How about a change of subject, fellow HR-anons?
Last year I decided to get egg laying hens, and build their outside area from scratch, alone and without buying anything. Most of the stuff I had in spare from other projects, some I got from friends and a little part I stole. To be fair, the wood I stole, had been laying on public proberty for ~6 months.
They only thing I bought was the net.
First thing to be done, was to get some net in the ground, so the fox can't dig in. It went 90 cm. down.
The net in the ground had to be placed pretty carefully, since the female fox is very active here, when she has youngsters
The cage is 4 * 4 meters, so the amount of dirt I had to move to get the net down, was quite a workout. The hole in the shed (if they are called that when made out of bricks) is from the old window. When I took it down, the bricks followed.
The net went down one side at a time, otherwise I would have drowned in the dirt
There was thankfully only two sides that needed net in the ground. The bottom part of the wood frame stands on blocks, so the wood won't rot so easily. The metal spike went through the wood and into the block; it's the only place the wood frame is fastened to the ground.
The corners took some work getting straight, but it ended quite well, if I dare say so.
AWESOME!
>>2618484
OP here.
Thanks. These projects are great stress relief and you always learns something.
The inside of a corner. Since the blocks takes up water from the ground, the frame sits on these pieces of tar-ish materiel, which is waterproof. After a year the frame still looks new, so I guess it works.
The net in the ground was supplemented with pieces of net around the corners. Thus far the fox haven't gotten inside, but then again, the hens is locked in at night.
That's the shovel I use for all digging of holes. It's a light wight aluminum shovel with a cast frame.
With the bottom frame finished, I put down the tile for stepping through the door, which still has to come. Note the metal spike on the corner, I used that to connect the bottom frame with the rest of the frame, thus avoiding anything visibly from the outside.
All the dirt is back in place again, and the net in the ground has been attached to the bottom frame. Moving all that dirt back took several days of work, partial due to the stamping process. See >>2618497
for the stamper I use.
Since I wanted the cage to go all the way to the shed, I had to built the cage over the concrete wall. The wall was built the year before.
Then came winter while I got the first part of the top frame up and standing tall. Even the shed saw work, but I will admit, I'm glad the brick wall is gonna have i thin layer of plaster, since this was my first bigger build with bricks. Those lines are hard to get.
The top of this beam has to hold both the frame going back and to the left. To use as few screws as possible, I made it this way so three screws could connect all three beams.
After the initial top frame went up, the rest took almost no time at all, since most of the planning had already been done. The tilted beams adds a huge amount of stability to the construction. I really likes the framed looks it gets like this, but it's mostly a matter of taste. The stability could have come in a number of ways.
The better fit the tilted beams have, the better stability they give. Since these angles is not 45 degrees exactly, I had to discard a few of them because I sawed them in the wrong angle. The tight fit also seems to keep out most rain, which is a good thing. The woodwork was done by hand. Each beam has one screw in each end to connect them to the frame.
The hole below the beam in the left side, is where the hens can come out into the cage. The bags is for another project.
Inside view of the corner where the frame goes over the concrete wall. The plank going up the shed is going to be used to attach the net.
Top view of the frame. The loose planks covering the top corners was protecting the frame from rain. The next picture shows the permanent solution I chose.
These small squares of wood is all that is needed to keep the exposed parts of the frame dry, which actually surprised me. I would have thought they had to be bigger.
The metal roof gives the hens a dry place to "bathe" in the dirt. They do this to keep their skin and feathers healthy.
And finally comes the shed. After this I ran into problems with time, since the hens had already been ordered, and I got behind on the project due to work. Therefore I have no pictures of the net going up, and how I built the inside of the shed, where the hens live.
Fast forward three months, and all is done. The hens was initially of the race Isa Warren, but they were unbelievable aggressive, so I got some other ones now. The lamp under the roof is a LED with built-in light sensor so it turns off during sunny times. Both the inside and outside light is on a timer, which turns them off during the night.
Hens eats almost everything and is always moving. I took 20+ images and this was the best. Sorry. I think I need a better camera.
Inside the shed they have their feed, water, sleeping stick and egg laying box. The cage is at the left, while the box for egg laying can barely be seen in the bottom left. There is 5 square meters of floor to the hens, so I have to walk sideways when moving between the stick and box.
This is the egg laying box. It has two rooms, and the bottom is coated with a door mat. The hens seems to dig that material. The hole that can be seen inside the box, is where the eggs goes down, so I can collect them from behind the box. It took two weeks of work to built the box. Note the tilted roof. Without it, the hens would lay their eggs on top of the box.
Picture taken out through the hole in the shed. The resemblance with Dinos is somewhat there, I guess, though I'm glad it's not a bunch of Raptors i have running around in the yard.
I buy the feed from a professional store, thus the hens are giving me eggs to half the price the shops takes. During the weekdays I use 10-15 minutes on them, changing their water and such. Once a month a hour is need for maintenance and cleaning. The floor inside the shed gets quite messy.
The one place they stand still.
