Can you convert a DOG KENNEL into a chicken coop??

[MrsKittylette]

The 'buy it ready' coops are too expensive and Im not sure we could make one from scratch!

Theres a brand new dog kennel for sale near ME AND could be quite a bargain, its for St Bernards so must be big!

We could just adapt it for chickens? Put a door on it? Perches inside ect?

Has anyone done this?
Thanks

I have no idea why 'me and' is in capitals! lol

? ?

Funnily enough, when I was married to ex h, we did this the other way round - ex owners had a chicken coop and we re-built it and turned it into a dog kennel (we used to call it the dog coop )

Not much help I know, but I don't see why you couldn't adapt the one that's for sale.

Good luck

Yes you can, you would need a very strong door and bolt to shut them up and you would need to be very vigilant about shutting them up as soon as it got dark and letting them out in the morning.

It also very much depends on foxes in your area - because they can get stolen during the day too.

Or you could enclose it in a very secure run - please don't underestimate the security needed for the run if you're in a very foxy area.

Laurie we have a 7 foot fence all round the garden but will also be enclosing the chicken coop with a 'chicken wire' fence dug 12 inches into the ground

sounds perfect

My eglu is smaller than a dog kennel and can hold four nice and snug (only got two though want to adopt a couple of battery ones soon)

Ohhh

I would love an egglu, cant afford one though

Its ex-battery hens that we are getting, 2 of them, but Im trying to persuade DH to let me get 2 chicks aswell!

Sorry to barge in. How easy are they to keep.

We have quite a small garden and only a little piece of lawn (most of which is taken up with a tp climbing frame and slide).

Do you have to keep them on grass? My CM has them and I notice she keeps moving her egglu around when the grass dies - we haven't really got enough grass for that.

We also have a tiny garden and though we keep the eglu on bark chippings we let them out during the day and they peck at the grass - hence all the grass is mostly dead. They are pretty voracious.

There is someone on either the practical poultry forum or the pekinbantams forum who has converted one of those small plastic toolsheds into a chicken house. The ones that are about the height of a garden spade.

There's photos and descriptions. Might be worth trying to find as the sheds are about £60 I think.

Here you go

kelseyinfo.co.uk/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1194038274

Being plastic means no pain of creosoting type upkeep.

Thanks, will look into that.

It's certainly possible. You need to be MUCH more vigilant than you think about a run - remember a fox can climb and jump fences at least 7 ft high, and the smallest gap and he's in. We have ours in a secure run the whole time - have a look at my blog for pics (go into 2007). It would be too awful to lose them to a fox. We have put our run on concrete slabs, so it can't be dug into, and is also easier to clean.

What age chicks are you hoping to get? I wouldn't mix anything too little with mature hens, as they will just kill the chicks, and will need different food (chicks eat chick crumbs, the hens will need layers mash or pellets). You could get a couple of POL hens to go with teh ex-batts.

They would also need a nest box!

Tortoiseshell,

would you mind if I gave you my email?
You obviously know a bit about chickens and how best to do things and Im completly just guessing at the moment and wouldnt want to get anything wrong!

So can I pick your brain over my plans and get some advice?

I would apopreciate it!

Your hens are beautiful BTW, I will definatly read through your blog

pug_d @hotmail.com

Kitty, we converted an outdoor loo into a hen house (it's on my profile but you have to turn your head sideways!). And we use square wooden planters from the Garden Centre as nest boxes.

Conversion is brilliant. This year we are expecting lots of chicks so I'm converting an old rabbit hutch as temporary extra housing for small, cheeping birds.

I don't know a huge amount, but I have learnt lots over the last year. Somewhere I have an article about converting a shed into a chicken coop - I will see if I can find it for you. I will email you.

Chickens are the best pets!

DofNorks - just looked at your pics - I am really really really of you living in the country. And I really want some white chickens!!!! I love your Light Sussex ones!

One day we will move to the country!!!

kittylette - the other thing I would do is read some of the poultry forums - I like Practical Poultry and Omlet - two very different sites - Practical Poultry is very good on technical things, Omlet is more people who have chickens as pets, so probably more relevant, but for details, PP is better.

Will email you later today!

Thankyou,

will read into both those