Step 1 – The Wooden Packing Crate.

To get one of these, you will need to drive around a few industrial estates where there are companies likely to be receiving international shipments and when you spot some crates, be prepared to knock on the door and politely ask whether you can have an old one! Transportation is your next problem but if you take a claw hammer with you and (ideally) a crow bar, you will find you can break the crate down into 4 sides, a lid and a floor. These will fit in the back of an estate car with the seats down or similar sized vehicle.

Once you have your crate(s), the rest is really quite easy.

Step 2 – Other Materials

• Tounge and Groove – you will need some pressure treated tongue and groove. This can be thin – 8mm, cheap stuff because you have support behind it. It is just to cover the crate and make it look good. It also provides some insulation around the outside which keeps the house warmer in winter and cooler in the summer.
• Nails – You will need some flat head nails, long enough to go through your T&G and into the crate, but not so long that they stick out into the house. I used 20mm nails.
• Roofing Material – I used Onduline as you can see on mine. It isn’t expensive and is light weight. Leave an overlap on the ends.
• Roof fixing nails – I bought a packet of special Onduline fixing nails with plastic washers and caps. Normal nail heads would just rip through.
• Various bits of wood – The pop hole on my chicken house was ply, on the duck house I used the cut out from the crate and added T&G to the outside of it. A perch was added across the inside of the chicken house.
  
• For the duck house – Various hinges and a bolt. Buy galvanised as these will last for a very long time.

Step 3 – The Build

Cut the hole out for the door / pop hole (make a wide door for a duck house, as shown in the photo left) but ensure you leave an edge / lip at the bottom. This is to keep your bedding material inside the house, stopping it being trampled outside. The easiest way I found to cut out the hole was to drill 4 large holes for the corners and use a jigsaw to cut around. A small pointed hand saw that is used to cut holes in ceilings would also work but take a little longer.Rough plain or sand the edges so there are no sharp corners or splinters. You can line this doorway if it looks too rough when the tounge and groove has been fixed.

The next step is to put the tounge and groove wood onto the sides. Move the house close to its final position first though because it will be really heavy once completed. Start at the bottom and work upwards, interlocking the boards and nailing as you go. When you get to the top, if there is a little overlap, don’t worry, this can be used to ‘drop’ the lid / roof in to hold it in place. I made one side flush so I could slide the lid into position (it’s quite heavy). Once the tongue and groove is finished, you can nail the Onduline or similar onto the roof. The roof should be able to lift off or be hinged to allow cleaning. The door / pop hole should be made and fitted, don’t forget to make sure this is securely held shut at night to stop foxes.

Step 4 – A Coat of Paint.

The final step to your chicken / duck house is to give it a good coat of paint. This can be as colourful as you like, providing you use outdoor paint suitable for sheds and fences. Make sure the house has a good week or more to dry and air so there is no smell of paint when your birds go in.

Final Comments

The biggest disadvantage I have found with these houses is that the should red mite get in between the crate and tongue and groove, they are impossible to get out. It is for this reason that I have found them to be very suitable as duck houses. When I added up my bill, I found this house cost me around £25 to build. This was partly because the wood came as ‘weathered’ offcuts from a wood yard that made garden sheds and were cheaper than normal. I guess it would cost you a few pound more if the wood was top grade. If you can’t get pressure treated for a sensible price then just make sure you paint the house well and keep it painted every year to stop the wet weather from rotting the wood. I found this house to be very easy to build because you have the frame work in place and cutting the wood to length can be done once it is nailed in place.

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Grit can consist of a range of substances from tiny stones to oyster shell, but they all have the same purpose of helping the bird digest their food. A chicken’s anatomy is such that after the food has been stored in the crop it then passes further down the digestive tract into the gizzard. Here the pieces of grit taken in by the birds act as small stones, grinding the food down into tiny digestable particles, and makes nutrient absorption more efficient. The gizzard is a muscular structure which is lined with a hard layer of the protein, keratin which acts as protection to the muscle layer during the grinding process.

You should provide your poultry a source of grit in a container beside their feeder. If your poultry are free ranging they should pick up enough grit but it’s advisable to put a container of grit in too just to keep a continous supply.

