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[NutterlyUts]

Hi everyone.

This is what I have to work with:

The shed with run

Current "dogflap" (Am thinking of turning it into an automated pop hole?)

Inside (complete with size 7 croc for size comparison LOL)

The Window

A view of the run (we plan to strim it this weekend) Apologies for the depth looking all funny

Part of my grandmother's garden the run lives in

I forgot to take a tape measure with me, but my brother has guestimated the house to be 4ft wide by 6ft long, and that the run is 10ft by 6ft. Its fence panelled in all sides, so would need treating (Cupranol? Which one?) and currently the inside part is carpeted on the walls and floor as it did house a boxer! I plan to rip out the carpet, but do i need to do anything special to the floor/walls to make them mite proof? Was thinking along the lines of varnishy type stuff for the floor? There is currently netting as a roof outside which I think I'd keep?
I was also thinking of slabbing the run and putting woodchips down onto it as currently its grass (I think.. hard to tell under all the brambles!) and that would turn to mud ridiculously fast. I have permission to put a movable run (like a rabbit run but not!) in the garden too, but Gran takes no responsibility for any harm they may come to with her neighbours dogs! (who are well behaved but occasionally unsupervised). I live in Jersey, so I don't have any foxes or badgers to deal with, just rats/mice/birds of prey

My two main questions right now are can it be converted (especially the inside) and how many hens (bantams and big 'uns both seperate and combined) could happily live in there? Is there anything that springs to mind as needing changed drastically or adding?

Once the carpet is off the walls, treat all the wood with a stain/preservative - but I can't recommend one which is non-toxic/animal friendly as I've never had to use it.

Get some red mite powder and dust round the edges, corner of floor etc. You can do this periodically when you give the house a good clean out. And in the bottom of nest boxes too.

I converted a brick-built outdoor loo which is roughly the same size as your shed. For nestboxes I used square wooden planters from the garden centre and then ran slatted perches over the top of them (in a L-shape along back wall and one long side). I have six large well-spaced out hens in there at the moment. There is a drinker in the corner behind the door, raised up on bricks and I bed them down on straw. There food hopper hangs from the inside door handle.

My window has been removed and replaced with chicken wire & wooden slats to allow ventilation but keep predators out and it's high enough not to cause a draught but sometimes in the winter I block half of it up with straw. Your window looks a bit low, so perhaps only ventilate the top half?

If the floor is wooden, then varnish if safe would smooth it off and make it easier to clean. If it's covered in woodshavings or straw then it won't matter that much. You could line it with newspaper as well - then you roll the whole thing up and dump it on the compost heap to clean out. Very easy.

The run - mine are on grass mud. I clean the poo up every few days and they get a few chaperoned hours of free-ranging a week. But slabs and some straw or paper bedding would be good, woodchips can have dodgy spores in I think and would also cost a lot to replace every month when they are covered in poo.

A solid 'rabbit' run in your Grans garden should be enough to keep dogs out unless they suddenly decide to get digging.

Thanks!

Am so excited! I have 1001 ideas to get stuck into.

So about 6 hens happily in there?
Have you used a treadle feeder? Are they as ratproof as they claim?

No I haven't used a treddle feeder. I'd be surprised if bantams weighed much more than rats - so perhaps the treddles were designed for hefty hens?!

Someone on MN has probably used/uses one though...

I forgot to ask, do you have a pic of the planters you use?

Planters like this. I am not a proficient woodworker and the planters were the perfect size for nestboxes. They're about 15" square.

If I remember (and baby and/or chicks don't arrive), I'll take a photo of them tomorrow in situ so you can see how it works.

ah fab thanks!
I'm currently trying to work out how much to spend on all I want/need

Is there felt on the roof? If so I would take it off and timber the roof, to discourage redmite. For the floor, you could plane it and then paint with an animal friendly wood stain.

Slabs are really good, they do prevent the 'mudbath' effect. I use easibed on the floor - it is really absorbent, lasts a relatively long time - a bale probably lasts a good 6-8 weeks - and costs about £6. It also smells nice!

I like the look of easy bed. I shall see if I can get it locally.

I don't know about the roof. I shall take a look on friday when I go to clear it out a bit

other alternatives are called aubiose and hemcore - they're all a similar thing.

I found auboise today at my local feedplace, so I think i'll use that