My new chicken coop has arrived

After much deliberation I've decided on my chicken run.

In reality, the biggest factor was cost, but once my budget was set, I was looking for quality, floor space and the ability to stand up inside to clean it out. This one has approximately 36sqft of floorspace and comes in at about 5ft tall. I will have to stoop, but it allows me in easily to tend the birds. I'm aiming for three to start with, but know these things have a habit of growing in number.

Whilst I was doing my research, I had a number of locations in the garden in mind. Now I've chosen the coop, I have to site the thing. And that's easier said than done.

So I've build it in sections and carried it out to the garden, placing it in various points around the garden. It looks like I'm going to have to move the fruit bushes as it looks best right where I put them in. Not a problem, I just need to wait for the ground to thaw as it's been frozen solid for the past two weeks.
I'm going to put it down on slabs, but still allow the birds access to the ground inside the run. Thinking about fox proofing, I'm opting to put a double row of paving slabs all round to (hopefully) stop the foxes digging under. 

I'm going to have to make some modifications to the design, mostly securing the nest boxes as I think a sly fox could get in there and fixing latches to the door and nest box roof so they can be locked shut to avoid unwanted entry. 

I'm still unsure about metal or plastic drinkers, and whether or not it's worth it going for a treadle feeder. I'm going to think on that for a while. There's no rush as I'm not going to be getting the birds for a few weeks yet. 

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