Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

help_me_please_3

:(Nyk: Think ill stick to hens only then. Cant take a risk in getting a cockeral then having complaints and having to part with him. By the way, your place looks lovely, its been my lifelong dream to have a rural 'good life'.But i cant afford it.

I will try rescue hens though.

Frugaldom

help_me_please wrote: »

:(Nyk...its been my lifelong dream to have a rural 'good life'.But i cant afford it.

I couldn't afford to rent in a town and, in true-mythical Scottish fashion, my annual expenditure is rather minimal and my needs basic. :rotfl:

If you really want the good life, it can be created anywhere by anyone with the determination to do so. Just grow a few veggies, keep your hens, give up shopping for anything other than the absolute basics and make/trade/swap everything else you need. If you work fulltime, you could take a fortnight off and try a 'good life' holiday at home. You could even throw the main switch on your electricity meter for an evening to practice for power cuts, switch off TV and mobile to represent no signal and then get into character.

cheeswright

hi - another newbie question - I just broke the ramp - ladder thing off my coop
do i need fix and put it back ?- it created some difficult to clean space and my bantums happily hopped in and out a few times without it . I'm inclined to sling it but thought I really should listen to the voices of experience here incase I'm missing the obvious

Frugaldom

Cheeswright if all the birds are managing to get in and out alright then I wouldn't worry too much about it. I wouldn't throw it out, though, in case you ever have any chicks that will need to use the ramp, or birds in a heavy moult if the door is high enough they need to flutter.

help_me_please_3

nykmedia wrote: »

I couldn't afford to rent in a town and, in true-mythical Scottish fashion, my annual expenditure is rather minimal and my needs basic. :rotfl:

If you really want the good life, it can be created anywhere by anyone with the determination to do so. Just grow a few veggies, keep your hens, give up shopping for anything other than the absolute basics and make/trade/swap everything else you need. If you work fulltime, you could take a fortnight off and try a 'good life' holiday at home. You could even throw the main switch on your electricity meter for an evening to practice for power cuts, switch off TV and mobile to represent no signal and then get into character.

We already grow vegetables and freecycle, and have kept hens but i was really meaning living in the country and having no near neighbours, maybe a goat, cockeral and hens, sheep or two for wool etc. although we've a big garden for a suburb, its not the same.

Frugaldom

help_me_please wrote: »

We already grow vegetables and freecycle, and have kept hens but i was really meaning living in the country and having no near neighbours, maybe a goat, cockeral and hens, sheep or two for wool etc. although we've a big garden for a suburb, its not the same.

Couldn't you rent? I know several people who rent farms or smallholdings, we just couldn't find anything around so eventually opted for a house & small garden on someone else's farm. It's not exactly what I'd choose but the difference in rent between farm-situated and in town means we can afford to save to buy a bit of land somewhere.

poohbear59

We had our first egg since November from our ageing hens. As they are costing us money, rather than breaking even, we have decided to get a few more who hopefully will lay a bit more often.

ljonski

my chooks are approx 72 weeks old and have been laying 1 each everyday all winter. This is because i set up a lighting system that gives them approx 14hrs daylight even in deepest winter .

jammy_dodger

my hens have finally made a wee start on egg production:T, i thought they had forgotten what to do

Far too comfy escaping the snow lazing in my poly tunnel !! well at least they are scratching up the weeds and fertilising before i hoof them back outside

7 eggs from my 5 blackrocks in 2 days so onwards and upwards i hoipe I do so miss my home grown eggs cant beat taste

poohbear59

ljonski wrote: »

my chooks are approx 72 weeks old and have been laying 1 each everyday all winter. This is because i set up a lighting system that gives them approx 14hrs daylight even in deepest winter .

I woud like to be able to do that too but the hen house is too far from the house and we just don't have the cash for a solar panel and lighting system out there.

Something to think about for the future though. Our hens are also at least three years old, possibly four now:)