Keeping Chickens - any one do it? (1 Viewer)

[Ferox13]

Looks like I might be buying a gaft soon and I've always fancied the idea of keeping chickens for eggs.
Any one here do it in a suburban enviroment (just ladies no cocks). Do you need a licence? (I have friends that do it but are too far from humanity to notice..

 

[Anthony]

my wife got chickens for our boys' school back in April. Before their pen was ready in the school they lived in the back garden for 2 weeks, we still look after them. You don't need a licence. Don't worry about neighbours either, we're fairly surrounded and the hens were fine, the breeder should be able to advise you on a quiet breed. You'll need a coup and you'll need to secure the area.
They're great to have around and can be very friendly. They will make shite of your garden though, they'll tear up everything. Not a problem if you're expecting it. They eat almost anything, brilliant for dinner scraps. When they get laying you can expect one egg a day per hen. We look after 4 and you'd be hard pressed to eat them fast enough.
I think we're going to get our own for the garden, they were nice to have around.

http://navaneducatetogether.blogspot.com/2011/06/its-fudge.html

 

[ratmonkey]

You'll need a coup and you'll need to secure the area.

Usually a good idea after a coup.

 

[Ferox13]

Cool thanks.....I was just thinking of keeping 2 and I've read ssome breeds are quieter than others....

 

[wild_cat]

You won't get much noise keeping two run of the mill road island red hens bar a few happy clucks when they are out scratching about or what not. You'd have to be living beside a right tosser for them to complain about it.

Stay away from guinea hen's though... its like having a personal fog horn every time they hear a slight stir. I'd keep them in a reasonable sized pen myself... the whole back garden will become a giant hen loo if they are allowed free reign of the whole thing.

Make sure you have plenty of grit for them to pick at where ever you do keep them.. and if you know you have foxes on the rounds its better to have the chicken wire buried a good bit underneath the soil as they will dig under it.

I think you should get some of these... you could show them in your spare time.... "Poland" is the breed.

 

[magicbastarder]

you won't need a cock so that won't be a big noise worry.
unfortunately, you just missed the poultry fair at larchhill, which has geansai loads of chickens and other fowl for sale, but i suspect the thing you'd need some advice on is how to cope if the winter gets as bas as it was last time.

herself's da used to breed fowl - they had chickens, ducks, geese, peacocks, you name it.
the latter made for excellent watchdogs.

 

[Ferox13]

Double post

 

[Ferox13]

Thanks guys...

I heard about the guinea hens already...

The Missus got me a chicken book for xmas. Loadsa cool look 'exotic' breeds in it..
I like these - they remind me of feathery T-Rexes..

can't wait to get me hands on a couple of birds

This another cool one kinda like the Poland - Its called a Sultan:

These one had a great name:

 

[Cormcolash]

I keep a massive cock in the house myself

 

[magicbastarder]

saves you having to carry it around with you all the time, i suppose.

 

[Diddles]

My friend went to a poultry farm and got runt chicks they were going to kill, they're all good egg layers though.

I'd love to get some but they'd end up sleeping on the sofa with the dogs.

 

[ann post]

I keep a massive cock in the house myself

all the chickens had the life choked out of them years ago eh, eh??

 

[egg_]

We have 4 Sussex hens atm, had another batch in the past but they're deceased. We keep them in a run in a pretty rough field area, so it doesn't matter that they scratch up all the grass. We used to let them out into the field every afternoon, but have had two killed by wandering dogs so are having to re-think things a bit. They're fairly easy to keep, we move the run every week or so and clean the coop every couple of weeks

Sussexs are good dual-purpose hens - good layers and they get pretty big so you can eat them. The last ones we had were some other kind, skinny brown ones, that were mad layers but had no meat on them - they ended up getting sick in the end and we didn't feel safe eating them then

 

[egg_]

I'd love to get some but they'd end up sleeping on the sofa with the dogs.

