Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

tiredwithtwins

hi folks,
ive followed this thread since it started and has made me smile on many occasions! its getting very long now, and i dont have much time to read through all the threads again!!
im in sheffield, and wondered if there was anyone out there in the vacinity who could give me some advice on getting set up with ex-battery hens? - like the idea of a gentle retirement for them, egss would be a bonus! have looked at the online websites that sell coops ... they seem very expensive - is there a cheaper option? ie, how to build your own? having looked at the cost of chicken wire mesh in B&Q (at about £5/m) i was slightly flabbergasted!
we have a big garden so size not an issue, but have a fair few foxes seen trotting around the area so would need to build something substantial.
can i ask how vet bills impact on their cost? do they need lots of vet visits or is it a case of good standard of regular home care keeping the vet at bay?
thanks,
sue xx

RacyRed

Are these ok winter preparations?

My girls still don't have breast feathers, although their backs and wings are looking great now, so I got worried about the cold weather.

To try to keep them warm, I've lined the metal pull-out floor tray in their house with cardboard - warmer under the roost bars and makes it much easier to keep clean. I put shavings on top to absorb the poop.

Nest boxes are also lined with cardboard with shavings then straw on top. I'm loving this because one of my girls has taken to occasionally laying after dark/before light and the egg gets smashed. Now I can lift the cardboard liner out of the nest box, compost the lot and just build a new nest up again without having to scrub out the whole box every time. :T

Muddy run - I accidentaly found that some old strips of bamboo fencing give them a nice surface to walk on and the rain runs though it. It is also easier to poop pick/keep clean than the mud. I'd have preferred wood chippings but I can't bulk buy them anywhere locally so this looks like it might have to do for now. They seem happy enough to walk on it, so maybe ok?

ljonski

battery hens? - like the idea of a gentle retirement for them, egss would be a bonus! have looked at the online websites that sell coops ... they seem very expensive - is there a cheaper option? ie, how to build your own? having looked at the cost of chicken wire mesh in B&Q (at about £5/m) i was slightly flabbergasted!
we have a big garden so size not an issue, but have a fair few foxes seen trotting around the area so would need to build something substantial.
can i ask how vet bills impact on their cost? do they need lots of vet visits or is it a case of good standard of regular home care keeping the vet at bay?

Welcome to the wonderful world of chickens. I have kept chickens for 2and a half years and up to now and enjoyed every moment apart from the Red mite crises. Mine live in an old cupboard on top of a layed down fridge with a homemade ladder rigged up to the entrance. I have sawn a door in the side and put some latches on.

Standard chicken wire is not fox proof. I regularly spray the area with male urine and acts as a major deterrent against foxes.

I have never been to a vet once for the chooks as good care and self treatment as wellas protein in their diet will suffice to keep the majority of chucks alive until their time comes.

Racy Red - I for the first winter had cardboard down for a while, but now i wouldnt as Red mite love it and once wet deteriates fast. If it really gets cold, I would rub some vaseline on their crowns and wattles to prevent frost bite. With a bit more protein (try some cat food) their final feathers should re grow and when they snuggle up at night , you will be amazed how warm it gets in the coop.

hope chucks enjoyed Nov 5th

ionahenor2

Racyred have you tried a local tree surgeon for woodchip. They might deliver too.

RacyRed

ljonski, I put red mite powder under the cardboard to kill the beasties off when they run for cover. Plus it gets changes every couple of days. I'll use vaseline on their crowns, good tip, thanks

ionahenor2, I've tried a couple of local tree surgeons, but I live in log burner country, wood and chippings rarely go to waste here - if it burns it is soon in someone's woodshed

steady__eddie

"I regularly spray the area with male urine and acts as a major deterrent against foxes."

I can do that, gizajob.
I've even got my own sprayer.

picklepick

Hi everyone.
I hope no one minds but DH and I are considering getting chickens in the Spring and we're weighing up the options at the minute. This thread is mighty long and I have a few questions. I relise they're probably covered in the thread but I think it would take me a few hours to trawl through it all.

Firstly, we have cats. 2 in fact. Is this straight away a deal breaker?
How much space do hens need? We live in an urban environment and we have a very small garden.
Said garden is surrounded by 6 foot high brick walls, would that be fox proof? Hens would obviously be in a suitable enclosure overnight.
Would letting the hens have free range of our garden in the day be a no-go? Would they destroy the plants or just eat off the floor?
How much would it cost to feed and provide the necessary veterinary treatment? We'd probably only get 2 hens.

Can you tell we're really clueless!

ljonski

hi its a great idea to get chickens.
I have a cat and he avoids the chooks like the plague
Foxes can jump over 6 foot.

I have never been to a vet once for the chooks as good care and self treatment as well as protein in their diet will suffice to keep the majority of chucks alive until their time comes.
If you let them FR they will do some damage so try to fence off the most precious of your plants.
Chicken feed is no longer chicken feed anymore
HTh

susyrosy

Can I recommend you get Point Of Lay bantams, rather than full-size hens? They have smaller claws and definitely don't do as much damage to a garden, so you don't mind them free-ranging round your shrubs. They will also help you weed a bare piece of ground for planting - but will also help the new plants/seeds get dug up again ...

Bantam eggs are, in our opinion, much nicer - not so much white, compact, easy to poach.

I have an ex-batt (now in retirement), and have had full size hens in the past, and the place was a complete desert where they'd been. The bantams rootle, but I still have a garden.

They're such funny birds and a great delight.

jennyjelly

Hi picklepick, all I can tell you is when you get them you'll wish you'd done it years ago. Don't worry about the cats, we have 3 and they co-exist very happily, never had a problem at all. In fact if anything the cats are wary of the chickens! Our girls also share the garden with rabbits and a dog and they all get on very well.

Yes they will totally trash your garden - ours was beautiful but is now a wasteland. We have now fenced off a strip of garden for the girls so that the rest of the garden can recover but they still get to run and scratch.

As long as they are shut up in the coop dusk till after dawn you should be ok with foxes, we did a double safe thing of building a covered run which they have to stay in when we might be home late but they are in the open during daylight normally. They take themselves off to bed at dusk and we just go and lock up. Here's a pic.

We pay about £8 for a 20kg bag of layers pellets and about the same for mixed corn from a feed merchant - beware of buying in pet shops etc as they are much dearer. The girls have access to their layers pellets all the time, and get a couple of handfuls of corn every day as well as kitchen scraps and cabbage which I hang up in the pen.

We have 4 which we bought as point of lay pullets - three have been laying like mad and two still are but the other has gone broody. The fourth has never laid an egg and we think we got a dud, but she's funny and friendly and we still love her even though she is a passenger.

We've been on a very steep learning curve as far as health and first aid go, and found that it's possible to do most things yourself with a basic first aid kit. Hens can be real b1tches and gentian violet is essential to disguise blood, along with antiseptic.

I'd definitely say go for it, it's the best thing we've ever done.