Chickens - help for a beginner :)

wilykit

Hi everyone,

I bought a chicken coop tonight as I am wanting to keep chickens in the garden.

I bought the coop as it was at a reasonable price, although I am going to do my research before getting my chickens.

I was wondering if anyone on here has ever/does keep chickens? If so I would appreciate any tips and advice.

I have looked on Google but I always prefer to speak to people.

I am trying to put together a checklist of what I need, e.g. feeder, drinker, bedding, diatom powder etc.

Any advice is greatly appreciated

Thank you in advance xx

halfone

I just wanted to wish you all the best - I'm a bit jealous as I only have a tiny backyard and would love to have a garden big enough to keep a few chickens; I've had to content myself with minding various small flocks when people go on holiday.

I'm sure proper chicken keepers will be along to advise you soon, but in the meantime here's what I've observed:

- They like plenty of space to wander and scratch around in. They also seem to enjoy foraging for food so I've found it's best to put some of the chicken feed in a trough so they know it's there and they can get it if they want to but also scattter some feed around the garden/pen so they can find it for themselves.

- Re. the water - I'm not entirely sure what you're meaning by 'drinker' but one or two great big (frequently replenished) bowls of water that are low enough so they can drink from but they can't easily tip over seem to be adequate for their needs.

- In my experience they will instinctively go into their shelter by dusk and to protect them from predators it's best to shut them in at night, letting them out early morning.

NB I've only minded 'country' chickens....might be slightly different rules if you're in a city or town.

Best of luck....how exciting!!!

moggymutt

I get all my hens from here

https://www.facebook.com/freshstartforhens?fref=ts

Watching them have a second chance and enjoying life for the first time is so rewarding. I love my girls, but they nip into the house quite a bit and jump on the laptop as I'm using it. Also they are very good at interrupting phone calls.

wilykit

Thanks for your replies

With regards to the drinker, its like an upside down container with a dish on the bottom - means they can have access to water without getting it dirty or knocking it over

They will be in their coop during the day, but when I am home I hope to let them have free roam in the garden and I will watch over them

My main concern is keeping them safe from foxes and making the coop secure enough.

Thanks for the rescue chicken link, I will deffo look into it

xxx

Better_Days

We have a drinker for our chickens like you have purchased. Just raise it up on a couple of slabs or the like so it is above the ground and dirt is not scratched into the drinker. Once a month we add some apple cider vinegar to the water as a tonic (but you can't use ACV with metal drinkers)

We have layers pellets in feeders that they can eat from as they want throughout the day. Again keep the feeders off the ground so they don't get dirty and scratched in.

You will need to keep your chickens wormed with Flubenvet a couple of times a year and
Verm-X in between to keep on top of parasites.

Red mites are a real menace spring to autumn and we use DE and poultry shield regularly in every nook and cranny in the coop. If you have a felt roof to your coop then the mites will live under the felt and it is impossible to get rid of them totally. We also use ivermectin for parasite control - although it is not licenced for poultry and you need at least 7 days egg withdrawal.

Our chickens are currently on grass which they have totally trashed and the run looks like the Somme as they have dug a few holes too. Chickens love to scratch and dig so we are going to get some woodchip for them to scratch around in.

In their coop they have dust extracted horse bedding.

They love their treats - they would sell their little chicken souls for a slice of grape. We give them spaghetti and sweet corn on a daily basis along with a few handfuls of mixed corn for them to scratch around for. Also they get some plain yoghurt occassionally for a treat. It can be useful to give the same call everytime you take out treats for them. They will soon learn to come racing over and it also means if they stray you can easily call them back.

We have got our hens from the BHWT http://www.bhwt.org.uk/cms/re-home-some-hens/ - they didn't have much in the way of feathers when we collected them so we had to keep them in the shed until they feathered up as they got cold otherwise.

Lots of chicken info online eg
http://poultrykeeperforum.com/viewforum.php?f=3
http://keeping-chickens.me.uk/
http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/
http://rarebreedpoultry.webs.com/apps/faq/

They wont be happy if you keep them in the coop in the day, they will need to be let out to scratch around, feed and drink - in a covered run if necessary. As halfone pointed out they love to scratch around and find insects, slugs, worms and snails etc. They go back to their coop at dusk and then they need to be shut away safely until dawn. Initially they may need to be put in the coop at night but they learn very quickly.

You will need to provide somewhere that they feel safe to lay their eggs. Hopefully they will use the coop. One of mine does, but the others use a plastic cat carrier that was in the shed when we first had them and we have now put in their run. I tried taking the carrier away and they just laid their eggs in the run.

They also very much enjoy a dust bath, and it helps keep parasites at bay. I mix up some compost, DE, louse powder and wood ash and put it in a deep plastic box and they love it. You do need a fairly deep container as they flick the dust bath over themselves and it goes everywhere.

I love keeping chickens, as long as you get the husbandry right they are relatively easy and the eggs are a great bonus. Hope it goes well for you.

wilykit

Wow Better Days thank you, what a useful post

With regards to scratching and also fox-proofing. Would it be ok for me to put chicken wire on the bottom of the coop and then put something like wood on top so their feet don't hurt and then put some wood chip on top for them to scratch around in?

xx