Sunday 23 November 2014

Chicken run extension

If you remember back in 2011 we started re-homing ex-battery Hens. 

I made a hen house from a donated small shed and made a run, soon after we realised they needed more room, so I extended the run. 
But as it was only a metre high it was difficult for us to get inside it to catch the Light Sussex hens that are still a bit flighty! 
They also have been able  (despite clipped wings) to get on top of the run extension & get on to the fence between us and our neighbours!
So I have dismantled the old run extension and replaced it with a full hight & wider run, so the hens will have more room and we can get inside it easily. 

This photo shows it in mid construction. Just need to re-locate the door and put the roof on.

As you can see in these photo's our current flock are doing well, even giving us an egg now and again. 

The cheeky Light Sussex hens do have fluffy bums! 





So it's finished. 
Now full height & about an extra 2 sqr Mtrs of floor space. The entire run has a corrugated plastic roof to give them more shelter for the winter and has a gentle slope so we can collect the water running off, so I will have to add more guttering to collect all the rain water in the rain barrel.
News update: 

My seed order has arrived from Kings Seeds, looking forward to getting all this planted.



I have been contacted about a very interesting website that's all about how to keep healthy and happy Hens, so I have added the link for you below:

http://www.custommade.com/blog/art-of-happy-hens/

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

2 comments:

  1. Just found your marvellous link here , thank you ,going to study this now, I live in the country so perhaps one of the sheds here could be their home with lots of straw and maybe a smaller house in the shed with a door , wonder if they would go inside the little house in order to keep warm at night as the shed is open , no doors on it , but i could create a run from the shed with chicken wire so that they could have plenty of space , not sure this will work , in fact it wont work as too near front of house will have to come up with a better idea and look for some sort of house for them at bottom of garden methinks any ideas on a cheapish way to build a home for chickens your blue shed looks wonderful but a bit too tricky for me , I will keep looking around and let you know if I come up with anything , really enjoying all your posts happy days to you. Kathy

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