Keeping chickens???
 

:egged:

Hubby and I have been investigating the idea of housing approx 4 -6 laying chickens in our rather extended garden & veg plot.

As newbies to this and having bought out Amazon on their reading material, was just wondering whether anyone local can advise on their experience.

Thanks,

Jen x

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

One point to note is that some council owned alottments do not allow the keeping of livestock - so if you have a council plot you need to check that

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

Thanks Margaret.

No worries there. I have a large garden with an additional plot of land (which is mine) which is twice the size of garden and houses our large climbing frame, pond and allotment area.

Checking the deeds, it is silent as to chickens but will not allow us to build a permanent structure on the land.

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

Someone I work with has bought some chickens and is keeping them in her garden (in a proper enclosure).

She bought some ex-battery hens, as she felt it was important to save them. They were weird at first, as none of them had many feathers, but they soon grew back. They also had a problem with being outside at first, as they'd never seen the sky.

They don't lay every day, but every 2-3 days, which is plenty for a home venture. 6 chickens would still give you over a dozen eggs per week, even if laying only twice a week.

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

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.

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

I love the idea of rescuing battery chickens. There's a place in Haslingden you can apply to. I think you have to take a minimum of three because these hens are so stressed, they're not used to being on their own, sometimes struggle to feed, and don't cope well with daylight. How sad is that?

Will have to research a decent enclosure. Why "save" a battery chicken and then force it to leave in miserable conditions?

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

If they will be treated more like pets, why not go for one of the more fancy variety?
Have you see the black and white Polish Bantams in Pets Corner at Rhyddings Park?

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

The next hen rescue date - Battery Hen Welfare Trust
Hope this helps.

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

daft question here - are chickens noisey to keep?

I only ask as the 'ball and chain' was dropping hints yesterday about getting a couple... and although I didnt say no - I didnt say yes either..
no hassles about keeping them - just worried about noise and neighbours...

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

Not if you keep the freezer door shut.:rolleyes::D:D

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

I live with several chicken flocks almost on my doorstep, and ducks, and geese.
Most flocks have roosters too ............. it is NICE!!!!!!

The 'dawn chorus' is music to my ears....beats traffic noise and singing drunks anyday

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

Am sure someone told me they could be quite smelly, but then again so can neighbours!:eek:

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

couple next door to me keep chickens and to be honest i dont really notice them but good job there aint a cockeral there :D

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

For the past 25 years my parents have owned a cottage with gardens etc so we have been able to keep chickens.

There very easy to keep, but as mentioned they will ruin any ground you put them on and you have to move the pen around to avoid to much damage to the ground.

I use the pet suppliers in Baxenden, they sell everything you could need. You will need a water holder which is unique to chickens, very simple design but you cant water then like a normal domestic creature.

A pen will set you back £45.00 (estimate) unless you make your own.

Chicken feed is dirt cheap but you should also get some oyster shell flakes, it helps with the strengh of the egg shell. The chickens just absorb a little oyster shell and it prevents soft shell on layed eggs.

Best of luck and just ask if you need any advice and ill try and help.

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

Just wanted to update this thread and say that we got our Battery Hens from the Battery Hen Welfare Trust about two months ago.

Rather than being the scrawny, light-fearing, non-laying boilers we were expecting, they were rather healthy, entertaining girls that lay virtually every day. We only got three to keep noise and smell to a minimum. Smell isn't really a problem as we keep them clean and they make very little noise. We did check with both neighbours and they quite enjoy watching them too.

They are pretty much free range and only go into coop (which we made ourselves) to lay or sleep.

The downside absolutely has to be the amount of poop in our garden. It is everywhere. We also have one girl who is determined to be inside and makes a run for it as soon as we open patio doors or else sits there pecking on it for most of the day.

Our supplies mainly come from Wolfenden Farm and are very cheap (cheep!). We live in Ossy and Pet Warehouse has now started stocking chicken feed too.

They are the most entertaining "pets" we have ever had. The cost to keep them are minimal and we are getting three eggs a day. They have their own personalities and very much remind me of old biddies. They jabber away about anything they don't like, from the rain to the rabbit roaming in the garden.

They are also eating all the slugs in our garden and we no longer engage in the slug warfare of previous years.

So to anyone reading this and considering getting some - I'd say go for it! Very rewarding.

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

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.......

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

What would I give for friends like that?:hehetable

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

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

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

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...:egged:

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

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. :)

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

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

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

a cock might help :)

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

..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 :confused::confused: ;)

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

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

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

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.

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

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 ? :eek: :eek:

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

From wiki answers

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

Ha yes well I have one of those! :D....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)!

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

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

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

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

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

That was a different cock and he went ON the boil!.. And then in the oven! He was delicious!
He is the only one of my hens I have been able to eat though. He was a stray who appeared one day and attacked me so many times I lost it and decided to eat him. He was the size of a turkey.

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

Hahaha

Re: Keeping chickens???
 

Well I have seen him jumping on the hens backs but I don't know how to tell if he is actually any good or just, shall we say 'firing blanks!' As the hens don't sit on the eggs, how do I know if it's because they are not cut out for motherhood, or if it's because they know he is infertile.