Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

ANY_CHANCE

nykmedia wrote: »

Any Chance, before you do anything, make sure you are allowed to keep chickens in your garden. If it's a rented house, you'll need permission from landlords/housing association etc and if you own the house (mortgaged or otherwise) then you'll need to check your title deeds as many have clauses written into them forbidding livestock and/or poultry. If you have neighbours, discuss it with them, too, just in case you end up with noisy hens. All being well, start your research online, read books etc and decide what type best suits your needs. Spacewise, I prefer to see at least 1m2 per hen but I reckon you could consider keeping as many as 3 hens in a 3' x 6' approx run with adequate housing & nestbox. This could provide you with around 6 dozen eggs a month depending on breed of hen. Just my thoughts on the matter of happy, healthy chickens. It's even better if they can get out to scratch and peck about in the garden but any space is better than a tiny cage in a battery farm.

Thanks nykmedia
I shall check the deeds of the house, I live in a village ex council house it has a larger than average front garden and a decent sized back garden.
I have 3 neighbours I would need to ask I was thinking of keeping them in the back garden in a house and run, then when we were in the garden letting them stretch their legs under supervision.

I just checked the amount of space i could let them have is 14ft x 4ft

I do have a cat but he is more like garfield and chasing chickens would be too much like hard work!! he isnt fond of catching birds etc he just looks at them.

I have guinea pigs that have to live indoors in cold weather how do chickens get on with the cold winters?

steady__eddie

Don, calm down dear, it's only a cockerel. Have you tried alcohol ? for youself that is, not the bird, although I had some bantams once that took a shine to my home brew. It kept them quiet with no apparent side effects. Didn't Courage used to have a cockerel on their logo ? :beer:
On a more serious note, I presume that you do not reside in a rural/semi rural environment ? Unless you live in a block of flats, I don't reckon that you'll have a prob. (lease conditions excluded).
In my job I brush shoulders with a few "characters". One of them had a pony, nothing really too unusual in that you may consider until I tell you that he lived on the fifth floor of a block of flats. He kept it in his bathroom and every morning he would take it down in the lift and hitch it up to the cart and away he went. (Lifts were a lot more reliable in those days).

xnatalie81x

Can anyone id my hens - i got my first egg today and i would like to know who laid it!!!! lol - the egg pic is there 2

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/photo.php?pid=2667859&id=689286490 FLAPJACK

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/photo.php?pid=2664135&id=689286490 chowder (and my mum)

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/photo.php?pid=2869606&id=689286490 THE EGG

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=2&aid=106381&id=689286490#/photo.php?pid=2664143&id=689286490 PRINCESS

Frugaldom

Which has the reddest comb and a saggy b*m at the moment? :rotfl:Can't tell by the egg colour, as I think all 3 of those would lay brown eggs, although Princess may lay tinted rather than brown. I'd vote for Chowder, as her type seem to be bred to develop quickest.

DON79

steady__eddie wrote: »

Don, calm down dear, it's only a cockerel. Have you tried alcohol ? for youself that is, not the bird, although I had some bantams once that took a shine to my home brew. It kept them quiet with no apparent side effects. Didn't Courage used to have a cockerel on their logo ? :beer:
On a more serious note, I presume that you do not reside in a rural/semi rural environment ? Unless you live in a block of flats, I don't reckon that you'll have a prob. (lease conditions excluded).
In my job I brush shoulders with a few "characters". One of them had a pony, nothing really too unusual in that you may consider until I tell you that he lived on the fifth floor of a block of flats. He kept it in his bathroom and every morning he would take it down in the lift and hitch it up to the cart and away he went. (Lifts were a lot more reliable in those days).

Hi, I think I need stronger alcohol lol! :rolleyes: I do have some shandy however so could try the cockeral with some in his water as right at this moment he is crowing once a minute more or less. I think he can hear another cockeral in the distance and is replying.

We live in an estate and are on the end of a row of terraced houses. we have a big garden but have houses to side and backing onto us too. We own and have checked deeds so we are ok. just another week and 2 days to go and he will be gone!

Pony in the bathroom! lol! :rotfl:I would like a Pony though, good for keeping the grass short I would imagine! And I could ride it to work, just need to convince local council to install stables alongside the bike racks in the town centre.

xnatalie81x

I am off to inspect chicken bums

Frugaldom

XNat - The muscles around their pelvis relax to allow space for the eggs to pass through. Not guaranteed to show which hen laid, though, as all 3 may be about to lay if they are all the same age. My money's still on the brown one, though

xnatalie81x

The brown one (my youngest sons - each of my children named one) has the reddest comb but only by a tiny bit as they all very red. All very happy too as sun shining, lots of carrot leaves and beetroot tops and they have a run the size of a 4x6 shed to just the 3 of them lol. SPOILT HENS Hope they all are going to lay soon as i can stop buying eggs then!!!!!!! me and 3kids get through 6 a week easy but could happily eat much more than that - am hoping for 10-12 between the girlies! But happy with 6-8 if big

Frugaldom

You could get 18 per week when they all get into full lay, their eggs will gradually let larger as time goes on and you'll need to let us know if they are all double yokers to start off with. Sounds like you'll have plenty eggs soon, hope you enjoy your first one.

xnatalie81x

my oh said 'are you sure it's safe to eat' lol - he only comes home 1 day per week.