Home grown chickens to eat? (Merged Discussion)

turbo

You are painting a lovely picture, Spirit. I am slowly coming round to the idea.

Turbo

rog2

Spirit wrote: »

If you only get a couple of chooks it really is not a big deal. Mine are like walking garden ornaments and very entertaining. Some are very pretty and bantams very sweet.

In the eight months that we have had our three 'rescue' hens our garden has NOT been trashed - in fact it has become a haven for wild birds. I know that it will be the chicken food that attracts them, but the chickens will, actually, chase off any bird, cat or other animal that dares to go for their food tray.

This morning I have seen three robins, finches, a thrush, ring necked doves, two wood-pigeons and several others that I don't know the names of.

Admittedly we do have to 'chook scoop' - chicken droppings are NOT a good fertiliser and can spread disease - but it is so calming to look at them strutting around 'their' garden - like the 'poor man's Peacock'.

All that and a regular supply of eggs - what more can you want?

Lotus-eater

Chicken droppings are a great fertiliser, you just have to compost them for quite a while, otherwise they will be too fierce for the plants.
Saying that, when the chickens go on a veg patch I want to clear up, I certainly don't go round picking up all their doings. But also, then I wouldn't plant on it for a while either.

The reason your garden hasn't been trashed is because you have rescue hens, they have trouble foraging because the end of their beak end being cut off and their legs are very weak and they have trouble scratching.
Get some pure breed outdoor bred chooks in there and they will scratch up everything they want to, everything basically.

rog2

Lotus-eater wrote: »

The reason your garden hasn't been trashed is because you have rescue hens, they have trouble foraging because the end of their beak end being cut off and their legs are very weak and they have trouble scratching.

Actually, L-E their beaks were not cut, and whilst they were a little unsteady for the first couple of months, their legs are very strong and they love scratching. They have two favourite areas - one is the part of the garden, by the compost heap, that we have left 'to nature', as it is rich in bugs and worms. The other is a 'barren' patch under a 'Leylandi' hedge, whisch they use as a 'sandpit'.
We have fenced off flower beds and the main vegetable patch, but, otherwise they have 'free run'. Our lawns are meadow grass (the only grass we could get to grow successfully on a heavy clay) and, yes they do scratch here, but the grass is very resistant so the 'damage' is minimal. I agree that if we had kept them in a small fenced area, they would have turned that into a quagmire by now, but as things are they are happy and we are happy.
I have a friend who is a 'free range' chicken farmer and it was he who warned me about the chicken droppings - he 'rotates' his flock regularily (about every two years) to avoid the risk of salmonella bacteria from contaminating the ground. I appreciate that the scale of his operation is totally different to mine, indeed to that of most people on this forum, but I am following his advice.
We did consider getting 'pure bred outdoor chicks' but were swayed by the TV programmes last year. When our three 'bedraggled specimens' arrived, I didn't think they would last the week - their crops were flacid, one of them looked as though she'd gone through the 'feather plucker' and they were totally bemused by their new surroundings. Within a few days, they had started to pick up and adapt to this new found freedom - over the months thir plumage has regrown (although you can still see the signs of their previous life) and the vet has given them a clean bill of health.
They have, also, developed their own individual characters and have become great pets. Considering the alternative that they faced as 'end of lay boilers' I'm very glad we decided to get 'rescue hens' and would happily reccomend that avenue to anyone.

Lotus-eater

Having had both rescue and lots of other types of chickens I can tell you most categorically, that the rescue hens do not scratch anywhere near as hard or as deep as outdoor reared chickens. Outdoor reared chickens will also eat more of different types of greenstuff than rescue hens, when I had my rescue ones, the other chickens "taught" them to eat more foodstuffs, but they still wouldn't eat half the amount the other ones would.

I think you are defending rescue hens for no reason, I wasn't having a go at them. As a matter of fact I don't really advise people new to poultry to get them, but that is another discussion.

Outdoor reared hybrids will be exactly the same as the pure breed ones, I was just picking one of them to make a point.

MaximumImpact

Actually, L-E their beaks were not cut,

As someone who used to live and work on a battery farm, I can tell you now that ALL battery hens have their beaks cut to prevent them damaging each other when in such confined spaces.This isn't my opnion, it is fact and a not very pleasant one. If yours do not have cut beaks then you do not have ex battery hens.

I have some outdoor reared and some ex battery hens. My exbats don't scratch very often but my outdoor reared have trashed the place.