Does anyone keep chickens in an EGLU?

DebtphobicDeirdre

I have a now disused wooden playhouse, could I convert it? and how big does a run have to be? I love the thought of keeping chickens.

Spirit_2

My poorly chicken went to the vet a couple of weeks ago. It cost 23 pounds and I discovered not all vets will see chickens. She had antibiotics administered by a syringe into her beak, not too difficult to do. Do ensure (if you want eggs and do not want cockerels) that you get chickens at Point of Lay. 2 of my girls have turned out to be boys.

Lydia.42

Hi
Not a first time 'chook' keeper, but got our next lot after a few years of not having any due to moving, etc.

We only have 2 bantums currently - got them free from OH's grandad. They live in a rabbit hutch - which to keep costs down you could get from free-ad/free cycle, etc. (our first lot lived in home made hutchs).

All they have is a cheap water dispenser and food bowl. They get fed pellets daily and treats (usually left over rice/pasta/fruit/veg/anything really. I'm also a softie and give them rich tea biscuits (value ones of course), as a treat.

They are let out when we get up in the morning and roam free in the garden. They come when called and are tame enough to eat from our hands, etc. They put themselves away at night, and we just close their door before we go to bed - to stop foxes etc. Couldn't be easier.

Just to say, we kept chooks on a farm for years, and never lost one to a fox, etc by doing the above.

I would advise anyone who is interested to go for it. They are great, friendly and you can't beat fresh eggs. Can't say i would buy an Eglu though. It looks lovely but nothing could justify that cost i'm afraid. Chooks just need somewhere dry and warm - not a 5 star hotel!!!! :rotfl:

tomstickland

The house across the canal from where I live has hens and cockerels. The demented birds make half hearted cockerel noises about once an hour
aiggh aaaaiiiirrrrgh. I rather like it. It adds to the ducks splashing and quacking and moor hens chirrupping.

sammiboo

Chickens are something I have fancied for years, we are going to look into getting them when we move.

I have worked at a bird Sanctuary for over 10 years, so they couldnt be in better hands

kayjay1809

We're lucky living in the countryside as there are plenty of local people who keep chickens and I can buy a dozen eggs for £1.

I'd love to keep a few chickens myself but the cost of potential vets bills etc put me off as I couldn't possible neck a sick bird myself. We also get a lot of mice where we live - last year we were overrun with them in the house - and I don't want anything else to attract them as I already have rabbits in the garden (as pets not food )

kethry

there's a lot about both Eglus and Chicken keeping on this blog, (Allotment Lady) which is very well written, i'd recommend it to anyone.

HTH

keth
xx

babyblooz

I would love a couple of chickens, but ... we came home the other sunday to find a handsome fox with a big ginger mane, contentedly sunning himself by our water feature. We blinked at one another a few times, he stretched himself out in the sunshine, so I went to collect my camera, then whoosh, he was gone ...

We live on a main road out of town, and he was sunbathing in the middle of the afternoon. I thought about an egloo, but surely a salivating, frantic fox scrabbling away at their front door would not be good for a hen's mental health!!!

Is it safe to leave them out free ranging in the garden (small) during the day while we are out at work? Or should we keep them in a run, and then let them out for an hour or two when we get home? That would mean that in the winter they wouldn't get out to roam free in natural daylight. Is that OK.

We have a concrete path at the back of the garden, and we keep the compost bin there. There are always lots of woodlice and creepy crawlies around there, so it would be like them popping out for a takeaway, if they don't mind competing with the frogs that live under the pergola. And what about the mice (or worse, rats) would chickens make our garden heave with vermin? Is it the corn the mice go for, and if they have a varied enough diet (woodlice etc) do you still need to give them corn?

I do like the idea of hens, and it won't go away, but I could not bring them into our garden for them to meet a grizzly end. I just couldn't do that to any of gods little creatures. With animals comes responsibility, which is why I would have to be sure I could offer them a fox-safe environment.

Oooh errr, what's a girl to do!

moanymoany

sammiboo wrote: »

Chickens are something I have fancied for years, we are going to look into getting them when we move.

I have worked at a bird Sanctuary for over 10 years, so they couldnt be in better hands

sammiboo,

'fancied chickens for years' - not in the biblical sense of course.

LOOYATES

have had my 5 girls for a week i toyed with the idea of an egglu then opted for a wooden coop high up enclosed in a run, quite a spacesaver big enough for 9 girls but half the price of an egglu the guy who delivered it said he replced quite a lot of plastic because they had split , and he thought the birds would get too hot??? he didnt recommend them but he wouldn't would he selling wooden ones, (does that sound right)
anyway i wouldn't be without them ive wanted them for years ......still waiting for that first scrumptious egg tho there will be a fight over that!!!:j