questions ( probably stupid) from lurker

[KristinaM]

Greeting chicken keeping mumsntters

i am lurking on your threads and considering getting chickens. i still have some really basic questions - apologies if they are really stupid.......

we live in the country. sparrowhawks ( we assume) have been killing pigeons in our garden - will they attack chickens too?

will foxes come after the chickens in the day? we rarely see them in our garden in the day

our garden has a wall all round and a cattle grid on the gate - will it be safe for chickens?

If i let them free range in the day, how will I get them in at night? it seems a shame to not let them roam as we have plenty space ( or am i being naive)

Won't they lay their eggs all over the garden and i wont be able to find them?

will they mind sharing the garden with three or more noisy kids on bikes etc?

what breeds are best for small children to pet?

what do i do with them when I go on holiday? ( the chickens not the kids)

I would strongly recommend an enclosed run if for no other reason than they will eat all your delicate plants if they roam about your garden. They will also poo everywhere.

If you have foxes are about they will get over a cattle grid by walking round the edge of it.

All in all I think you need a run and a proper roosting/nestng box shed/hutch. Much more knowledgable people than me will be able to tell you about the various types.

I have a smple fenced of run with an internal nesting box hut. My problem is rats. They routinely come in the garden to get to the hen food because my run is not secure. It has gaps under the wire dug by the hens and the rats.

A good well designed secure run will make your hen keeping a much more enjoyable experience. One solution you might consider is what I do which is a fixed run but let the hens out of their run but strictly control where they can wander in a designated area with a moveable wire fence. I have a walled garden so no fox can get in though.

We have a house with a nesting box and a secure run. When we are at home, the chickens have the run of the back of the garden, cordoned off with a wire fence. We kept them in the house for a week when we first got them, and they only lay eggs in the nesting box and return there to roost at dusk, so we just shut them away then. If we have to round them up before dusk it is trickier, and easier with two people! Friends look after them when we are away.

thank you

so having a coop and a secure run woudl be fine for when we are out and at night, but they could have the run of the garden when we are about?

i dont have any delicate plants ( the kids would kill them) and i was hoping that the droppings would be spread over the whole garden so woudlnt make too much of a mess IYSWIM. how much mess can 2 or 3 birds make?? [naive]

we don't have many foxes as we are in the country - they seem more of a problem in the suburbs i think. but worried they will turn up when the word gets out

we dont have rats, only field mice

If you live in the country you will inevitably run the risk of attracting foxes and rats. As long as food is stored securely in bins with lids and the rats cannot access the food in the run or eggs in the coop they will not be a problem.

I think letting the chickens out when you are physically in the garden is fine as long as you dont care about the plants. They are great for clearing weeds by the way. If you fence them on a weedy patch they will clear it for you. The poo will be spread about but can be a pain if they do it on your door step or paths that are regularly used.

Good luck!

Sparrowhawks and Kestrels won't be able to kill a hen. I'm not sure about bantams as they are a lot smaller so might be vunerable especially if there are buzzards about.

When you first get your hens you might have to catch them each night and put them to bed so they learn where to go, but once they know they will put themselves to bed at dusk each night.

As long as you shut the hen house once they are all in bed and the house is secure foxes shouldn't be a problem. I have heard of foxes taking hens during the day, but I have never had a problem with this (do you have a dog? they put them off)

My hens loved being able to roam free. They never wear out any grass, they make their own dust bath, there is less mess as the poo gets spread out, they get to eat what they want (shockingly mine have eaten frogs and mice) The hens will return to their nest boxes to lay their eggs. Due to the dog we had to put ours in a pen in the end as he was eyeing them up as a snack.

Hens are pretty fiesty and will be fine with kids and bikes. The list of breeds is endless. I went for a hybrid called Blackrocks. They are very hardy (it's cold and windy where i live)they are good layers and pretty much look after themselves. If you went on holiday you would need someone to open and close the henhouse morning and night, top up food/water and collect eggs.

It's worth noting it's often feast or famine when it comes to eggs. They can lay 6 a week in the spring/summer but come the moult in the late autumn and into the winter they stop laying.

We have 7 chickens (used to be 8). They roam all over fields all day and come back to the coop at night. We have never had to round them up. We are in a rural area and we do not use a run. Generally they stay within the territory of the fields they have decided upon, but once last Summer they all went together quite a distance away on to a dog walking route, but someone informed us and DH went down there and called them back. I know it sounds implausible that they respond in such a way but they do when they know you well.

We had one hen go missing a few months ago, and we don't know what happened to it. It may have been taken by a dog or a fox, or it may have just wandered off and died. The rest have all been fine.

They choose to spend some of the day in the garden and follow the children playing on the slide and so on. They follow me when I hang out washing. They are much more sociable than I expected them to be.

