Picture posting is enabled for all :)
As for cockerels....every allotment has them!
I am thinking about burying 2' by 3' paving slabs around the perimeter of the run to stop foxes. I plan for the chicken wire to about 6' high, and even have some sort of meshing above the run to stop the chooks getting out. (I plan to have leghorns and white star and Ive heard they are flighty birds).
my concerns are...1. is a once a day visit enough?
2. what about at winter time? Do they need undisturbed sleep as it may be dark when I visit?
3. Do they need electric lighting and heating in winter as we have no electric to the allotments?
I would go every day to the allotment for about 2 hours in summer months and Saturday and Sunday Most of the day.Winter evenings would be just for the chooks, at 4.30 so it wouldn't be particularly middle of the night.
I am making an assumption here! But wouldn't cleaning the coop out once a week be enough?
We are toying with the idea of building a coop on stilts, with an extended canopy of approx 6' x 6' to protect the birds from the rain.
The perimeter of the coop would have the buried slabs with the wire also buried all the way under.
The focus is not on the cockerels... I never knew there where so many anti cockerel chicken lovers out there...enough already ::) Forget the cockerel...I wont get a cockerel.
I would love to keep chickens at home but my lovely builders have put a restriction on my land! SO...i have an allotment, only had it a year but we are really making progress.I would love to keep approx 6 hens and a cockerel, i am thinking of dedicating a piece of the allotment that's about 25'by 25 ', also would convert a 8'x 6' shed into a hen house.I am thinking about burying 2' by 3' paving slabs around the perimeter of the run to stop foxes. I plan for the chicken wire to about 6' high, and even have some sort of meshing above the run to stop the chooks getting out. (I plan to have leghorns and white star and Ive heard they are flighty birds).my concerns are...1. is a once a day visit enough?2. what about at winter time? Do they need undisturbed sleep as it may be dark when I visit?3. Do they need electric lighting and heating in winter as we have no electric to the allotments?I have many more questions and will buy book but I need to know if my commitment is enough really. I work full time and would hate to neglect them...anyone else in same predicament?? ???FG X