Keeping chickens???

[pipinfort]

Originally Posted by jenibrindle

The downside absolutely has to be the amount of poop in our garden. It is everywhere.

You say you have an allotment, well its certainly not a downside.............its excellent for your soil structure , scoop it up and dig it in for the coming winter months..........well done for rescuing some, a friend of ours did it and they are great little layers.......

[Benipete]

Originally Posted by pipinfort

You say you have an allotment, well its certainly not a downside.............its excellent for your soil structure , scoop it up and dig it in for the coming winter months..........well done for rescuing some, a friend of ours did it and they are great little layers.......

What would I give for friends like that?

[flashy]

i'd love to have some chickens, but i very much doubt Twin Valley or the moaning old man next door would approve

[Galloping Hairpin]

We have some chickens, several. We bought pullets from a local farm and we also have a few 'rescue' chickens that we got from Clitheroe auction. They were in a sorry state with no feathers on their bottoms but it's really lovely to see them fatten up and live a life like normal hens. We also find that they lay really well and settle in very quickly.

Just a note on feeding them: I always heard of older people talking about feeding hens scraps. We looked into it and found that hens are pretty much scavengers really. They love bread and cereal etc. We began to feed them all our veg and fruit peelings, stale (not mouldy) bread, cake etc. Also plain leftover pasta or rice. They LOVE it.
Potato peelings have to be cooked as they are poisonous raw, and carrot tops or other large chunks of hard veg are better cooked a little to soften them.
I have a family so we have quite a lot of veg peelings to give them. I collect the peelings in a food bag and then every few days quickly boil it up for the hens. It cuts down the hen food cost by at least 1/4, and the hens always race to be the first to get to the scrap bucket.

My next ambition now is to get some silkies, and also to have some of our own baby chicks next year. Not sure quite how to go about that so I'll have to look into it...

[West Ender]

Keep a small pile of rotting wood in a corner of the pen (one plank would do) and turn it over every week or so. The beetles, worms, grubs and bugs that are turned up will delight your hens and add protein to their food.

[david1]

Its in the deeds of the house that i can't have any chickens .

[flashy]

Originally Posted by Galloping Hairpin

also to have some of our own baby chicks next year. Not sure quite how to go about that so I'll have to look into it...

a cock might help

[steeljack]

..I'd be interested in someone telling me how a clutch of eggs layed over several days allways seem to hatch at the same time , (I thought incubation times were allways the same length of time, maybe I'm wrong but I don't think a hen can lay more than one or two eggs a day but they seem to hatch at the same time )........don't think we studied that when I was at skoo

[glasgow guy]

Originally Posted by West Ender

You need a shed or chicken coup for them to roost in at night so that may be your "permanent structure". You should also bear in mind that hens like to scratch in the soil and can transform a hen-pen into a mudbath with consumate ease. Add in the cost of feed and the fact that they all go "off lay" from time to time and it might prove an expensive way of getting fresh eggs. Still, I like hens and it could prove a nice hobby for you. Good luck.

both these items would be made of wood therefore not a permanent structure and perfectley legal to put up.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by steeljack

..I'd be interested in someone telling me how a clutch of eggs layed over several days allways seem to hatch at the same time , (I thought incubation times were allways the same length of time, maybe I'm wrong but I don't think a hen can lay more than one or two eggs a day but they seem to hatch at the same time )........don't think we studied that when I was at skoo

It is because the hen only start's to incubate when she has laid the whole clutch of eggs. The incubation time is from when the eggs have been warmed to the correct temperature.

[steeljack]

Originally Posted by Neil

It is because the hen only start's to incubate when she has laid the whole clutch of eggs. The incubation time is from when the eggs have been warmed to the correct temperature.

Thanks Neil , never knew that , any idea of how much of a temperature drop (from a hens body temp) an egg can withstand and still be "revived" ........
Know its a bit of a daft question , but in theory could the 'fertile' farmers market organic eggs I have in the fridge be revived if put under a hen or in an incubator ?

[Neil]

From wiki answers

Viability of a FERTILIZED egg will drop if kept in the refrigerator for any length of time.
Cool about 50F (not cold) and dark with good humidity is the normal way of saving fertile eggs for incubation. A maximum of 7 days. After the seven day period the first save lose better than 50% of their chance at hatch and that drops daily for every extra day saved thereafter.

[Galloping Hairpin]

Originally Posted by flashy

a cock might help

Ha yes well I have one of those! ....A bad tempered old thing he is too. The problem is how to know if the eggs are fertile (if he is any good) and how to make the hen sit on them for the full incubation time. We tried getting a broody hen but she stopped being broody after a week or so and the eggs were all bad...We have a little incubator too but haven't tried it as I wanted the hens to hatch them themselves (like proper hens)!

[flashy]

maybe the broody hen didnt like the cock and therefore went off the boil so to speak

[Neil]

Use the incubator then. Have you seen the cock doing the business with the hens?