The concrete wall took a year to built and the cage and shed another one. It is 11 month since I got the hens, and this is one project that keeps giving. Hens is surprising good animals to be around. When they are not aggressive, that is.
Well, that's all I got, I guess. Will lurk in the thread.
Really nice thread, very interesting and uncommon in this section. I like the work you did. May I ask where do you live?
And a curiosity about the egg laying box. Is the surface below the holes somehow padded? I mean, isn't there a chance the egg breaks after falling?
>>2618585
Op here.
Thanks and yeah, earlier today when going through /hr, they entire first page was celebs. And nothing wrong with that, it just get a bit predictable.
I live in Denmark, in the northern part of Zealand. When going from summer to winter and back again, everything is wet for three months, so the weather has to be taken into account when building outside.
I've simply added some net under the egg laying box, which is only loosely fastened in an angle towards the back. From time to time some of the eggs breaks, but most of the time it works nicely.
>>2618567
Have you had any neighbors pass by and shown disapproval? Also, do the chickens attract animals?
>>2618596
OP here
No and no, so far anyway.
The hens is on one side of the house, between the backyard and front yard, so there is only one neighbor there can see and hear them. Since I don't have any cocks, the hens can actually be really quite most of the day. I did of course talk to the one neighbor, but they didn't mind. Besides, the local law permits having the hens, but still, I wouldn't have gotten them if the neighbor had said no.
Trying to be objective, I would say the noise is the same as one or two dogs, and the smell is only a problem inside the shed. I have eight hens.
In theory the feed and leftovers from the house can attract mice and rats if care is not taken. I don't feed them more outside than they can eat during the day, and the feed is in closed containers in the shed. So far I haven't seen any signs of other animals.
really nice thread, op
and very cool work
seems like something, if I did do it, that I would be proud of.
how many eggs a day you get with 8 hens?
do you have any plans to change it? like replacing the net for other kind or something
greetings from brazil
>huehue
>>2618787
OP here
Indeed I am. I had some doubts about getting the frame straight, since it's have the size it have. Even minor variations would have been very easy to spot, and would have made it look pretty terrible. But the entire cage is straight within 1 cm. as far as I can measure, and coupled with how well the wood seems to hold up, it's a pretty good feeling walking past the cage. Especially when the hens is out and about.
At some point I have to paint the cage, otherwise the wood will begin to rot no matter what. I have already tried on a little spot on the backside, but the net has to come off before it's possible. And when I fasten the net again after the paint, I will do it another way, since it's already is coming loose. I used clips like these
http://www.harald-nyborg.dk/20460/haeftepistoler
but they don't last. Instead I will try with a combination of screws and disks like this
http://www.bygmax.dk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/8/1/81-im-foto-4-9007.jpg
The first race of hens I had, the Isa Warrens, was actually laying 6-7 eggs a week, due to the breeding gone into them. However, as far as I could figure out, that breeding is also why that race is so aggressive. Now I have the race White Lohmann, and while they "only" give 3-4 eggs a week, the Lohmanns are worth it because they are so calm.
Attached is the only good picture from the building of the concrete wall. It was while I was watching the concrete set one day I good the idea to try and get hens, otherwise the space would had been used by a green house.
cool stuff, OP isn't a faggot.
>>2618963
Nice! Do you plan on increasing the amount of hens? Or would it get too crowded?
And also: have you thought about using varnish instead of paint? It's the to-go solution for me when using wood, I just love the natural touch.
This is a bench my father put together a few years ago. He had a blacksmith (don't know if it's the correct term) do the feet on cast iron and bought the wood from a lumber company.
Once a year I apply varnish, but now it's getting a LOT of sun so I'm thinking about doing it twice a year.
Cool post danebro
>>2619359
OP here
That bench looks really nice and I bet it's good to sit in. The varnish sure gives the wood a more living finish than the paint would do. I will consider using something else than the paint, since I always thought it somewhat a shame to hide the wood behind paint. Is it necessary to coat the wood every year with varnish, or is it "just" to keep it well-coated?
No, the number of eight hens matches the number of eggs we use during the week, and then my brother can get a 12 pack from time to time. By local law I could have 30 in the space I have given them, and I honestly don't think the hens would mind, but I only need to cover the daily use.
The picture is from this morning, so it's some of the Lohmanns. They are a lot easier to take pictures of, since they actually stands still from time to time.
>>2618585
OP here
I took some more pictures this morning. This one is taken from the door to the shed, and the back egg laying box can bee seen just after the three barrels. Normally when constructing boxes like this, they are designed to let the eggs roll out in front, but I like this better since the eggs can be collected without going in to the hens.
Next picture is a closeup
The angle of the net is not enough to make the eggs roll all the way out, but I was afraid the height would be a problem. Sometimes the hens shit on the eggs, like the one on the right, but then I use the egg to cook something that requires a lot of heat.
This is how the cage looks now. The bricks under the bottom frame keeps the dirt in the cage. All the stuff inside the cage is meant to keep the hens somewhat active, but it mostly don't work as intended. Only when I place bread or greens on the trunks will they fly up on them. Or if they are curious about what someone is doing in the garden.
