Rory’s Retreat – up to 12 hens – Ruffles Henporium Somerset

Description

Ruffles Hen Hotel offers a home-from-home eggs-perience for your feathered friends on the edge of the small village of Kingsdon, Somerset and can offer your hens, along with their chap if they have one, the ultimate Bed and Breakfast egg-scape to the country.

If you have a holiday booked, or your house move isn’t going to be as smooth as you’d like, but are still unsure the best option for ensuring continuity of care for your chickens we offer your hens their own dedicated Eglu coop with secure run at our home.

This listing is for “Rory’s Retreat” which is a Purple Eglu Cube (Mark 1 if that means anything to you!) with a good sized custom-built walk-in run for your hens to enjoy safe outside time.

Rory’s Retreat can cater for up to 12 bantams, or 8-10 regular sized hens.

Bex runs her hotel with great attention to detail, ensuring that there is plenty of fresh food and water available at all times. She’s got years of chicken keeping experience and really loves to hear them “chuckling” around their run. She keeps 100ish hens herself, with plans to increase her own flock in due course!

Cleaning practices

Before your hens visit and at the end of their stay, hotel quarters are jet washed and disinfected to ensure it is 100% clean and sanitised for your ladies.
Your hens personal “chambermaid” will ensure that their sleeping accommodation is kept in tip-top sparkly clean condition during their stay.
In addition to topping up bedding Nettex ground sanitiser is used to keep it fresh.
The Silver Service waitressing ensures that your hens will never want for food or water. As standard all our guests are offered mixed corn and soya-free layers pellets. They will also be able to access the free entertainments provided by the local ant population. If your hens have different or additional tastes please ensure you provide us with their personal delicacies so that they get that “home-from-home” eggs-perience.
Your hens will have access to a weld-mesh enclosed run which includes a full roof to provide both shade and protection from the worst of the elements and to prevent the local hawk population trying their luck.
The run is sited on old railway platform slabs to provide protection from Roland and cronies as much as possible.
We ensure that enrichment is provided in the form of additional fresh greens, litter (Aubiose hemp bedding) for scratching in and a climbing frame for daytime snoozing.
With security being of utmost importance, all hens are shut into their hotels at night to further reduce any chances of any losses.
When it comes to your hens health, if your hens have specific health needs please ensure we are aware of these and any treatment regimes you need us to maintain during their stay.
Please note, if there is a “flockdown” in place we may be unable to have your hens to stay but would still be able to offer a visiting service with good biosecurity measures observed.
Our runs are flockdown-ready so should one be announced while your hens are staying they will be cared for properly and according to Defra/APHA guidelines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where will my hens stay?

They will stay in their own dedicated hen house with a secure run, they are always kept in their own flock, never mixed with any others that may be staying or living here.

Do I need to provide food?

Included in your hens package is their basic feed requirements of layers pellets, mixed corn and of course grit. If your hens have differing dietary requirements, or you’d like to supplement their feed with treats please do bring these with you when dropping them off.

What time can I drop my hens off?

Ordinarily the easiest time to catch hens is when they’re roosting, so often this ends up being on the edge of dark. Most of our visitors are delivered shortly after they’ve gone to bed so that they’re easy to pop into carriers and they are then placed directly into their hotel hen house on arrival.

How do I transport my hens?

Cat carriers make very good chicken carriers. If this is something you lack we do have some hen crates which we would be happy to loan if required.

What about disease control?

This is a brilliant question.

We only use plastic hen houses which are thoroughly cleaned between visitors.
Our hen runs are sited on railway slabs to enable them to be jet washed between visitors
Our cleaning regime follows this process:
- Removal of litter
- Jet washing/hosing/Scrubbing
- Washing down with Defra approved disinfectant
- Air-drying
- New litter in the run and hen house topped with a dusting of ground sanitiser powder.

Will I get updates?

I aim to take photos of your hens in their hotel and will send this, normally via WhatsApp, to keep you informed of their wellbeing.

What if there's a problem?

Before you leave your hens I ask you to ensure I have the details of your vet should that be necessary. I would keep you informed should there ever be any kind of problem and ensure you’re involved in any decision-making that might be required.

How often are my hens checked?

Your hens are visually checked at least 3 times each day, we tend to take a hands-off approach unless your hens are particularly keen to be handled. If a hen looks like she requires further checking we of course do this.

What happens to the eggs?

If you would like your eggs kept for your return we’re more than happy to do this, if however you’re happy for us to make use of them we will gratefully accept them – often turning them into something yummy that may well be given to you on your return to take back with you!

What is Flockdown?

This is the name given to the restrictions imposed by the government when the threat of illness from Avian Influenza is at its highest – this is normally over the winter and can last as long as 6 months and measures can include making sure hens are kept in an enclosed run that is under cover so no droppings from wild birds can end up in the run. For more information about Avian Flu please check here