Converting a pigsty for hens????

[Nicos]

We have a small, clean stone pigsty which is about 2m x 2m and about 2m high. It's got a concrete floor , a small window opening(20cm x30cm) and a solid wood plank door.

Do you think this would make a good chicken coup???

How many hens do you reckon???

I'm quite happy to build nesting boxes/perches- but what layout would you suggest??

We've never had hens before- so any help would be fantastic!!!

Thanks!

[witsinfr]

Absolutely

Similar to what we have, four of them, two of which are devoted to chickens, one for the goat and one for feed.

Make sure it's thoroughly cleaned out, suggest using a suitable disinfectant and a high-pressure washer if you have one, that's what I did.

We now have 22 birds in these, they decide themselves which one they prefer to bed down in and put themselves away at night, I just close and secure the doors.

My girls like the nesting boxes to be up off the floor, they're just over a metre high, no problem for them to get to them. The perches sit either on the floor or on an old coffee table height door that is used as a surface to get them off the floor. They don't mind either.

[water rat]

If you do this conversion make sure the gap between the tiles ,slates etc is completely filled in .We lost our whole flock to a beech marten one night which managed to move a few tiles and squeeze in a gap only a couple of cms deep. We keep the new ones in ( at night ) in a cage built at the end of a stable block and the dogs also sleep in there at night. So far so good......

W Rat

[Nicos]

Oh!!!

We have a stone marten ( ??beech marten) around and about!!!

Will chicken wire under the slates do the trick?????