Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

Breynia

I had a broody silkie hen so put 3 fertile eggs under her which I got from a chicken lady nearby. Strangely enough they hatched after 14 days! Two of these days the silkie spent off the eggs! As if this wasn't strange enough, the day after they hatched I found a frozen stiff little body lying on the bottom of the coop. I picked it up and it truly was icy cold and rigid. As I was thinking where to bury it, I was stroking it and felt a sort of 'crackle' I couldn't believe that it was possible for it to be still alive but after and two hours of hand warming from myself and my other half it slowly came back to life. It was back running around with it's mother within three hours. I still can't believe it and was wondering if anyone knew how this could happen. I know hatching chickens is a fine art and the temperature has to be just right, so how can a day old chicken survive the cold and come back to life? All I can think of is that it is like when someone drowns in icy cold water, that it slows down the heart and they can be revived. Whatever the reason it made my day!

Ted_Hutchinson

We've had a similar experience with an apparantly dead chick returning to live after getting too cold as a result of becoming separated from the mother silkie. So if you find an apparently dead chick it's always worth trying to rewarm it.

gravitytolls

We used to keep chickens, and we loved it, but the neighbours complained they encouraged rats.

I'd dearly like to get some more, but what to do about the rat situation?

We don't see so many near the house, thanks to the twin wheelie bin scheme, and the presence of some fearsome moggies; but I know as soon as I get chickens, the complaints will be coming thick and fast.

Incidentally, this short sighted council now charges £15 call out for environmental health to visit with rat boxes, which is why the ruddy things are so prevalent, as many people would rather not fork out for wild animals which will doubtless return the following year (well, not the same ones obviously :-)).

Sarahsaver

There are always rats about anyway. I think we are all on average 2 metres away from a rat at any one time.People throwing fast food half-eaten onto the pavement is much more of a problem than a few hens.

BTW my poor birds were terrifed of the fireworks, they froze stiff and wouldn't move
They have stopped laying now.

gritts

gravitytolls wrote:

We used to keep chickens, and we loved it, but the neighbours complained they encouraged rats.

Chickens don't encorage rats any more than people encourage rats - it's the food left lying around that encourage rats.

We keep 2 hens and have never ever seen a rat or a mouse (much to the cats annoyance). This is because we do not throw the hen food on the ground and we do not leave the hen food container out over night.

Magentasue

Agree with gritts. We have chickens and probably rats too. I say this because before the chickens arrived, our cats occasionally brought home a rat to play with. We live near a railway line so there are plenty of nesting sites nearby. But we've never had a problem with rats - we put our rubbish in a wheelie bin and our compost bins are fairly rat proof.

We do put food (scraps) out for the hens most days on two big plates but when they've finished, we hose off the plates. Everything else is put away.

Ann1e

cathy wrote:

I was all for it, till I found out that they stop laying after about 3-4 years then you have to kill them

arrrrrgh

no way

lol

One of our chickens is getting on for 10 years old and still laying. They don't always lay every day, and if they're free range they don't always lay in the nesting box! When we got four new ones (Warrens) last year I found 27 eggs in a neat pile under a tree - all were still fresh (sink in water if fresh - float if off). And what's more you don't have to kill them! They can go to maybe a kids farm if there's one nearby, or just keep them as pets. They will certainly lay for much longer than 3 - 4 years. And they don't cost much to keep, eat all the scraps - and if free range, like ours - they wander off quite some way. They also eat slugs and snails. They are a bit messy, and have a nasty habit of crapping on the back door mat (outside) but I'd definitely recommend them, there's nothing like a fresh egg!

Ann1e

Caterina wrote:

Oh well that does it then, we just got two kittens that are already promising to become really big cats! I thought that cats and hens go along ok, indifferent to each others really (except if you have small chicks!).

Foxes are a big problem here in SE London, very hungry scavengers. I know a few people who had their pet rabbits or ducks killed by foxes in the daytime.

Goodbye dream of chickens then....

Caterina

Up until recently we had 7 cats, plus one stray that only eats outside, and our chickens pinch their food, the cats run away, I did once lose a chicken to a very fierce tom but this happens rarely. Foxes generally only attack at night so they must always be locked up at night. Also we have a cockerel who attacks us! Let alone any measly cat!

Ann1e

tiredwithtwins wrote:

what a fantastic thread!!

would love to keep chickens, but have enough trouble keeping 3 kids and a husband cleaned and fed......

just out of interest, what are the vets costs like when keeping chickens? are there any particular health problems they are prone to, and what do you do if one dies??

sue

We did lose a young one recently, had a growth of some kind and was nearly comatose. Vet charged £8.50 to put to sleep - use gas for birds, not injection, one of the very old ones literally dropped off the perch! We buried them both.

toadhall

i have 16 chooks at the bottom of the gardern and would recommend them to anyone. as long as they are fed watered and cleaned out regularly they are dead easy to look after. fresh eggs on fresh bread is truly wonderful and the chooks taste good too. they are not pets and all the children know they will be eaten one day. that said, i know what they have eaten and that they have run in the sunshine and had a good life. more than poor battery hens who are pumped full of chemicals and live in boxes!!
sorry about the rant - a subject that makes my blood boil!!
www.rivercottage.net is another excellent site.