Chickens

jo91

thejames, hope you don't consider I'm hijacking your thread, I had also been thinking about getting a few chooks in my garden, but the replies to your post have been really useful and informative for me and probably guided me towards thinking it's more a nice idea than a practicable one (for me and the creatures concerned). So, thanks to you for initiating it and to all those who have provided a rounded discussion, BTW, carolinerunner - the pics of the chicken jumpers on that link really made me smile Thanks !
Jo

thejames

Hey after thinking I would really like to get them, but I want to do it on a budget, I will obviously take every possible precaution with re to vets, feeding, etc, but I'm sure the initial stuff can be done with a tight bugget if no budget, I'll do some reading up first but I'm going for it.

High jack away....

Although I do live in London my area seems to be low on foxes, there are a lot of cats though! Hmmm.

Mister_D_2

I find most of these animal charity's are run more like a business each day, steer clear of them and contact chicken farms direct. My local RSPCA ran a story in the local press about some abandoned chickens they DESPERATELY needed to re-home, I thought I'd do my bit as I had a couple of spare pens over winter and rung them up. Sure they said no problems that will be ten quid each......there ended my charitable notions.


Anyhoo, if you want to start keeping chickens and need help with a pen/house/stock I can help you. I build pens/coops to make money but I am more than willing to show anyone how to make a very cheap cost effective coop of there own. I usually have dodgy prototypes or OLD coops knocking around if anyone fancies a cheap way into the hobby. They may need a repair or be a bit tatty but free is free
I'm in North Wales and you fit into my timetable if you're picking something up for free NOT the other way around and as for delivery you have more chance of taking a **** in the popes hat. (yes I have in the past been asked to deliver a FREE coop over 40 miles for FREEEEE)

spadoosh

Mister_D wrote: »

I find most of these animal charity's are run more like a business each day, steer clear of them and contact chicken farms direct. My local RSPCA ran a story in the local press about some abandoned chickens they DESPERATELY needed to re-home, I thought I'd do my bit as I had a couple of spare pens over winter and rung them up. Sure they said no problems that will be ten quid each......there ended my charitable notions.


Anyhoo, if you want to start keeping chickens and need help with a pen/house/stock I can help you. I build pens/coops to make money but I am more than willing to show anyone how to make a very cheap cost effective coop of there own. I usually have dodgy prototypes or OLD coops knocking around if anyone fancies a cheap way into the hobby. They may need a repair or be a bit tatty but free is free
I'm in North Wales and you fit into my timetable if you're picking something up for free NOT the other way around and as for delivery you have more chance of taking a **** in the popes hat. (yes I have in the past been asked to deliver a FREE coop over 40 miles for FREEEEE)

Oo yes please, i only live in preston so not to far for you!!;)

Im well up for keeping chickens and spent a while looking into it (the missus not soo much but she will be convinced!!) Anyway, the coops i see are all pretty generic that and they are always £3-400+. Now im trying to do it as cheap as possible so they gf cant shout to much, the less objections the better! So was thinking of building my own coop (fairly good at DIY) will certainly give something a try. Now obviously you make a living from this but do you have any simple designs to go off that you dont mind sharing, the ones onthe net seem to be for 10+ birds, i was only thinking 2-3.

Tell me to do one if im being too cheeky but any advice on sourcing materials (OSB board good enough for the most part?!??!) or anything along the lines of building a coop will be greatly appreciated.


Sorry for highjacking the thread.

[Deleted User]

http://www.downthelane.net/chickenhousing.php

lostinrates

thejames wrote: »

Hey after thinking I would really like to get them, but I want to do it on a budget, I will obviously take every possible precaution with re to vets, feeding, etc, but I'm sure the initial stuff can be done with a tight bugget if no budget, I'll do some reading up first but I'm going for it.

High jack away....

Although I do live in London my area seems to be low on foxes, there are a lot of cats though! Hmmm.

Ok, well, if you havye made the decision to go ahead, the first thing to do is sort out secure housing. Get bigger than you think you need, so if you are planning on three birds get a house big enough for four two six is my advice. Also, in london you will need a run, the elusive fox and rats will find you. And you can let them out when you are home but leave them in the run when you are out. A very, very secure run can also be useful on days when letting out/putting in with the sun are difficult. Everything needs to be more secure than you think, and then more secure again.

[Deleted User]

yes I agree with lostinrates. My neighbours hen house was home made and a very determined fox got in and killed all the hens. Two days later, he got into the local farmer`s goose house and killed 4 big geese. They (foxes) are crafty, determined and very very strong. Free range fencing also needs to be about 5-6 feet high at least and even then you have to clip the wings just to keep the hens in

3v3

kittie wrote: »

.... and even then you have to clip the wings just to keep the hens in

1) clipping wings does not stop chickens from jumping a 5-6 ft fence (my Old English Game bantam - teeny little thing! - had one of her wings clipped and she had no problem ending up on my porch roof).

2) wing clipping means clipping just one wing -
the effect is that the bird cannot navigate and (theoretically) would end up flying in a circle (see bracketed comment at 1) )

3) Wing clipping is not a necessity.
Of my current flock of 11 only the OEG bantam had her wing clipped last Spring, and that grows back, so technically, none of my flock have been wing clipped. None of them have escaped over the neighbours fence/out into the road/off into the park.

If going to the effort of making an enclosure for free-ranging it makes sense to "cover" the enclosure with the same netting/fencing as that could prevent cats jumping into the fenced area.

lostinrates

Agreed about wing clipping, my youngsters summer before last when we moved house learned the same day their were clipped to stand at 90 degrees to the fence instead of straight on. Because i free range i tend not to clip, to give them a chance, but mine kept wandering into the road so had to try

Davesnave

3v3 wrote: »

If going to the effort of making an enclosure for free-ranging it makes sense to "cover" the enclosure with the same netting/fencing as that could prevent cats jumping into the fenced area.

I agree that chickens which are capable of escape, probably don't want to, if they are happy with their environment. Significantly, ours have cleared the internal fence, which is as high as the external one, but they know the difference. Never had one go into the fields.

We don't find cats climb into the enclosure either. It's an orchard, so hard or impossible to net over. Our cat has gone over the top to show off while we've been in there, but never at other times. Similarly, other cats watch, but don't go inside.

Of course, there's a first time for everything....

(Help! They are tweaking the board. My post seems to have gone tall & thin. Now if they could just do the latter for me.....:rotfl:)