the chook hilton

[bart]

here are some photos of progress on our chicken coop it measures 5mtr by 2.5 from the photos you can see that it borders on two outdoor fenced off enclosures /veggie gardens that will become their scratching yards.as you can see work is currently progressing on the nesting boxes these are two high and will have outside access through hinged doors the floor has been poured in cement to aid cleaning i hope to have it 100% finished before the temptation to buy birds overtakes the house hold currently the jury is out as to which way to go fertile eggs are the cheapest but more research will be needed

[GaryD]

G'day Bart,

I've lived in worse circumstances than your chickens will be. Great effort!

Are you planning to put wood shavings or sawdust on that nice new concrete floor? Have you decided on a breed yet?

Do you have the means to rotate your images?

Gary

[bart]

i will fix my pics bfore sending in future im just lazy the floor will be covered with shavings from my plainer/thickinser which is kind of b/w sawdust and chips as for breeds i have no idea any advice would be wellcome i live down from melbourne and there are plenty of comercial poultery yards around my property but i dont think i can knock on there door

[GaryD]

Hi Bart,

Your choice of breeds depends on what you want to do. Let's start by working out exactly what you want (and are able) to do.

Do you live in a built up area......or on acreage? This will determine whether you can keep cockerels......and how many chickens you'll be able to keep/raise. Have you checked out your local government bylaws on poultry-keeping?

Depending on your circumstances, you can produce eggs for consumption, fertile eggs for other breeders to incubate, day old chicks, point of lay pullets, broiler chickens (for meat), show stock, utility crossbreds......and so on.

What are the dimensions of your house? Do you have roosts installed in your shed......what overall length?

What are the measurements of your yards? Do you have other space outside of these to use for your poultry enterprise?

Are there particular breeds that you already like?

If you can provide me with this information, I'll be better able to assist you.

Gary

[bart]

hi Gary as mentioned the chook shed is 5mtrs long by 2.5mtrs wide there will be two roosts both the length of the nesting boxes one b/w the bottom and top boxes and one above the top boxes these are 2.7mtrs long and will be staggered with drop boards the two veggie patches /scratching yards are both approx 6mtrs by 6mtrs square but i will only allow the chooks access to one at any time giving them around 36 square meters of space we live on 8 acres bush block and around us is all rural predominately horse racing studs large poultry sheds [read thousands off chooks breed for meat and eggs] and vineyards we want to just keep egg layers as none around hear could kill one for meat.i have heard names such as Isa brown RI reds and australorps can all these breeds live together and does anyone know of good places to buy chooks/day olds /fert,eggs from in and around Melbourne i wont do anything about it untill the hen house is completly finished

[GaryD]

Hi Bart,

......the chook shed is 5mtrs long by 2.5mtrs wide there will be two roosts both the length of the nesting boxes.....
A shed of that size will accommodate a couple of dozen layers in comfort.

You need to ensure that your roosts are all on the same level......or you'll have dominant birds roosting over the top of the subordinate ones.......and pooping on them.

.

.....scratching yards are both approx 6mtrs by 6mtrs square but i will only allow the chooks access to one at any time giving them around 36 square meters of space....

You'll struggle to grow much in these yards with active chickens getting daily access to one or the other. They'll eat every living thing in the yard.

If they are to be confined to the yards, I'd suggest that you turn them into strawyards. That will help you to keep them a bit cleaner.

A better option would be to fence off some of the bush land......and let them free range. That way, they'll forage for more of their food and you'll be able to grow vegetables or fodder plants in the yards.

You can use the chickens to clean the yards up after each crop of vegetables.

You can buy commercial pullets (they come in three colours....white, red and black) and, fed properly, they'll lay hundreds of eggs each per year. You can also look around for a good utility breed like RIR or plymouth rock......but they'll cost you more, they'll eat more and they'll lay less eggs. They'll also go broodery periodically, too (no eggs while this is happening).

Gary

[bunya boy]

paris-house.jpgthe Girls.jpgthe girls eggs.jpg
Hi Bart:
Good Shed!
Our Chook Hilton was constructed from left-over and recycled materials. You can find it here: http://www.aquaponicshq.com/forums/s...t=chook+hilton
At the time, we only had one old girl who survived the Dogs, Foxes and Dingoes, so we called her "Paris" of course. She's still alive and kicking along with the newer inmates.

Just a tip that does really work: If you are adding new chooks to an existing area with existing Chooks in residence, the older ones will tend to attack the new arrivals to reinforce their pecking order. To stop that reaction, take the old chooks out of the pen etc for at least 5 days. We stuck Paris in the laundry!
A chook's memory is only 3 or 4 days, so when the old girls are introduced back into the pen with the new girls, they forget they once ruled the roost in that place and get along with the new arrivals just fine!
We are quite taken with the Blue shelled eggs, don't know which girl is laying them, but we reckon they look great!

Cheers Ian K

[GaryD]

Hi BB,

That's still one of my favourite chook houses. The blue eggs would be coming from an araucana (or part araucana) but I can't see from the photo which one she is.

Gary

[bart]

great to hear from ya bunya boy i saw your shed last year and i have to admit it got me started on the cook shed idea if i could have scrounged enough second hand materials around here i would have built something very similar just love the look, unfortunately the second hand yards around want a fortune for there crap for example went to the yard to buy s/h floor boards to make some doors they wanted $5.90 p/m for pine/Baltic boards that had not been denailed and had been removed with plenty of force read lots of split ones so i ended up using new at $2.90 p/m .with bringing in new chooks with old i can divide the hen house in two with a partition they could still hear and see each other would that still work? i intend in getting most off the birds in one go but thats wishfully thinking

[bart]

bunya boy after posting i thought you might like to see my oudoor entertaining area complete with hammock,pizza oven and b/bq basketball hoop and inside there is a boys fridge all made out of s/h crap know wonder i get so little done