Hi SR so your ready to start the "Chicken Project" is it just the materials you need to know to use or do you need a complete plan?

Just a couple of general points, based on experience.:
1. It's amazing how small a hole a chicken can get through, so buy a small mesh wire, especially as you may have chicks later.
2. Get the best wire you can afford as the cheap stuff soon breaks, rusts and needs repair.
3. Chickens like to scratch so don't use foundations. They are very happy in a straw yard but you need to give them LOTS of straw as frequently as possible and clean them out at least weekly.
4. If you are putting in posts, use the metal post holders as the additional expense will pay for itself by avoiding posts rotting and needing to be replaced.
5. Even with wing clipping, lots of hens can scale 4 to 6 foot fences, so plan for a wire or netting cover. Life is a lot easier if you make the run one into which you can walk.

Hey Dido, I need ALL INFORMATION POSSIBLE!!! lol. Starting in a week or so, getting 2 cockerels today, is that wise? Im saving them from slaughter but wondering if they will fight with each other, hmmmmm.......Do you have any males? How is their temperament??? Im looking to dig my coop/pen foundation asap and obviously as we are in a very fox prone area the more secure the coop is the better! Cheers :)

Cheers Bertie, the metal post holder idea is one I'll definitely be exploring!

Bertie has said it all really, Do you have a shelter for the chickens yet, you know somewhere for the hens to lay, or are you building from sctatch? No don't have Cockerels but I think you might have problems in having two..

Im building from scratch. As we hope to have upwards of 20 hens we're gonna be building a decent sized shelter and coop so as you can imagine its quite an undertaking but a fun one! Id love to be able to rescue all my hens from a centre but more than likely i'll have to buy the majority of them. Should be up and running by this time next month, Fingers crossed :)

We built ours from scratch and used mainly old pallets then covered the whole lot in roofing felt, worked a treat.. started with four large corner posts and built up from there, just remember to keep the base off the floor, leave about 18" or so to prevent rats getting in. I've just been looking up about having two Cocks
and it doesn't seem to be a good idea, I'd do a bit of research before you commit to two if I were you.

Hi Stoneroses.

I built my coop on short legs to keep it off the ground and I dug a trench around the outside of the pen and buried wire about two foot deep and I bent it along the bottom of the trench for about a foot (In an "L" shape) I fastened the top of this to the chain link fencing I use to keep my chooks in.

If you can make this fencing about six foot or more high and then cover the top as well your birds should be safe from Mr. Fox.

I don't have cockerels but if I did I would only have one!

Keeping two cockerels together in a pen is a very bad idea and is certainly going to be a problem as they will fight, particularly if you have hens as well. The weaker one will have nowhere to escape and hide and will have a very miserable life until the other kills him. We have three cockerels but they free range over a very large area and the weaker ones can run away.
The only way you can run a number together is by raising them from chicks with the aim of fattening them for the pot before they become fully mature.