NOTE: We are currently not supplying our chook systems. Orders will resume in December 2023. Stay tuned to our social media for updates and announcements.

Backyard chickens are a win-win, and there is nothing like a few chickens in your yard to increase the amount of food you can grow. It’s not just the eggs and the wonderful company, but the free fertiliser and pest control services that mean chickens boost your urban farm status up many levels. You can also offer some chooks a great life, far away from the cruel conditions of overcrowded barns or cages. See here if you need a hand to convince your family members that chooks are a goer for you.

VEG chook systems including strawyard

Chook Houses

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Two discerning ladies checking out their new perches.

VEG offers both a small and a large chook house which include roosts, laying box and everything else any self-respecting chook house should have. There are many chook houses available on the market these days, but we developed our own because we’ve found nothing else made locally that is solid and built to last, uses ethical, sustainable and completely untreated materials, and most importantly, integrates seamlessly with other aspects of an edible garden (making it easy to manage and productively use the chickens to manure, pest control, de-weed and debug your garden). VEG Chook Houses are finished to a high standard in our Brunswick warehouse and are almost 100% made from locally and ethically sourced untreated Cypress macrocarpa timber. In addition, they have:

  • A sturdy and long-lasting corrugated steel roof gives great protection from the elements and adds a certain aesthetic that we just think is great!
  • Mesh roof gables ensure adequate airflow for Melbourne summers.
  • Easy access nesting box for egg collection.
  • Sturdy and strategically placed roosts to allow for maximum chicken liveability.
  • Steel mesh floor allows manure to drop through keeping the house clean as well as allowing for additional ventilation.
  • A step to hop up into the house one, which has proved also a favourite spot just to hang out.
  • Solid galvanised gate-style hinges and latches.

You can see a short clip of one of our large chook houses and a standard strawyard installed here and another (custom-fit to a steep site) here.

Probably our favourite feature is having the chook manure drop straight through the chook house floor onto waiting straw, woodchips, or even a wheelbarrow for easy transport to your veggies and fruit trees.  It just makes sense.

Brendon checking the liveability rating on one of our large chook houses.

All of our chook houses and constructed in our Brunswick warehouse then transported to your site and installed by our chicken system team or alternatively, you can pick them up by appointment and install yourself.

Door orientation?

We can customise the entrance location on both our small and large houses to suit a variety of orientations as well as fit a lockable door for standalone installs (not inside one of our straw yards).

VEG Small Chook House

VEG chook house
VEG Small Chook House

Measuring 1150mm long by 900mm wide by 1600mm high, our small chook house sits 550mm above the ground on four posts and will comfortably house from 4 to 6 chooks depending on their size.

Price

$1,200 inc GST

Orders will resume in December 2023. Stay tuned to our social media for updates and announcements.

VEG Large Chook House

Large chook house
Two large chook houses with different entrance locations.

Measuring 1450mm long by 950mm wide by 1650mm high, our large chook house sits 550mm above the ground on four posts and will comfortably house between 8 and 10 chooks.

Price

$2,200 inc GST

Orders will resume in December 2023. Stay tuned to our social media for updates and announcements.

Chicken Straw Yards

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Straw yard with fox proofing wire.

100% fox-proof and built to suit you and your chook’s needs. Our straw yards use solid cypress posts and beams and an innovative double door and hatch system to let you control the movement of the chooks without any chaos. You can read a bit about why straw yards are just such a great part of any chook system here.

Our straw yards are solid and functional that will last many, many decades.

Sizing

All of our straw yards are designed to fit your space and needs.

Widths are based on wire mesh multiples of 1.89 m, 2.195 m, 2.5 m and 3.11 m with the length being up to you and the space available. The height is 2.05 m which allows an average height person to not bump their head.

DIY Straw Yards

Suitable for trade customers, landscapers, builders and anyone who has a solid understanding of building structures that are square, level and plumb.

We provide all timber lengths pre-cut and labelled, screws, drill templates, assembly instructions, 3D CAD plans, wire mesh as rolls as well as pre built and hinged gates.

This offering requires a few extra tools and is a little more technical than our DIY garden bed offerings. A standard sized straw yard usually takes 2 moderately skilled people approx. 2-3 days complete.

DIY Pricing

Our DIY straw yards are priced from $530 to $700 per m²

Installed Pricing

Depending on site conditions, location and system configuration our install pricing ranges from $900 to $1300 per square meter.

Note: Small straw yards tend to have a higher cost per m2 compared to large ones.

Orders will resume in December 2023. Stay tuned to our social media for updates and announcements.

large-house-straw-yard-compost
Large chook house and straw yard with integrated double compost bays.
large-house-straw-yard
Large chook house and straw yard with dwarf fruit trees inside.
Small chook house and straw yard.

Chicken-Powered Orchards and Day Runs

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Small chook house with straw yard and orchard day run.
Orchard run with access hatch.
small-house-straw-yard-orchard-run
An older VEG small chook house with straw yard and orchard day run.

“Which will it be? Chooks or fruit trees? I mean, I’ve only got so much room out there…”

The answer, our friends, is to have both. Chooks and orchard systems are completely complimentary. Chooks suppress grass, provide pest control and fertilise your orchard, while the orchard provides your chooks with shelter and all the excess fruit you don’t eat.

If you are not sure about the best way to organise your yard and need design assistance in siting and organising your system – we can come and perform a design consultancy to make sure you get the most out of your system.

Not sure if you can keep chooks in Melbourne? Find out about council poultry regulations in Melbourne.