The best grit is a hard flint mix which can be found in various amounts and sizes for birds of all ages, Oyster shell grit is ideal for laying hens due to it’s additional calcium content.“Reference to: Fancy Fowl”

History

How the Dorking came about is hard to say. Still it is certain that it is a very old English breed. As early as Roman times, there were descriptions of chickens closely resembling Dorkings. It is remarkable that despite all of the giant breeds originating in Asia, there is no real evidence that the Dorkings – which with their weight of 4 to 5kg (9-11lbs) certainly fall into this category – have Asiatic blood. Being a giant among poultry, this breed was already recognized at the beginning of the nineteenth century, finding it’s way to other countries a couple of decades later. In the nineteenth century, the Dorking was the basis of many different table breeds. Nowadays, people are disinclined to keep these heavy animals.

Appearance

The Dorking is a large, broad and heavy breed. The cocks can weigh 5kg (11
lbs); the hens usually send the scales up to around 4(9lbs). The animals’ build is elongated and their stand is low. The breast is broad and deep. The line of the back is practically horizontal, ending in a tail of medium high carriage. Due to the elongated, straight back and deep breast, the shape is somewhat ‘rectangular’. The tail is fairly long and is carried well spread. The legs are short, and there are five instead of the usual four toes. The legs are pinkish white. The neck is quite short and full-feathered. The head is rather large and usually has a fairly big single comb, tending to lop at the back in laying hens. There are also rose-combed Dorkings, having a rather crude rose comb that is broad in front and tapers off into a spike or leader, projecting almost horizontally backwards. The Dorkingn has red ear-lobes and reddish bay eyes.

Colours And Marking Patterns

The most favorite colour in this breed is silver partridge, but there are also partridge-coloured white, red and cuckoo-coloured Dorkings.

Purpose

Dual

Classification

Heavy / Soft feather / Rare

Origin

Great Britain

Egg Colour

Tinted

Egg Numbers

140 per annum

Feel free to leave comments about your experiences with Dorkings and any changes you think should be made to this post.

History

The Rhode Island is a true utility breed, specially developed for laying eggs. The breed was created in the United States (country of origin) in the nineteenth century, specifically in the state of Rhode Island. By crossing an assortment of layers with Asiatic birds like Cochins and Malays, there arose, after a focused selection for good laying, a reasonably uniform breed. The red variety was a favourite with the local breeders, as the hens of this colour were rumoured to be the best layers. It took until 1904 for the breed to be recognised in the standard of perfection, at first only with a single comb. Two years later rose-combed birds were also recognised, as were the whites. Even before recognition in the United States, these animals were already exported to Europe, where they became very popular as utility fowl. Until this day, the Rhode Island’s genetic make-up can be found in many commercial breeds used with a view to breeding egg hybrids.

Appearance

The Rhode Island shape is that of a long rectangle. It has a well-rounded breast and a tail that is rather short and is carried a little above the line of the back. It’s leg colour is yellow. It can have either a single or a rose comb. The breed has fairly large eyes of a reddish bay colour. Their ear-lobes are red.

Colours And Marking Patterns

The breed comes in two colours, red and white. The reds have either a single comb or a rose comb. The whites are, in the few countries where they are recognised, only seen right with a rosecomb. The colour red is far better know and bred than the white. Many breeders and fanciers of these chickens often refer to them as ‘Rhode Island Reds’ or ‘Reds’, while this is only a colour variant and not the breed’s true name.

Characteristics

The Rhode Island Reds have both single and rose combs. They are a great dual purpose breed, capable of excellent egg production.

Rhode Island Whites are a result of crosses of Partridge Cochins, White Wyandottes and Rose-Comb White Leghorns. The distinct shape characteristic of both Rhode Island’s is the horizontal, rectangular body.

Purpose

Dual

Classification

Heavy / Soft feather

Origin

United States Of America

Egg Colour

Brown to dark brown

Egg Numbers

220 per annum

Feel free to leave comments about your experiences with Rhode Islands and any changes you think should be made to this post.