Keeping chickens?

lincoln-potter

Dear folk of OSM, I was direct here from the MFW boards as they had suggested some of you have experience with keeping chickens.

My parntner and I are currently contemplating whether to get a chicken coop and around 6-10 chickens. But I have some questions which I hope somebody would be able to answer and maybe give some of their own experiences with keeping chickens.

There are many websites and alot have conflicting answers..

Firstly we have three cats and live in the country so whilst I haven't seen any foxes near our house I would imagine there is the threat. So the question is how large a coop and what amount of free space should I give them?I plan on caging them in fully for their own security.

Secondly we don't plan on having roosters however we were curious as to how noisy hens are? We plan on having them at the bottom of the garden, so whilst not that close to our house our neighbours bungalow is maybe withing 20 foot.

Are chickens generally easy to look after? Do they require medical jabs at all? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
LP

short_bird

I'm sure you'll find some help as well as info on the pros and cons...
good luck!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4876

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2950744

lincoln-potter

short_bird wrote: »

I'm sure you'll find some help as well as info on the pros and cons...
good luck!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4876

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2950744

Ahh lovely stuff!

Thanks for the link SB :T

rigsby1967

Hi there

I keep chickens, i have 8 of them and 2 cats, one of the cats is a REAL hunter but i have absolutely no problems with the cats and chickens together, we even get a few stray cats about and again they are no problem at all.

There is a suggested area that each chicken should have, it's something like 4 square metres but mine have the whole garden so i don't have that worry.

Chickens are very easy to keep and really do make very sweet pets, in the summer when the doors are open they all come waltzing in like they own the place :rotfl::rotfl:and 2 of them jump up on my lap :D.

There is a website i go onto and have learnt a lot from it, am i allowed to put the link on the thread:o??

rigs

Sallygirl

We keep chickens too. Started about 10 years ago. They are lovely and I can keep myself amused for ages just watching their antics. And the eggs are wonderful and you'll have people queuing up to buy or barter for the surplus. They are not difficult to look after. Try to borrow Starting with Chickens by Katie Thear from the library as it is a great book for people starting out with chickens.