the daydream fund challenge thread

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

We prefer sheds because they are easy to stand up in to clean etc.

This is so important. It makes a job quicker and more thorough. Our other house has the housing at waist height and that's manageable. I HATE cleaning out broody coop on the floor when rushing and sore..its uncomfortable and grubby.

Also, chickens are fairly flexible about nesting boxes, they will usually make do with cardboard boxes until you can build some in a shed. Mine, in the milking parlour, lay at the sides in the well...underneath the milk collecting bottles. You always gets one who thinks in your flower beds is better, or in the hay barn. I have one nutter who likes to lay the occasional egg on a rafter,who would benefit from a box I think.

Rummer

I would not be able to let them free range they would be in the shed with a run attached. We have too many brazen foxes and birds of prey nearby. The work and the cost concern me, that makes it sound as if I am lazy, but I have a number of animals, work full time and have a family so I need to ensure that anything else I take on is managable. It is something I will need to give a lot of thought to, plus I would have to check the deeds of our house and the neighbours to see if they have any objections.

lostinrates

Rummer wrote: »

The work and the cost concern me, that makes it sound as if I am lazy, but I have a number of animals, work full time and have a family so I need to ensure that anything else I take on is managable. QUOTE]


Sounds sensible to me! Not lazy. The other thing to consider is what your other animals are. A chicken chasing dog is going to be run raggedto skin and bone with excitement and its not going to do your hens any good either.

I think a lot of chickens actually are going to suffer in the resurgence of ''good life''lust.

Davesnave

From a personal perspective, we wouldn't keep hens if we couldn't free range them.

Knowing what we know now, if we were still in our old garden, we'd look for a source of 'proper' eggs from hens that had access to areas of grass. They'd cost more, but then we'd not be paying out for anything except the product itself.

We have yet to show that we can sell a cost-effective egg. I'm sure when we're geared-up, we'll shift dozens, but they will be a 'draw' for other things we produce, like plants, which is where the profit will be. A sort of loss-leader.

Rummer

Those are fair points and have given me plenty of food for thought. It would simply be to risky to allow them to free range due to the foxes and birds of prey. I think I might be better not keeping them as I wouldn't like them to have a lesser quality of life.

alfie_1

Rummer wrote: »

We have an empty garden shed and I wondered if we could keep chickens in it? We could attach a run to it so that they have outdoor space but how easy would it be to convert?

mine have a garden shed. i put the run off the side leaving the door as acess for me. just cut a pop hole in side with a porch style top to it. i then put a door into the run. i actually drilled holes from side to side and threaded broom handles through as perches, so i can replace them when they get grimey!! i use drawers from an old chest as nest boxes.

Rummer

Do your chickens get to free range though?

alfie_1

Rummer wrote: »

Do your chickens get to free range though?

yes !they have the freedom of the garden /part of woods. they have a 20x10 run for if im out or not likely to be back in time to shut away.

Poosmate

Evening all. Thanks for your comments re: my post yesterday.

Rummer, thanks for asking those questions about the chickens, I've wondered them myself but never asked because I don't think my garden is nearly big enough to have chickens. One thing I would ask though is, what is the minimum number of chooks anyone would keep? I'm guessing one is wrong because it would be lonely. I'm guessing 3 as a minimum. Not really sure why I'm asking as I really don't have enough room for them.

Anyway, I best be away, I have to visit another thread where my Mike's Mob friends are, I've neglected the thread for a while and want to catch up with all on there before tomorrow night.

If anyone is interested, a few of us went down to a place called Littlehampton back in June to help the DIY SOS team rebuild a fellow MSEer's cottage after it was wrecked by a rogue builder. The programme is to be aired tomorrow night on BBC1 at 8.00pm. If anyone watches it and sees some mad folk wearing t-shirts with Mike's Mob on, that's us! lol

Mike's current thread is called "Getting My Money Back From Cowboy Builders" in the Debt Free Wannabe Diaries board and that's where I'll be tomorrow night at 8.00pm. I can't wait to see all the lovely people I met there. Please watch the programme: DIY SOS - The Big Build - Littlehampton. 30th Dec 8.00pm BBC1.

Speak again soon, take care,

Poo

lostinrates

Poosmate wrote: »

Evening all. Thanks for your comments re: my post yesterday.

Rummer, thanks for asking those questions about the chickens, I've wondered them myself but never asked because I don't think my garden is nearly big enough to have chickens. One thing I would ask though is, what is the minimum number of chooks anyone would keep? I'm guessing one is wrong because it would be lonely. I'm guessing 3 as a minimum. Not really sure why I'm asking as I really don't have enough room for them.

Poo, what a good thing you and the other MSEers did. well done.

Your instincts are correct...3 is the best minimum number. Chickens die, so in a pair one would be left alone for a while. Besides which its easier t introduce 1 to 2 birds than one to one, on the group dynamic rather than individual birds. I've kept duos before introducing then to the main flock. The last two marans were together from purchase, out from under the lamp, till the first died. Throughout their lives they were devoted to each other. Cuivre was never quite right after her friend Francine died and it was heartbreaking.