right. i reckon i'll have to build my own dream chickenopolis in order to get what i want for less thasn a million squid

[twoGsinBuggerOff]

have decided that 2x 6x4 pent roofed sheds, opposite each other and joined by 4x 3' run panels from Wells either side to make a 12' run, divide by a moveable run divider with each house and run openable to the free range orchard area... easily adapted with makeshift roosting bars and nesting boxes and rat-guarded by raising slightly and paving underneath c- should just about cover my needs for the next few years. i will paint in a lovely cuprinol shade too.
will re-roof the sheds with corroline or something, and roof the run area with clear corruaged sheeting or summat to give nice sheltered area...

sound like chicken heaven or what??

Perfect. Sheds are on sale everywhere at the moment or will you try and get 2nd hand?

I use square wooden planters as nest boxes in my brick-built outdoor loo chicken house with homemade rows of perches over the top. But you can buy nestboxes, perches, pop holes etc here.

ah, thanks for that link... was wondering about faffing with pophole making... perches seem easy enough to make i reckon, and will make do with makeshift nest boxes for now i reckon... can upgrade later i think.

i have looked at loads of sheds... i reckon i'll paint whatever i get so does it matter too much about the quality of wood? i want as cheap as i can get, but not crap that'll fall apart in no time, nor have a solid enough floor to support it iff the ground (think now i'll use some of the mahoosive treestump bits from a felled tree i have lying about to raise the houses... but how on earth am i supposed to make sure its level?? and do i put weldmesh directly under the floor of the house and slightly up the sides or what? how small does the mesh size need to be to deter rats?

wish i could find second hand but have had no luck locally and also, how on earth im going to dismantal, transport and re-assemble a shed with no instructions and no big van...

i am STILL looking at shed sites daily.
and checkin the free ads

have found a site that does a freestanding huge run. think ill get that and add my existing cube and a shed, specially adapted to it.
was going to put it straight on the grass, but then add loads of course bark (an open area, but with a pvc roof to provide shelter from rain) if i do that, ill only need to scoop out and change it once a year, right??

if the groung gets fowl sick (how will i tell??) then i can always pave it later... (will cost a fair bit of money to concrete a large area like im planning, or time/effort to dig out, level, sand base and pave. so id rather leave that for now tbh)

any advice always gratefully received, as always

is it the flytes of fancy one, look lovely, alibubbles has one with a cube. I have mine on grass with aubiose on top and seems fine, i do change it every 6 weeks (well I have changed it once because I have had them 6 weeks), I have decided i am not going to totally change it again for a long while as I don't think i9t actually needed it and my compost bin is full now.
I am trying to work out how to get more chooks into my not very big garden at the moment.

ah sockmonster its addictive isnt it?

i dont think it was flytes of fancyt.. will try to find link

heres one and heres another both of them come in really large sizes, so i could just bung them in the middle of the orchard, with pvc roof on, and stick the cube inside it, and add a small shed too... all safe within the confines of the huge run.
which would mean anyone bird-sitting would have a really easy job, wouldnt they. rounding them up of an evening is a piece of piss for me coz im used to them, but it used to take me ages, and is specific-time sensitive.

mind you, i was looking at 8'x10' sheds today... spose i could butt one up to either of those runs?

if i had a small garden, id just cage the whole damn thing over and have them loose in that.
not that im obsessed or anything

they asre both lovely, i like the second one better (I would it is mnore money)
I am thinking of getting an eglu but with that and the cube+run+extension tht woul atually be half of my lawn filled up. dh will take some working on for that.

Either come on google and talk to me, phone me, or summat.

Oh, and either apologise for not returning calls, or beat the staff for not passing on messages

i mean, um, sorry dude !

on my way