Anyone keep chickens?

Jenny_Wren_3

I'm after any information or advice available from anyone who keeps chickens please. I would like to keep about 3 in the garden.
I have looked at the egloo things but think that they're a bit small unless the birds are let out all day. To be honest I'd rather give them a much bigger run and not have to worry about losing them to foxes, cats, my puppy etc!
Also how long do they live for, how long will they lay for, are any breeds better, anything I should know really!
Thanks!

Claire_Bear

There is a big thread about chicken keeping, I'll just find it for you

Claire_Bear

Here we go.. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=4876&highlight=let+keep+chickens

It's quite long so all of your questions should have been covered at some point

HTH

touch*my*food*feel*myfork

Hi Jenny Wren
We have three chickens (we each chose one - lol) and have had them since june.
We brought the house with a small run and initially had them out in the garden every day, but they obviously just poo everywhere, so my husband built a large extension to the run and they are now more than happy in the space they have.
We went to our local breader and chose three different sorts, we brought at 17 weeks old and they layed from about 22 weeks and we have had near enough three eggs a day since - except when one was broody, but thats a whole nother story!

this is the house we purchased - http://www.dobbies.co.uk/acatalog/rabbit-shack-poultry-house-combo-coop-inc-excercise-run-RS-706C.html
my husband then built a six foot by six foot run to add to the end of this.

giantmutantbroccoli

First of all, go to the library and get yourself a good book because it'll be hard to get all the information you need from forums. Plus it's always useful to have the basic info to hand when you need it.

A small run and house isn't too hard to build if you're inclined that way. If not, buy a small shed/shelter rather than an egloo, they are massively overpriced.
If you want the run to be mobile so you can shift it around the garden to try and avoid souring the ground go and have a look at a nearby chicken farm, or even better talk to the farmer. Ask them if there's a big fox problem, or alternatively look for chicken houses on high stilts (designed to avoid foxes). A mobile run is less secure against foxes than a fixed run.
If you're after a permanent run, just fence it off yourself. Dig a trench about1/2 a metre into the ground and bury that much of the fence (you can secure the bottom with tentpegs if you like). For maximum anti-fox protection you'll want about 1.5 metres of fence above the ground.

If you live in a non-rural area you might not have a fox problem to worry about. Lucky you!

If you get adult chickens you won't have to worry about cats, although I'd recommend not letting the puppy near them unsupervised. You can get ex-battery hens - they look awful for a while, and do tend to spen most of their time staring t the sky in shock but once they get over that they're great birds to have. They're usually highsex birds (means a cross that has males one colour and females another so you can tell the gender easily), which tend to be a bit hysterical in temperament, but they can even out as they get older.
Rhode Island Reds are nice birds with a reasonably calm temperament, a bit stroppy and they can be vicious with each other, but not at all hysterical. Marans tend to be quite calm, but they don't generally lay as well - 2eggs in three days rather than 6 eggs in 7 days. My favourites are Black Rocks, impressive looking dark coloured birds which are stroppy enough to deal with a cat but reasonably well-tempered with each other and quite friendly once tamed. I also like Wyandottes, which are another relatively calm breed.
If space is limited you can get bantams, they're just mini versions of the large breeds. They tend to be more enrvous, probably just because of their size, but they will lay just as often and the eggs are only a little smaller.

Birds tend to be sold either at point of lay (meaning they could start any time, although you can end up waiting months in some cases) or at 1 year when the egg production begins to drop off. When buying birds be vigilant for signs of disease, and as you're a newbie I'd caution against buying at auction. Unscrupulous people sometimes put their old, diseased stock through auction and they can be difficult to spot.
Common signs of diseases to watch out for when buying birds:
-any dry/crusty bits around the nostrils, eyes or on the side of the head where the ears are
-runny nostrils or watery eyes
-wheezing or sneezing
-chalky desposits on the legs, birds pecking at their own feet/legs or picking scales off themselves, scaly looking rash on the underside of the bird (this is scaly leg mite, not fatal but very hard to get rid of and causes the birds distress)
- panting or breathing through an open mouth, coughing/hacking or 'snicking'. A snick is when the bird jerks it's head back and to the side rapidly, could be mistaken for a hiccup but it's a sign of gape worm, a parasite that gets into the upper repiratory tract.
-missing feathers, any wounds on the comb/face - indicates the bird was being picked on, not necessarily a reason not to buy it but it'll probably need a bit of TLC.
-sitting flat on the floor, not moving when touched, crouched/hunched over, feathers on the back of the neck ruffled, head pitching forwards as if tired - these are all signs that a chicken is in a bad way and not long for this world. If anyone tries to sell you a bird that looks like this, walk away!

As it's winter you will either need to put a light on a timer into their house, or put up with waiting a few months for eggs - they won't lay while the days are too short.

I hope that's of some help to you, and that I haven't put you off with all the talk of foxes and parasites - neither should be a problem if you're prepared and don't buy from auction.

lostinrates

I keep Cochins, cream leg bars and marans (mixture of marans). I've kept a few others in the past, but this mixture works for me as a flock.

Eglus virtue, I think, though I don't have one is that the pastic is probably good as far as redmites goes. We've had redmite difficulty for the first time this year: its been horrid to get rid of and we caught it before the birds were itching. There is a great chicken keeping thread on the old style board.


I keep mine free range: but we have had predation issues. A big run in a small garden would be ideal, but remember to provide lots of greenery, both for nutrition and for envirnment. If I had a run I'd be putting los of edible things around the edge...mine love rasbery canes, for example.