If the food has run out, they sometimes come out of the garden and walk over to our house and wait for us to come out. A lot of the food they find for themselves in the fields.

We have only had two occasions when one has started laying eggs outside of the coop, but it has only been temporary.

thank you all for this

re birds of prey - we thought it was a kestrel taking the pigeons but spoke to a falconry expert who said that kestrels were rubbish hunters, it must be sparrowhawks

we live on farmland (dairy)and the farm has a cat but we have never seen it - i assume it has plenty mice at home.so its not a cat. and we don't have a dog, only very fierce magpies.

we never see rats - i'm assuming that all the rats within a mile radius are down in the neighbours barn eating their grain

we have space to keep pellets in a sealed container in a shed. and two farms down is a feed merchants so hopefully i can buy supplies there.

i was hoping to use shredded paper as we have a lot of it at work. and i can put soiled paper and dropping straight into the compost bin?

one of the reasons I'm considering the chickens is that the children would like a pet. the other is that we eat a lot of eggs

chickens seem more productive and interesting than the other options ( guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters etc)

i DO like the thought of them being able to FR during the day ( i know i may not like the reality)so your comments Milly are very encouraging. I assume they will not leave the garden as the wall is 6 feet high? will the cattle grid keep them in? we share our gate with a neighbours so cant keep it closed

if they disappear into teh neighbouring woods i will never find them before the fox. otherwise i assume they will be safe in the fields with the cows

i love the story of your Dh going to fetch them home

blackrocks sound good as we live on an exposed site

We have a couple of white leghorns. I would thoroughly recommend them. They are our best layers - never miss a day, white eggs.

Also much friendlier than the Marans we also have. Will let us pick them up. Ours are very hardy too. One (Named "Snowball" appropriately enough) got left out of the coop one night in all that bitter weather last winter. She was out all night in -18 and deep snow and was fine. A bit hacked off with me - but fine. Didn't stop laying either.

They go in by themselves at dusk. ( except apparently when it's -18 and snowy )

We started off with a 5m x 10m pen with the coop inside, at the end of the garden. It got dreadfully muddy over the winter so we let them into the garden but they trashed the plants. Moveable poultry netting has done the trick, so we can give them the end of the garden/woods and shift it about to 'mow' up the poo with the lawnmower and give them a fresh patch of garden to range in.

We live on the edge of woods in a very rural area, but we have never seen hide nor hair of a fox. I guess there is too much else about for them to catch without having to risk coming near us. We do get red kites about, but they have never tried to get a chicken.

The neighbours look after them if we are away in return for free eggs.

Thanks marge. We really Need friendly birds as we have 3 small children who will want to pet them.

I think my main obstacle might be holidays as our neighbours are farmers so hardly likely to want more work.....

Watching this thread with interest as we're off to buy our first hens this weekend.

Hope I'm not hijackig the thread too much, but can anyone recommend the most child friendly breeds/hybrids? - we have two young DCs.

inmyhead: light sussex hens are placid hens and are recommended for children. i have three and even when 2yo ds has a cup of corn in his hands they don't chase or peck at him.

That's great to know, thanks bamboobutton. Hoping to buy them on Sunday.

Hi. I am new to this site, but not to chicken keeping. At the moment we have four hens:a blackrock, white sussex, goldenline and one I can't remember!

We have a henhouse inside a fixed run, with wired roof and netting sunk into the ground. Round that is another fixed fence - 6ft high. This means they can roam a bit when we are not here, but hopefully safely. We live in the country and have lost quite a few to foxes. When we are in the garden we let them out. If you build a run, try and cover part of it with corrugated plastic sheets so that in the winter the hens will not be living in a total bog! Tarpaulins are ok but can just fill up with water. I've just persuaded OH to cover the bit where we go in as well so we do not churn it up too.

Chickens are great to have. They will respond to a call once they learn that there is food to be had. Try to handle them as much as possible, get them to feed out of your hand etc.

Read up as much as you can about them, use forums, magazines books etc. They are quite addictive........ :)

Pekins are lovely for children. We have two and then four hybrids, which are better egg layers. Pekins are small and fluffy and seem to like being picked up and cuddled. We find it harder to catch the hybrids - they've got longer legs!!!!

Also recommend pekins - we have three who are absolutely pestered by our kids - they put the birds on the slide, swing etc - but they are very good natured and take it all in their stride!

I want some! I am in an urban area - would it be okay?

I am an urbanite and I have 3 hens and 2 14 weekers of so far unknown sex! Overall they are no problem and the neighbours have no issue with them (even though 1 is a bit houdini-ish!)

Go for it you will love them to bits

thanks- I like the sound of the perkins