Don't think so, unless you're tolerant of shit everywhere and being pecked in the eye

 

[wild_cat]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2011/sep/14/chickens-choosing-coop

With the huge increase in poultry keeping there has been an equally big rise in the range of poultry paraphernalia on sale. Poultry housing is a case in point. It's also a classic example of the good old bandwagon being jumped on as various would-be poultry housing experts peddle an array of accommodation claiming to be the ideal solution to your chicken housing needs.


Often the price looks attractive, the house looks attractive, heck even the clean-wellied family standing there feeding the chickens look attractive. Surely they know a quality chicken house when they see one? There are many cheap and nasty coops flooding the market. I know this as I've tested a number of them in the field, and seen a ewe run straight through one when the feed bucket appeared. The result was nothing but an expensive pile of firewood and a small flock of bemused and now homeless bantams.
More often than not these mass produced models are constructed of fast grown timber - come the first drop of rain they swell, leaving you either barricading a door that won't close, or ripping the door furniture off in a vain attempt to release the squawking inhabitants. The first warm day means the timber dries and cracks, the felt roof bubbles and boils, and come nightfall the hens refuse to go in. This is not due to their disappointment at the decline of their once attractive property but because the hovel is now a haven for, and probably crawling with, the poultry keeper's nemesis, red mite. Add on the fact that it said on the blurb that it would suit four large hens when that stocking density was based on the Circle Line at 5pm on a Friday, and what are you left with? A couple of hinges and some kindling.


A decent coop for thee to four birds should cost you in the region of £300 though this can depend on whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run attached. Assuming you are ranging your birds in a large space and the pop hole door is big enough for the breed you keep, then the main requirements of housing boil down to three points which will define the number of birds the house will hold; perches, nest boxes and ventilation.


Most breeds of chicken will perch when they go to roost at night, this perch should ideally be 5-8cm wide with smoothed off edges so the foot sits comfortably on it. The perch should be higher than the nest box entry as chickens will also naturally look for the highest point to perch. A perch lower than that will have the birds roosting in the nest box overnight (which is incidentally when they produce the most poo) leading to soiled eggs the following day. They shouldn't however be so high off the floor of the house that leg injuries could occur when the bird gets down in the morning. Chickens need about 20cm of perch each (in small breeds this is obviously less), plus if more than one perch is installed in the house they should be more than 30cm apart. They will hunker up with their neighbours but are not that keen on roosting with a beak in the bloomers of the bird in front.


Ideally the house should have a least one nest box for every three birds and these should be off the ground and in the darkest area of the house. The house should have adequate ventilation: without it then condensation will build up every night, even in the coldest of weather. Be aware, ventilation works on the principle of warm air leaving through a high gap drawing cooler air in from a lower gap - it's not a set of holes on opposite walls of the house and at the same level, this is what's known as a draught.
If you have a house with a run attached then the points above are still true, but you should also consider the run size. The EU maximum legal stocking density for a free range bird is (and let's face it, one of the motivations for keeping some hens at home is possibly improved or better welfare) 2,500 birds per hectare, that's maximum one bird per 4m squared. Take a close look at some of the bargain houses - it could well be the house has the right perches, correct ventilation and ample nest boxes for a reasonable number of birds, but will each of the chickens have anything more than an A4 sized piece of ground to spend the day on?
And so as the saying goes, "you pays your money and makes your choice". You may think you've grabbed a bargain, but you and your flock could rue the day you did. Purchase the right house and it will last for a few decades, if not longer given the correct treatment. In the end your poultry and your poultry keeping experience will be much the better for it.

 

[Diddles]

A decent coop for thee to four birds should cost you in the region of £300 though this can depend on whether you elect for a free standing house or one with a run attached.

He's right about the bandwagon. Once Guardian readers take something up it all becomes incredibly involved and massively expensive. My parents kept their chickens in a written off Morris Minor one of the neighbours gave them.

 

[ann post]

My parents kept their chickens in a written off Morris Minor one of the neighbours gave them.

minor complaints thread or GTFO