Taj Mahfowl

I've been taken away from "serious" modelling for a while as I've been constructing a Garden Scale Chook House.  It's completed as of today and has been installed in my Garden Scale Garden.  Here a few piccies of the edifice . . .



The East Wing




The West Wing




Clean Grean Solar Energy




En Suite




Sleeping Accommodation




Bedroom Access




Bar Room




What's this?   Water??




Dining Room




Bay Marie




Egg Escape Hatch



Egg Ready to Escape



And, of course LED's

No self-respecting chook house would be seen dead without Led's.

I do like the photo descriptions.

Blimey Max,you spoil those hens!…..Wouldn't mind living there myself,if you swap the water for John Smiths Bitter!!

Cheers,John.B.:thumbs

:thumbsThats one heck of a luxury Chook House Max, Excellent build, Loved the photo captions .

Enjoy an egg bonanza!

Derek

I hope you have a good recipe book handy Max as I can see the eggs coming thick and fast.

Looks like a good place for them to live Max.How many can you comfortably get in there?

Er, dunno Reg.  Four?   :shock:

That's a monster!  But well built and looking suitably pest-proof.

You'd be OK with 10 fowl in something that size though most councils limit the number permitted in a backyard; 6 is the norm over here.

Yours appears to be a permanent fixture including hard-piped water (is that on a decoder function as well?).  

I'll try to get some good images of Cluckingham Palace tomorrow to compare as it's somewhat smaller but designed to both fit over each of our 10 raised veggie beds and to be moved around them every 5 weeks or so on a yearly rotation as an integral part of the backyard farm.

By the way - did I mention Isa Browns lay, lay and lay?  Hope you enjoy egg-based recipes!

Yes, Rick.  You did.  Thanks for the offline help, by the way.  :thumbs

My neighbour had about a  dozen chooks before the fox got them.  I might check with the Council before Wendy gets the bit between her teeth.  We've only  just got rid of 12 rainbow lorikeets.

Looking forward to seeing yours.

Today was moving day for our chook run - christened Cluckingham Palace by friends - so it provided a good opportunity to grab some pictures.

The back yard is mostly laid out as vegetable beds with two rows of five beds approximately 2.75m by 1.25m.  The raised beds are cropped on a yearly rotation then after harvesting the crop we move the chooks onto the bed to  eat down the remaining green and to fertilize the soil for the next crop.  They are on each bed for about 5 weeks at a time thus rotating around the entire back yard across a year.

The run was built as two modules in order to be moveable by two people easily.  I can manage the smaller module alone but as Sharon in my normal helper and not perhaps quite as strong as me we couldn't build as a single unit owing to the weight.  The pen fits over and just outside the beds and rests firmly on the ground either side with no room for anything larger than a mouse to wriggle underneath.

Here is the run just moved onto its new position so with plenty of green stuff for the girls to enjoy.  The day roost is visible across the run as is a stick (nearer the camera) which is sometimes used for high perching.



Seen from the opposite side (facing low-angle sun and not a strange fruit on the tree!) the access door is visible which is tall enough for us to enter with only minimal stooping and does not reach the ground in order to swing open through 180 degrees clear of the raised borders.  The edge of the bed is also shown illustrating how the pen fits over them.



The two modules (house and pen) are clipped together with a good overlap of wire as well.



The house opens up in all sorts of places!  The end opens to give access to the nesting area should it be required, and also to permit easy cleaning.  



The house is raised above the beds giving a shaded area for the birds to rest in on hot sunny days.  If they lay or get in trouble in this area we can get in through this end flap.



The entire roof is hinged and is our daily means of access to collect eggs and ensure the nest is in good order.  This shot illustrates the three-room construction with a large entrance lobby, part-height and part-width partitions, a sleeping area in the middle and a nesting area at the end which remains almost dark even in bright sunlight.  The night roost is also shown.  



Not so easy to show in a photo is the use of "Laserlight" corrugated polycarbonate sheet.  This covers the house roof with a separate panel rising up the end of the pen and extending around 0.5m over the top.  This has been found to prevent cats being able to grip on this area and climb the pen while offering the birds good shelter from rain and, as laserlight has inbuilt protection, from UV rays.



And here are the three happy residents.  In red is Nessa, our senior hen at 18 months while wearing purple are twins Meldew and Melder who are slightly larger but only a year old.  All three are half-sisters by the same rooster.

Very posh indeed!  Some very innovative thinking gone on there, Rick.   :thumbs

Do you get enough eggs for your needs?

The girls are silkie x pekin and according to the books should be only "average" layers.  Most wisdom suggests they might produce 2-3 eggs a week.

When in full season ours will all manage 5-6 eggs a week though typically we only have one or two laying at a time.  Currently we have all three laying which means we have far more eggs than we know what to do with.

Both of us therefore bring some into our respective workplaces for anyone who wishes to take.

You guys certainly know how to build hotels for hens.  Do either of you take guests ?  I could do with spending a couple of weeks down under in those conditions and Rick, I'd promise not to add to your egg production …………………:cheers

Living in the country, it would never occur to us to wonder about "stocking density".  If we wanted some hens, or sheep or a house cow, we'd just get them.  I suppose it's reasonable to control livestock in urban areas otherwise every backyard would have a pig farm in it …………:roll::roll:

every backyard would have a pig farm in it …………

Some of them already do.  If you refer to grubby human oiks rolling around in the mud as "pigs" :thumbs

[user=2]Robert[/user] wrote:

I hope you have a good recipe book handy Max as I can see the eggs coming thick and fast.

Cor…I hope not, that'd make the hens eyes water………




Jus' thinkin'…..If you could only afford a down payment to build a big one like that, would it be available on…..










…….Higher Perches?



Doug

Hey Max - I showed your pics to my Chucks as they waited for their lunch



their first comment was "Wot, no cushions!"

However, these 2 (Sage & Onion) are on borrowed time as they have both started crowing this week, explaining why we haven't had any eggs yet!

Seriously Max - top job!  Fancy a hol in S.A. with your hammer & saw?

Mal

I want to come back as one of Mal's cocks …………………………………:roll::roll::roll::roll:

Oooerr Matron!

    Thanks, Mal.    Pop the airline ticket in the post and I'm on my way.