Potential chicken keepers seeking advice

[Passmethecake]

Hi

DH and I have been thinking about getting some chickens for a few years now and we've decided that it's now or never.

Can anyone recommend websites / books to help get us started, please? Alternatively, if there's a kind soul out there who could offer some advice on the reality of keeping chickens we'd be very grateful. We'd especially like to know how noisy they are. We live in a fairly quiet residential area next to a large field and have a 5m x 5m patch of land at the back of the house. It's fenced-in and separate from the houses but obviously we don't want to annoy any of the neighbours.

Thanks!

Depending where you are, it might be worth checking out your local College of Further Ed - DH went on a "Chickens for your Garden" course through ours which he said gave him 1000 times more confidence than reading any amount of books.

IME, chickens (without cockerel) are not really noisy at all - and neighbours can be easily appeased with eggs.

We have six and they are not noisy at all unles sone of them loses the others in which case they squawk a bit. We used to have a cockerel and he was very noisy so make sure your chickens have been sexed.

If you hang around on the omlet forum for a bit you'll soon know everything you need to know. My biggest suprise was the amount of chicken poop they produce. Our six free range over an acre and its still everywhere!

I second the "no-one ever tells you how much they poo" sentiment.

Ours think they should be house chickens and spend all day camped outside the cat flap trying to make their point ATM (if they could only work out how to make placards they would) - so piles of poo all over the patio

excellent site

The people here will be happy to talk to you and give you lots of advice and info. They're very friendly and helpful.

I have three hens and they're not noisy at all, but can cluck a bit in the spring mornings and after they've laid an egg. Don't keep a cockerel in a domestic setting or the neighbours will not be happy. Cockerels also make noise all bloomin' day long, not just in the mornings.

Things you might need to know is that they need regular worming and you need to control external parasites as well or they can become debilitated.

Coccidiosis will manifest as constant diarrhoea, a mucky bum and being generally unwell.

Cleanliness is vital and keeping them clean can be a bit of a job. They need daily attention and cleaning. They produce quite a lot of poo which you will need to remove/sweep up, then swill down with water afterwards. I then sprinkle with a natural disinfectant called Stalosan.

If you go away, someone will need to come in twice a day to let them out/shut in at night, feed and give fresh water. Chickens aren't the kind of animal you can just leave for a day or two. Also, during the winter, their water freezes and needs thawing out a couple of times each day. Remember that it can be quite a miserable job cleaning up in the snow, wind and rain and you'll need to see to them even if you feel ill or tired. It can be a committment. My neighbours have just gotten rid of their hens due to the fact that they just couldn't spare the time to care for them and they also go away a lot. Remember also that friend/neighbours might not be keen on caring for them when you're on holiday - some people are funny about birds and bird poo

Everything must be fox and rat proofed. You must also be able to ensure the chickens won't escape from their area.

Don't use hay in their nesting box - it grown mould if it becomes damp.

Chickens become sick and die very quickly - birds are designed to hide the fact that they're ill, so it can come as a bit of a shock. When in doubt, worm and treat for coccidiosis - these are the two most common reasons for disease. Use a product called Flubenvet to worm - just sprinkle a small amount on some catfood for seven days. Use Ivermectin drops for parasite control - you can get this from the vets. A product called Coxoid is okay for Coccidiosis.

The breed I can really recommend is called a Light Sussex - they're white with a speckledy black cape and tail. They're lovely and tame, cheeky, friendly, robust and good layers. You can buy various hybrids which are fairly resistant to disease as well.

Chickens make great pets and I love mine Once you get into a routine, they're easy to care for and very funny

ps - if you want to cut down on the amount of poo, get a product called Orego-Stim. It's an oregano based liquid and cuts down on the amount, smell and also makes the poo firmer and more compact.

If you do get chickens, you'll soon find that the subject of poo and how to cope with it comes up quite a bit, but don't let that put you off, it's not that bad really

omlet forum and hemp bedding

Ilovemyhens is a far better chicken mother than me. My girls get cleaned out once a week and we regularly go away for a couple of days and leave them with plenty of food and water.

generally mine get a two minute visit in the morning to feed and water, collect any eggs and open the run. They wander about all day whilst I'm out at work and then they get ten minutes in the evening when I ensure they have food and water, give them a couple of handfuls of scraps or corn, collect eggs and then shut the run up to keep them safe from the foxes.

When we're at home mine also camp out at the back door pecking on it whenever they see someone inside and poop all over the patio even though they have plenty of other space!

Thanks everyone for your advice; especially about chickens being super-poopers. I had no idea!! I've done quite a bit of reading up on chickens and my dad used to keep them but has never mentioned anything about poo. This might sound like a really stupid question but what do you do with it? Does it just go in the bin or could you use it on the garden?

Just one more question:o
My garden is surrounded by a 6ft fence. Is this high enough to stop them from making an escape and will I need to dig down under the fence to lay chicken wire to stop rats from burrowing in - one of my friends seems to think I will.

Compost it. It makes fantastic manure. I used to get loads and would get takers on freecycle

virgiltracey - I am glad you posted that - that is how much attention our chickens get, and I was beginning to feel neglectful!

Oh, and OP - what to do with poo - I guess it depends how free-range your chickens are. We are v. rural and don't have a fox issue, so ours are only shut up at night - so apart from the patio which gets hosed down periodically, the poo just improves the general condition of the garden (as does having chickens eating a good proportion of the ants in the lawn). Bedding from their house (shavings and shredded paper) goes on the compost heap.

passmethecake they could fly over a six foot fence unless you get their wings clipped. I had a shock when we first let ours out and one immediately flew ten foot into a tree and refused to come down!

We haven't done anything about rats. We haven't seen any but we don't live in a town or city. We have an omlet cube and that has a strong wire run with a bit that sticks out a few inches at the bottom (so that its L shaped) - I want to call it a "flange" but I have no idea whether that it the correct word ! That stops foxes burrowing under the wire.

I have a friend who lives in a city and got rid of her chickens because she started getting rats in the house and thinks it ws connected but I have no idea whether it was.

we had rats in chicken pen (they tunnelled through the brick floor), garage and house last winter. We launched major chemical warfare and [touch wood] have had none this year - you can tell because there were no little ratty footprints in the snow

Chicken Keeping for Dummies is a good basic book. Lots of useful info on backyardchickens.com too. Our girls free range over a 4x10m area & get cleaned out once a week. The poo on the lawn I leave as it's great for the soil & when we leave we'll re turf it over. Bedding / coop floor (barley straw & wood shavings) go into the compost bin. You can dig the soiled straw straight into the ground as a soil improver but the high chicken poo content can burn plant roots so best to leave it to rot for a while first (or dig in over winter prior to spring planting).

For sheer egg production we have brown shavers and for looks, reliability and huge eggs (less often) we have barred rocks. As the shavers stop laying they'll be replaced with more rocks I think - they are a fab breed. We get 8-10 eggs a day from 11 girls which is pretty good. Summer here though and they don't like the very hot days so much - they need lots of water and a good shady area.