Note how the net is braided together with the metal wire. It was something a farmer told me he used to do, and it actually works quite well. And I guess i lied earlier, because I did get help to do this. After using a few hours and some spare net, we got the hang of the process and braided all the net in just one day.
For this side of the cage, I got my hands on some spare lengths of wood that used to support some young trees where I work. I sawed them over in halves and dug them 60 cm. down. Then I filled them with a mix of old leaves, dirt from the hens' cage, some normal dirt and a little sand to keep it loose. I plan on planting tomatos there in a month or so, and let them cover most of that side.
That side of the cage gets the afternoon sun, so I think it's a good place for plants, and the hens will probably appreciate the shadow.
And then a closeup to round things up with
>>2619464
The varnish should be reapplied every year as a sealing agent, but it really depends on the exterior.
In my case, since I live -3 degrees from the equator line in a coastal city, the sun is the biggest factor and wears off the varnish mercilessly. Until last year I had the bench under a roof, so it only got direct sunlight during afternoon and the varnish lasted longer.
(you may already know this, but usually it takes two layers to get a good covering)
>>2619464
Your new chickens even look calmer.
>>2619488
Really good idea. I like it's not as wide as the net.
Good thread, OP.
>>2619490
Do they need any special care beyond water, food and cleaning the cage?
>>2619675
OP here
Thanks. Usually when I find a way to solve a task without too many negative sides to it, I just stick with it. It's a great way to go through projects without having to evaluate everything involved. A kind of recycling of experience, I guess. Using paint is one of those things I just do, even though it got some shortcomings.
We used to apply either natural oils, like seed oil, or tar-ish based products to our wood until recently, but after the industrialization came paint during the '50's and '60's. Denmark is in many ways extremely conservative, so getting products the commons don't use is hard, and often the shops can give no advice, since they are not educated in anything but paint. But the hens cage is probably a good place to start using something else than paint, since it's easy to see how it goes and learn from it.
When I paint I usually do it in a two-part process like you also do with varnish. The first coat is given to the rough wood, and after it dries, I then sand it down with a fine grain sandpaper and gives it another coating. Normally it can hold for 2-10 years, depending. Windows and roofs and so on I give 3-5 coats, so it's not like paint is faster or easier to give the wood than varnish seems to be.
Attached is a small cage for quails I built 6 moths back. It's hard to see in the photo, but I used the two-part process on the sides of the cage. With the roof hanging out to protect the sides, I would think the wood can take 10+ years before it need more paint.
>>2619883
And then a closeup of the quails. For some odd reason they are called Jumbo Quails in Danish, which seems a bit odd considering how small they are. But I think it's because common quail is the size of small birds, or something like that.
I had intended the quails and hens should share the big cage, since quails can eat flees, but they other hens I had couldn't leave them alone. When one of the quails got eaten by them (and I shit you not) I built a cage to them and placed it in the backyard.
With the more calm hens I have now, I might try to mix them again.
>>2619677
OP here
No, as productions animals I think hens are the easiest animals to have, and surely possible to have in most gardens. The one really negative side is the butchering. Sometimes it's just necessary due to illness or old age, but taking the head of a animal you have given a name with an axe is not easy. If I had the hens for their meat I would have to butcher on a regular basis, but it might actually be easier, since you know from the start you are gonna kill and eat that animal. Once animals gets names they become pets, I think.
It's important they don't get draft when they are inside, since they get ill from it pretty fast. Access to dirt, rain and sun is necessary to keep their skin and feathers healthy, and the sleeping stick is a good way to get them off the ground, and protect them from the cold and moist floor. In addition, as with most animals (including humans, I guess) they prefer a steady day, where they are woken, let outside and locked in for night at regular times. Otherwise they get stressed. Depending on the location they might be able to go free and wouldn't need to be let out and in. If they feel protected and is well-fed, they don't run away but stays close to home. I have forgotten to close the door a few times but they just stay around the shed anyway.
When having them in cold areas like here, artificial lighting is necessary for the winters, otherwise they will sleep during the long nights and can't eat enough to support the egg laying. That is a common trade between almost all birds, and is why birds in small cages get quite when the cage is covered up. They simply go to sleep.
My advice would be to buy the hens somewhere where it's possible to get advice, and then avoid the hybrid races, like the Isa Warrens, as they are tailored for the industry.
>>2619883
This is some pretty cool handiwork. Pro-level stuff.
Here I have never seen a varnish coating lasting more than a couple years, but maybe it's the climate. At least it doesn't need to be sanded after the first coat.
>>2619888
Holy shit the Isas were savage. Good to know about the aggressiveness.
>>2619905
Good tips, thanks!
On your first post you mentioned a fox. Got any troubles with that? And do the foxes get into your lot easily?
I wish I had other home projects to share. This is nice.
bumping cool OC
Very cool OP. I've always wanted to give this a try and you have given me some good ideas.
A question on the chickens...how long do they keep laying eggs for? Is there a point they stop?
Also, you mentioned you sometimes have to cull a bird due to illness, what is your mortality rate? With 8 chickens do you lose on average one a month?
TIA for the info.
