall. It's all undercover but open. I was considering having it all enclosed however i don't think it's necessary. Any advice on this would be appreciated. The guy in the white suit is the on site QA rep.
And this is the final product:
Finally, the builder and the architect: (of which we are officially neither)
We have chicken wire on the roof and down the sides. Trenches were dug between posts to bury the wire into the ground to fox proof - (which is the equivalent to cat and dog proofing - I am yet to see a fox in Perth). Apart from snakes I can't think of any other predators..
The ends of the chicken wire are neatly tucked behind this board drilled to the post. It's probably unnecessary but looks super neat, keeps the wire very taut whilst protecting the chooks from catching themselves on any sharp wire edges.
The lay box is very simple. Three boxes - roughly a foot square in size (little taller maybe) with a bit of a covered veranda for privacy. Three is apparently more than enough for 3 hens. I think one may have sufficed. These are some of the chicks sussing out their future abode. The roost is a wide ladder resting against the opposite wall. It's all undercover but open. I was considering having it all enclosed however i don't think it's necessary. Any advice on this would be appreciated. The guy in the white suit is the on site QA rep.
And this is the final product:
Finally, the builder and the architect: (of which we are officially neither)
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