2008 has seen a great rise in back garden chicken keeping and this has brought about a high demand for Chicken Housing and Arks etc.
These items can be a costly business. A reasonably priced Chicken House and Run will cost you around the £350 mark and what you usually get is a smallish living quarters and a Run of just enough size to let your hens loose in.

So, is there a reason to buy a ‘proper’ one ? No, not really, you can pick up a fairly decent 6′ x 4′ Garden Shed from a DIY Store for around the £150 mark if you shops around.
A few alterations like sawing out a Pop-Hole, inserting Perches and a Nest Box will give you ample space for up to 20 or so !

For the Run, you can build your own, any size you like. The advantages are….

The Garden Shed is off a height you can walk in which makes putting a Broom about a lot simpler.
The same applies to the Run, make it high enough to walk into. There’s nothing worse than having to crawl accross a pooy muddy ground in January believe me !

If you buy a Custom built Hen House, you’ll still have to spend money on making it Fox proof, like laying slabs around the outside or sinking the whole thing down into the ground.

Here’s a rather poorly drawn diagram of where I’m getting to.

You can spend £300 - £400 on a Chicken Ark, probably an overall size of 8′ x 4′.
A Garden Shed, a few bits of spare wood for the Nest Box, a tree branch for the Perch, uprights for the fencing and some decent chicken wire could give you a decent size House and a Run of say 12′ x 6′ for around the £200 - £250 mark.

Saving money, but more space for your feathered friends !

Click here for Tips for Chicken Shed Interior