Renovating Chicken Hut
Each side of the hut has uneven edges as the wood is rotting in places. A few days ago I decided to put by carpentry skills to the test and saw off the uneven edges and make the base of the chicken hut level so that the hut sits on the ground with no gaps between the hut and the ground. I have managed to saw all the edges successfully and the hut now stands on the ground without any gaps.
I have painted the outside of the hut a medium oak wood preserver that is safe for animals and the hut is beginning to look like new!
I have also nailed parts of the sides together where they were coming apart.
The next job is to replace the wire netting on the front of the door and then decide what to do with the floor. If I add wood to the floor then it might be heavy to move about and may rot over time but the wood would stop any predators from burrowing under the hut and attacking the poultry. A wire netting floor would not be so heavy and would allow the birds to peck at the grass under the hut but there is an increased risk of predators getting into the hut as the wire netting is not as secure as the wood. Decisions, decision!
If anyone has any advice they would like to give about the flooring of the poultry hut then I would like to hear it, so please leave a comment.
Chicken Hut Poultry Hut
Good job, sure it’ll turn out to be a perfectly palatial broody hut for your girls. I would be tempted to opt for a wooden floor myself, it needn’t be anything thick or heavy, I’m sure it wouldn’t make too much different to the weight? Also could there be a chance that small toothy predators could knaw through the wire?
Comment by Lucy @ Smallest Smallholding — May 16, 2008 @ 10:17 am
For the ‘Nursery Pen’ that we have here we started with just the raw ground, The mink got in through the tiniest gap and killed our duckling. We put double wire on the floor but I found it hard to keep
clean so I have added wood on top of the wire.
Our chicken house has a wooden floor and is much nicer. Both our pen are fixtures though so being able to move them may make a difference.
Comment by Diane — May 16, 2008 @ 2:56 pm
Everyone seems to be talking about hens! I’m a city-ish girl and don’t know much about chicken huts, but several bloggers I’ve read recently are using just dirt floors topped with bedding compost.
Comment by nikkipolani — May 16, 2008 @ 5:28 pm
This post takes me back to my childhood when my mother kept hens. Our hut had a wooden floor with straw on it. I remember the excitement gathering the eggs from under the hens
Comment by wildlifegardener — May 17, 2008 @ 8:36 am
We have chicken wire set under the hut. It has lasted for years (4) and has kept out predators so far. Rats could chew throuugh wood. This happened to a friend of mine and the rat ate the chicks.
Comment by Cottage Smallholder — May 17, 2008 @ 10:47 am
Hi Sara. Have you thought about maybe putting some tin on the floor instead? It is lighter and would protect the foul. It is also rot proof. Just a thought. The chickens wouldn’t weigh enough to cave it in.
Comment by Curtis — May 18, 2008 @ 3:20 am
Well done Sara, quite a project to undertake. I am sorry I now nothing about wooden homes for chickens, ours used to live in a old water tower. I hope your friends will be able to give you lots of advice. x
Comment by Louise — May 18, 2008 @ 4:59 am
hmm, we just knocked ours down because it was a total ‘ghetto chicken house’! Don’t use chicken wire as flooring, it rots out in two years. We have thought about using concrete blocks as flooring, we could spray that off to clean it, but still need to come up with a way to make it more comfortable in Utah winters. How cold does it get there? What do you do to keep your animals warm? WE used a light bulb, among other things. But our set up was totally ghetto.
Comment by Muum — May 18, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
We have had a problem with stoats and or weasels - creeping through holes in the floor of the chicken hut and stealing eggs and chicks. So it is worth making sure there are no gaps in the floor!
Comment by TopVeg — May 19, 2008 @ 6:36 am
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Comment by David Tip — May 19, 2008 @ 11:32 am
my hens look terrible tail feathers all plucked and som have lost feathers around their face , no eveidnce of mites ..they all are this way so cant tell if they are plucking or have some disorder
Comment by Maxine Hopper — May 21, 2008 @ 4:53 pm
Hi Maxine,
I would thoroughly clean their hut and disinfect the hut. I would treat them for mites and then I would hang some cabbages etc from the roof for them to peck at. This should cover mites http://www.farmingfriends.com/red-mites-on-poultry/ and pecking http://www.farmingfriends.com/feather-picking-and-cannibalism-in-poultry/ . I would then see if the feathers improve.
A good time to check for mites is at night. Also a salt and pepper pwder on the underside of perches is also a sign of mites.
Hope your hens feathers improve.
Kind regards
Sara
Comment by Sara @ Farming Friends — May 22, 2008 @ 11:10 am
what is the name of the chicken friendly wood preserver?
Comment by john — May 26, 2008 @ 4:34 pm
Cuprinol Autumn Gold Shed & Fence Timber Care perhaps?
Comment by david — October 22, 2008 @ 10:03 am