We are thinking of getting a couple of chickens, what do we need to know?

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi, my 6 year old daughter would love some pets. We can't have a dog as we like to go out and about a lot and would be restricted by the dog. My daughter has always been scared of cats and we live neer a road.

Do chickens make good pets? I think they'd be educational and it'd be good to have fresh eggs. What is it like to keep them? Do they need a lot of attention? Would they churn up the grass? and are they noisy?

It's between chickens and guinny pigs at the moment.

They are good pets, but start up costs can be high. They will trash your garden if you let them free range unrestricted. I have a house and run on slabs and then fill the run with horse bedding for them to scratch in. Nothing can dig in to the run, and it doesn't become a mud bath in the winter. I probably spend no more than ten minutes a day on basic care, and around half an hour a week on a proper clear out. They aren't noisy as such, but do cluck and bok when they've layed an egg or just fancy being gobby .

What do you need to start with? I know the chics have to have a heat lamp and a hen house, could I keep them in the house until they're bigger?

You'd be best off buying point of lay (POL) hens. Chicks are tricky, and can't be sexed. POL hens can go straight in to your garden and will start laying within weeks. Have you looked on the Omlet forum? They cover a lot of the basics and there's a section of pics showing people's set ups :)

They poo more than you can possibly imagine. Think about the most chicken poo imaginable and double it, and you still wont be anywhere close to how much poo a couple of chickens produce.

They will utterly destroy your garden and grass unless you keep them in a run.

They do poo a lot. In the winter, I poo pick once a week. In the summer, daily.

Maybe a guinny pig then.

We have a big garage with a side door that opens on to the garden. I wondered if I could block of half on that and keep them in there, in a hen house and they could have the rest of the room to scratch about in?

They need to be outside. If you keep them inside a garage it's not only a welfare issue, the smell will singe your hair.

Guinea pigs can be lovely pets if you put the time in.

Oh, I thought it would serve as a run and they could come into the garden as well as the door would be open, but closed in at night to keep them safe?

I think guinny pigs would probubly be a better option then, my dd loves them at the local farm attraction. She'll happily sit stroking them all day. I love our little garden and wouldn't want it messed up. My daughter plays out there a lot in the summer and I'd have to be picking up the poo all the time.

We have several farms neerbye, I think we'll just see the chickens there.

Oh, ok, got you. Thought you were thinking about keeping them in the garage full time

Chooks do poo a lot and they will eat most of your garden given half a chance. I still adore them

Thanks for your advice, I'll research guinea pigs now and see which would be better for us.
I love the look of chickens and think they would look sweet in the garden but I wouldn't be too keen on all the work.

i love my hens and they are great pets. one of ours particulary likes human company and my son brings her in the house sometimes. when we were watching comic relief last night she jumped out of the box she was in and slept in the dog bed . she is recovering from being poorly though
we thought ours would stay in their run, which is large, but having seen the enjoyment they get from wandering around the garden they are often let out to free range. they will wreck the garden and do poo lots and lots
i have raised our borders and accepted a patchy lawn. i re-seed lawn every year. but the joy they give us outweighs the mess

Hi, i have 3 chooks (live in an Eglu & extended run - see Omlet forum for full info ) They are fab there run is on bark & free range when i am in garden. Have fresh eggs 6 days a week, they are FAB pets, really freindly, fun to watch & the poo helps the compost heap. We have had guinea pigs in the past and they too poo masses !!! My choice would defo be the chooks, they win hands down. Good luck with your decision.

I vote for chickens!
the only pet that earns its keep

definitely go for 16-20 week olds, and a run in the garden.

If you wanted to keep them in the garage, you could always take the doors off and replace with weldmesh (1cmx1cm), and maybe do the same with the windows?

then you can free range them when you're home.

This might seem a really silly question but I have a north facing garden and whilst this is very sheltered it gets very little direct sunshine.

Would this be a problem keeping hens? I often read blogs describing the joy at seeing chooks fettling about in the sun

nah, it'll be fine.

make sure they've got protection from any winds.

you'd be surprised how much sun they will get at lunchtime in a north facing garden (had the same problem - it was really funny watching them squeeze up to cunbathe in the tiny corner of sun! )

ooh this is an interesting thread, we have been pondering the same thing. We don't have a huge garden at all and would have limited space for a run - we have friends with smaller gardens who have hens in smaller gardens with eglus (is that the right word?!) which seem to work fine, but what square metre-age do you reckon you need for the run?
currently we have a bottom corner of the garden that has a few bushes in it but with quite a lot of scratching about space which I thought we could fence off with a run at one end, does that sound possible? thanks!

I asked the space question on another thread here and was told that each chicken needs 1m square minimum if they are mostly going to be kept in the run. We are getting three chickens and I'm getting this coop with three runs.

they do need 1sqm minimum, but Defra recommends 2sqmeters minimum.
it means they're less likely to get bored.
plus, if you can, give them small tables and stuff to jump around on or climb. it just adds that bit of interest.

that's a nice coop.
good plan on getting the three runs, but remember, they're only a mtr high, too, so not much space for extra layers - you could probably put some ramps in.

or a coffee table kind of height.

this is our chicken house and run
it's 4 ft wide, by 12 ft long. (the house is 4ft by 3ft, and is far too big for 3 hens, but it does mean that we've got a good area underneath it for them to shelter.
We're thinking of blocking part of the inside of the house off, and using the spare as storage for food and straw. (saves newspaper too!)
inside from back
nest boxes from outside (we're thinking of blocking one of those off to, to use as storage again)
close up of pop hole
put a talbe in for their amusement
(they've been on it, because I cleaned up poo from there this morning!)

sorry mess up the lat link with the table

How high do they climb?! The coop I got was bigger than i ordered as they didn't have the smaller size in stock. Hopefully they will get a fair bit of free range time to. I imagine if we like chicken keeping we'll eventually get a walk in run.

well, they jump or fly, really, rather than climb
depending on the breed, they can fly to 5-6ft. (most hybrids are heavy breeds and definitely won't try any higher than that! but i'm not promising....)
but having tables at height of 12-18inches should be fine for normal days.
and ramps are good too, cos they'll run up them and "fly" down them!