What variety of chicken rather depends on why you are keeping chickens. I love cochins, and thing,despite their big-ness they are a great novice bird, very placid (calmer than my marans), and keen to be very friendly. They are beautiful, with fluffy trousers (for which a run is better than months of winter rain on grassTBH), and available in different colours (also not a bad idea for a novice keeper!) They lay nice ordinary coloured eggs, but they do go broody easily, which can be a drawback. But I think they are super birds for the novice keeer. Lots of people opt for hybrids...and there are far too many to go into, but there is a huge element of personal ereference ..beauty is in the eye of he beholder after all!

There are some good chicken keeping forums, and a trip to the domestic Fowl trust or a breeder with a wide range of varieties is worth while too.

Spirit_2

I have 14 different chooks of all different shapes and sizes. I started off with 4 pure breeds but have added ex batts and a couple of home bred chooks and bought some more.

I keep 3 of them (all ex batts) in a small wooden chicken house, bought second hand fro £70 , under a tree in the garden. They free range and put them selves to bed when it is dark and I lock them in. This is close to the house and foxes do not come to this part of teh garden on the day.The others all live in our stables with a pop hole access to a large fox proof run and only have complete free range when we are at home.

I would like them all to free range but some have a real wanderlust and we do have foxes (our neighbour feeds them) and a very large garden.

We have never had a problem with our cats or dog chasing them.

My only real advice -do make sure you get point of lay - of our first 4 birds three turned out to be cockerells!!!

lostinrates

Spirit wrote: »

We have never had a problem with our cats or dog chasing them.

On this note, I wouldn't trust my dgs alone with the chickens, mainly we keep them separate. However, my cats, who are fierce hubters usually, LOVE the chickens. A broody hen siting on eggs is often joined by a cat who'll snuggle in the nesting box with them. I keep hens and little chicks in a broody coop just in case, but let them out while still well within the cats capabilty of hunting, and the hens do a good job oftaking care of them. Having a good rooster helps me on that front, but obviously is not ideal for many back yrd keepers with neighbours.

Hectors_House

Jenny_Wren wrote: »

I'm after any information or advice available from anyone who keeps chickens please. I would like to keep about 3 in the garden.
I have looked at the egloo things but think that they're a bit small unless the birds are let out all day. To be honest I'd rather give them a much bigger run and not have to worry about losing them to foxes, cats, my puppy etc!
Also how long do they live for, how long will they lay for, are any breeds better, anything I should know really!
Thanks!

My partner gave over the bottom of his garden to a chicken run.

3 had three hens but one died earlier this year.

We house them in a large dog kennel. Andy worked on it to put an upper level in with a small window to let the daylight in when they are on their nesting boxes.

The whole thing is up on sturdy stilts with a latchable drop-down door that is left open all day.

The whole run has been enclosed by strong chicken wire built over a wooden frame so it has a roof IYKWIM.

There are various perches built into the sides of the run too and we let them out a lot at this time of year to forage through the veg patch - but only when one of us is around to watch over them.

We get approx 15 eggs per week from Sinister and Fifi and then every twelve months or so they go through a faze of not laying.

Waterstones have some excellent books about keeping chickens and we buy our red mite powder/food supplements from here:

https://www.chicken-house.co.uk/acatalog/Poultry_Health_Products.html

Mojisola

lostinrates wrote: »

On this note, I wouldn't trust my dgs alone with the chickens, mainly we keep them separate. However, my cats, who are fierce hubters usually, LOVE the chickens. A broody hen siting on eggs is often joined by a cat who'll snuggle in the nesting box with them. I keep hens and little chicks in a broody coop just in case, but let them out while still well within the cats capabilty of hunting, and the hens do a good job oftaking care of them. Having a good rooster helps me on that front, but obviously is not ideal for many back yrd keepers with neighbours.

That's lovely - well worth a picture on here!

I can't let our dog out when the chooks are free in the garden because they've just got "dinner" written on them to his way of thinking!

We have a big, fully-enclosed, fox-proof run. Part of it is kept as a dust-bathing area and the rest is a straw-yard. We put a bale of straw in whenever necessary and the chooks scratch away, breaking it all up and pooing on it. When it's broken down, another bale goes on top. When the level rises so that we bang our heads on the top of the run, we clear it out down to soil level and start with fresh straw again. The straw is already well broken down - a combination of the scratching and the nitrogen from the droppings - so it composts quickly and then goes on the garden.

We also have a series of perches along the length of the run - mostly natural branches we've gathered when people have cut down trees locally. Chickens love to get up off the ground when they're resting or preening. The perches mimic their natural woodland habitat. The highest perch has to have plenty of room on it because they will squabble over who gets to be the highest! Our chooks sleep out on the perches for most of the year which helps keep down the mite problems in the house.

All the run is covered, half with clear plastic sheeting and the rest with corrugated iron. Chickens feel safer if they've got something over their heads. The part under the corrugated iron is where they perch to sleep.

As a treat they do get out into the garden to free-range occasionally but not so often since we've taken on our present dog.

lostinrates

Mojisola wrote: »

That's lovely - well worth a picture on here!
.

I'm not sure how lovely the hens think it is, but they tolerate the cats well, until last few days, when the cats seem to get a sharp telling off and steer clear.

Less charmingly the chickens have also relaised the cats hunt mice, and mice are nice, so if the cats come through the chicken paddock with ''supper'' the chickens are prone to surrounding the cat till it surrenders its ''goody''. :eek: