Am I insane to consider getting chickens?

[LayItDown]

Okay, I’m so on the fence about this - so someone talk sense into me one way or the other.

Detached house, medium sized garden in the subs. Neighbours fully backing our garden. No foxes, lots of cats (I have two, but the most they seem to be able to catch is flies). Neighbour is ‘normal’ noisy - neighbours to the right very quiet, to the left a big family, lots of chatter but generally respectful. Neighbours on back regularly have parties (but they never seen particularly loud).

Have considered for some time getting some rescue barn hens. Love the idea of fresh eggs from the garden.

I have a loud, obnoxious toddler but it’s just us, so our household is generally quite calm. It would be nice to teach him the value of food in a simple way he can understand.

I literally have no idea what I’m doing and going to need to research keeping them safe, caring for them, etc. So for now, this is theoretical. But I’m not sure if it’s reasonable to keep them.

Would you keep chickens whilst living in a suburban area?

[2bazookas]

Well I don’t know for sure about the foxes! I know there are some in the woodlands 5 mins away, but I’ve never heard them here or experienced any knowledge of them. Our garden backs onto other gardens in a grid, so I’m not sure how they would get in - though I suppose there’s probably gaps here and there they could get through

Then you'll definitely have foxes round your hens, They can climb well so will enter over walls and fences.

You'll need to feed layers pellets to keep up the egg supply; and if you go away you'll need someone to come in daily to feed/water in exchange for eggs. Four hens or even 3, would be plenty of eggs for a family of 3.
I started with rescue hens but TBH some are quite damaged; it's much better to buy healthy young point of lay pullets. I recommend ISA brown cross, prolific layers.

[zscaler]

Sorry, I keep thinking of more things!

You don’t need to worry about them being cold in winter as they’re very well insulated with their feathers. When we had that very bad winter of prolonged snow a few years ago we moved ours into a spare stable because they couldn’t really get through the deep snow very well, but that was a very unusual circumstance!

[Murinae]

I have chickens and they aren’t that much work but do need some things. Ours are on hard flags and I buy wood clippings and then completely swop out every 6 months. We have somewhere to throw the wood clippings in the garden but if you don’t that could be hard work. I feed them twice a day and worm them every 6 months with flubenvet. I let mine out in the garden only when I’m out too so they have been really enjoying me being at home due to work being shut lately! I have 7 bantam sized and one full sized in an Eglu cube with 5 metres of run. I also volunteer for fresh start for hens and help rehome ex commercial hens. They do poo a lot and are very messy and dig up your lawn and flower beds but are great fun and our cats are terrified of them.

[pigsDOfly]

My neighbour kept hens in a very small garden right against our adjoining wall.

They were clucking, or whatever hens do, almost all day long from very early in the morning. Thankfully, my bedroom is at the other side of the house so although I could hear them, the sound wasn't too loud. It did however, deter me from sitting in my garden.

No problem with rats or foxes though, just the awful noise.

Massive relief when she got rid of them.

[firstmentat]

Why don't you start with quail? I keep a small covey, keeps the family in eggs, zero noise (even with males), very manageable space requirements. From the educational perspective - quail chicks imprint on the first being they see after the hatching (following around, calling etc) so my 4 year old usually takes the role of the mother hen. You can buy a cheap incubator and hatch your own, which is another experience for your children about the cycle of life.

[Murinae]

They are also worse than dogs for begging for food off you! I do also feed my kitchen scraps but only carrot peelings and the big stalks off broccoli.

[user1493494961]

It depends if you're bothered about your garden looking nice, it won't if you give chickens free run.

[spababe]

Can you get chickens? I heard everyone snapped them up at the start of lockdown and now they are very hard to get hold of.

[Murinae]

@spababe I bought two Pekin bantam hens last week from a professional breeder and fresh start for hens have now also started rehomings again.

[Tableclothing]

Our NDN has them. They're no bother (3bed semis so they are close). NDN is a meticulous bloke whose house is always immaculately kept so I imagine his chickens are too. No sign of rats.

[Tableclothing]

The eggs are lovely too.

[Deadposhtory]

My neighbor has chickens. Not particularly noisy and the eggs are delicious

[BirthdayCakes]

Get some! They're funny things and they don't take too much work.. Its sweet how they put themselves to bed and come running if they think you've got a treat for them

They will DESTROY your garden though

[480Widdio]

You will get rats if you keep chickens.A few years ago I did a lot of research as I wanted some.

I bought Practical Poultry I think it was called,there are several different magazines.

I went to look at chickens,had even chosen which ones to get.

It was the rat thing that put me off,I was told when I went to look,that you will get rats no matter how clean you are.So gave up on the idea,

[Piffle11]

I have had hens in the past … they CAN be noisy: not all the time, like cockerels, but they are noisy and there's no getting away from it. I had rats until I changed their feeder to one that the hen had to stand on a plate to open the feeder. No rats visible after that. You need to be prepared for them wrecking your garden - they don't differentiate between weeds and your favourite flowers. They scratch grass until it's completely gone. You need to be willing to either buy good quality equipment or deal with red mite, early starts, and late finishes - hens will take themselves indoors on a night, but only when it gets dark. If you don't have an automatic door open/closure you will be stood there going 'FFS, GO TO BED!!!' as I often was (my automatic door closure broke). Also, you need to have someone to look after them when you are away - their coop needs cleaning daily and they need fresh water too. And foxes WILL appear - foxes will travel miles to nab a hen. My hens were killed by foxes last year … it's horrible to see them just left there dead. BUT - if you can keep them safe, have someone look after them when you're not there, clean them out and get up to let them out/put them to bed late at night … the eggs are amazing. Best ever. But my hens were never particularly friendly! Adored them, though.

[LayItDown]

Argh, I hadn’t considered the rat problem! The biggest problem we’ve ever had is a hole in the garage and had some wood mice raid our stores. No signs of rats but of course they will be around.

I’m not bothered about the garden as such. I have a ‘wild garden’ - re. I’m very lazy about it! Cut the grass, pull some weeds, but otherwise let it do it’s thing.

[Piffle11]

And forgot to say - I'd be worried about your animals. My cat would occasionally run at the hens, who would screech and scatter … but the only time they were attacked by other than a fox was a dog. Farm dogs tend to be used to the smell, but town dogs aren't: someone was walking their dog near our garden and it vaulted two fences to get at our hens. It attacked one and pulled out a lot of her feathers. It may have killed her if her owner hadn't been so quick to appear and grab her. So be wary of your dogs.

[Piffle11]

If rats is your only concern, consider a 'Grandpa's chicken feeder'. Not cheap, but brilliant. I used to have those 'open' feeders, and I could actually see rats going into the enclosure and taking the food. Once I got the Grandpa's thing, not a sighting. Plus, if you do go away, you can fill it up and whoever is looking after your girls doesn't have to worry about the food bit.

[Tootsey11]

Bear in mind the variety you get. Pure breeds will not pay all year, they take a break from laying, usually in the winter, then resume again. ISA browns are breed to lay throughout the year. ( I live on a farm and have be around poultry and hatched out my own for over 35 years).

[LayItDown]

Okay, here’s a particularly barbaric question (and I really hope it’s not an immediate problem), but what do you do if a chicken dies (from natural causes or attacked). Do you eat it or chuck it? I’m not necessarily squeamish but I don’t think I’d know what to do! If anything happened to the cats, I’d bury them I think. But I’m not sure I’m going into this considering the chickens will be pets - rather functional.

[Tootsey11]

You bury it or cremate it.

[LayItDown]

Okay - so I’m taking from this:

Generally low maintenance. Feed, water and clean and they are good to go. Pick your hens carefully depending on what you are looking for. They can be noisy, but not disruptive. Rats and foxes are always serious problems - so give them a safe enclosure and think about automatic feeders and coops. The garden will be destroyed, so fence off the places I don’t want them to visit. They poo everywhere. Cats are probably more scared of them than the chicks are of the cats.

But otherwise, I’m feeling quite positive about the idea.

[EveryDayIsADuvetDay]

I help look after chickens in central London at my local community center - hens only (5), no roosters.
They live in a pen by omlet //www.omlet.co.uk

The woman who advised on the set up and trained the initial volunteers said she'd kept chickens in a similar housing in a more suburban area, and had no problem with foxes.

I'm not aware of any complaints from neighbours - the yard that they're in is surrounded by flats.

Do bear in mind that they will slow down with laying after a couple of years - we used to get four or five eggs daily, now one or two is more common.

They are lovely, and I'd definitely have chickens of my own if I had a garden.
The food and bedding supplies are all kept in heavy duty containers; I saw a mouse in their cage once, but not a rat.
Now that the yard is quiet, they're never noisy when I approach, but all start chatting to me when they hear me arrive.
The pen they're in is static, so they don't get to destroy the garden unless they escape, and they all take themselves off to bed when it gets dark.

[Murinae]

@layitdown it depends if you like pretty little fluffy hens who don’t lay many eggs or larger brown hens who lay nearly everyday. I personally prefer the little fluffy ones as we don’t eat that many eggs. From my 7 (well 6 as one is a cockerel) I get about two-three eggs a day and that’s plenty for us and I give them to the neighbours too.

[AntiSocialDistancer]

I've unsuccessfully Googled - could someone explain the DEFRA kitchen scraps advice please?

Just out of nosiness. I'd love chickens but can't have any so I am just window shopping on this thread!