So pleased that this thread has encouraged you to have some chickens Gardengirl, it all sounds good and with the helpful farm staff you should have all the answers. I like the sound of the different coloured eggs, although brown are my favourite. We have a free range hen farm over here and just last week one of the owners cracked a four yoker into the frying pan - they are as rare as hen's teeth.
OK. Advice please. Been mulling over keeping chickens for ages but haven't been impressed with the prices and/or quality of hen houses online or in the local France Rurale so I looked for designs to build my own. Then I had a moment! We have an empty donkey shed in the potager - 3m X 2ish, tiled roof, shelf for donkey feed, door and a wee window. Earth floor but concrete base for the walls. Needs a bit of a clean and some draught proofing on the north side but is otherwise good to go.
I could convert it to a hen house by adding an extra window and putting in a perch above the feed shelf and a nesting box on the other side. Thing is, I can't see how high above the shelf the perch would need to go. Any suggestions please?
I can make a run easily enough so I can cover part of an outside area for rainy days but ideally they'd have the run of the whole plot as BCD says beds can be protected when plants are teeny. Anything else I've missed? The next hen release form the free-range egg farm is due late spring to early summer so I need to get a move on.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
As I think you know I used to keep a flock of free range hens on the smallholding. I can’t find the book I used to show Wonkys Papa how we needed the perches to be, but this site is as near as dammit and has all the info I was looking for https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/chicken-roost/
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I can believe that. I'll give them a low roost to start with. I've already talked to the vet and he says to expect them to need a rest from laying and time to settle in. That's OK. The idea is to give them a life and get pests and some weeds eaten without chemicals. Eggs will be a bonus.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
They have bright orange yolks that stand up when you crack them into the pan, don't run all over it, and they taste of something.
Sponges made with them look so yellow you could be accused of adding food colouring
They also keep well, as they are about 10 days younger than bought eggs for a start.
The numbers can be hard to keep up with in high summer though - we never had more than six layers, but you have to make lots of cakes and rich eggy dishes to keep up when there's only 2 of you to eat them all!
Oh how I envy you @Obelixx, while living in Brittany we keep three hens,they had the run of the orchard,dug sand baths,chased the mower for the tiny flies,and queued up outside the veg patch for worms when it was being dug! They all trotted along behind my OH when it was time for bed. He made them two nesting boxes,and a ladder to get to the highest perch! Happy days! One hen we took to the vet as she was limping, the vet gave us stuff to put in her water,never charged us,saying the hen wasn't worth the cost of the visit!! She was worth it to us.
The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
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I could convert it to a hen house by adding an extra window and putting in a perch above the feed shelf and a nesting box on the other side. Thing is, I can't see how high above the shelf the perch would need to go. Any suggestions please?
I can make a run easily enough so I can cover part of an outside area for rainy days but ideally they'd have the run of the whole plot as BCD says beds can be protected when plants are teeny. Anything else I've missed? The next hen release form the free-range egg farm is due late spring to early summer so I need to get a move on.
https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/chicken-roost/
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
They all trotted along behind my OH when it was time for bed.
He made them two nesting boxes,and a ladder to get to the highest perch!
Happy days!
One hen we took to the vet as she was limping, the vet gave us stuff to put in her water,never charged us,saying the hen wasn't worth the cost of the visit!!
She was worth it to us.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.