Toying with the idea of keeping hens.

[illgetyoubutler]

But I dont have much grass in my garden at all.

It's more of a 'yard': It looked as if the area was a garden originally, but was concreted over, I think, so to park cars on it.

The concrete is a bit slap dash, and grass and tufts of moss can, and is currently growing over the whole area.

The yard is absolutly huge though.

What do you think?

chickens want somewhere to scratch and dig and dustbathe. You can keep them on a layer of woodchip but it would be nicer if there was earth under the woodchip rather than concrete - could you take a pickaxe to a corner of it?

Hmm, not sure.
I rent this property, and even though my landlady is one of the most laid back, and unbothered about any work done on the property, I'm not sure if she would like the idea..

But your saying it is possible?.
Would it to be cruel to keep them on woodchip though, as opposed to grass?
Are chickens that dont have access to grass sadder than chickens kept on lovely grass and mud?

Chickens prefer grass, but it's not essential. Mine are only allowed on the grass about twice a week.

If you're seriously considering keeping chickens you do need to know that they're endlessly messy and produce epic amounts of poo. Other than that, they're great fun to keep and very entertaining.

people do sometimes make fixed runs on concrete for protection from foxes and rats, don't they?

maybe you could let them out sometimes for a poke into the cracks in the concrete. You will have to scoop the poo up afterwards but that's easy enough (and it makes good fertiliser)

I'm in two minds now!
I was thinking of keeping 2 - 3 hens.
If I was to buy a large run, would this be sufficient enough for them to scratch and 'free range' outside for the majority of the day. My back yard isn't one were I could just leave them by themselves outside to their own devices. To the side of the yard is a road.
I may just have to call a chicken farm and talk to someone.
I dont want to be an negligent owner.

You can get a chicken coop with attached run and keep 3 chickens in it. You don't have to let them free-range. I have my 3 chickens in a small area about 3 metres by 2 metres sectioned off - I don't let them free range in my garden - they would just ruin it and poo everywhere.

With regard to the concrete, you could put down layers of bark and compost as well for them to rake through. My chickens love going through compost eating all the little scraps in there and all the worms/insects they find.

Yes, they prefer grass, but if kept permanently on grass they dig it up anway! They will be fine on concrete if you add a good deep layer of woodchip, and just turn it regularly to help keep the poo issue under control, then change it when it starts to smell. I would be inclined to make a reasonably large pen for them and then let them out onto the concrete for a bit of weeding every few days when you are around.

oh, a 3 by 2 metre run seems quite small to me.
I was thinking something along the lines of at least double that, but perhaps that a bit excessive?
Right, so I looked in the yard properly yesterday (we moved to this property quite recently, hadn't taken much intrest in looking before) and there are plenty of areas around the edges of the yard that have not been concreted over, so theres grass, weeds, bushy shrub type plants growing etc.
I'm guessing I can alternate where the run can go, so they get the opportunity to forage and scratch on plants and mud yes?
Some one mentioned dust baths: the area I'm guessing will be more muddy than dusty, its this a problem?
And how do I clean out the run of poo? do I clean everything out everyday, or weekly, or do I just pick up little blobs of poo?

I would say double the size would definately be better - the more space the better for them. They will dust bath in the ground when its dry, so if it is very wet you can provide a tub trug or other low wide dish full of dry compost or such like for them to use instead. You're fighting a losing battle picking poo out of the run. If its concrete with no top dressing you could pressure wash it each evening, but to be honest if you've got wood chip on you can just fork it over then every month or two change it.

ok...
So which breed of hen makes for the nicest eggs?
Id like hens who lay everyday.

the best breeds for every day are hybrids:
silverlink, Bovans nera, calder ranger, light sussex, all lay almost every day.

It takes about 26 hours to make an egg, so you will find you get about 5-6 eggs a week per hen.

In terms of run size, you should aim for at least 2m sq per hen.

If you've got concrete base, you've already sorted the digging fox proofing!
put a sand box full of soil in it, (preferably under a cover of some kind - about 1m above their heads, so they can dustbathe even when it's raining)
and you can leave the concrete bare, or put wood chips on it, or layers, or even just dump leaves on it - any old garden rubbish can go on and they love scratting around in it. (like when we've been weeding, we dump all the weeds in there and they go wild!)

Ooh, I'm getting excited!
hens are quite low maintenance, it seems.
Once I pick a good hen house (have my eye on a plastic house, rather than wood one) and buy a run that is nice and roomy, it seems there's not alot else I need to really worry about.
They eat alot of scraps don't they?
Is it too ambitious to want ex battery hens?

they do eat a lot of scraps, but you're not supposed to feed them meat (they are allowed to get meat fro mtheir own foraging iyswim)
and not raw potato, because it's just as bad for them as it is for us.

I wouldn't get ex-batts as a first-timer, because although it is hugely rewarding, they can need a lot of extra care.
and if you're doing it for the eggs, they won't lay anywhere near as many eggs as first year POL hens.

i keep toying with the idea of a couple of hens, but not sure how much work they are?

i work shifts,

how much time do they take up each day?

they don't take up much time at all!
If they live in a run, in the morning, you change the food and water, and in the evening (before they go to bed) you clean the poo out of the coop (you can do this in the morning, too - we have newspaper down, so they poo on that, and it gets rolled up together and thrown in the compost, and new paper put down) you need about 10 minutes to pick the poo out of the run as well (a stick and a fireshovel is the ideal tool for this!)
so, what, 20mins every day is necessary, and taking to the vet's time every now and then.
It's the non-obligatory sitting staring for hours at their amusing antics that takest he time!

I'm back again!

Okay, well run the idea passed DH this morning, and the only thing he said was, "What are the legal requirements?"

I couldn't say, but cant imagine there are any?...

Nicklebabe
Do chickens need to be taken to the vets alot, other than from being sick?
Do they get sick alot?

i have ex batts and they were the first hens i ever had. in addition to rehoming hens that would otherwise die you do get the back up of the rescue organisation volunteers so you can ask hen related questions at any time in the future. i didnt find mine extra work and they have all laid well. also they are not making a profit out of selling you hens so their advice may be more impartial than a breeder/farmer

Go for it, they're great!

No laws other than the general law of nuisance, which tends to apply more to cockerels than hens in most cases. Sometimes house deeds have clauses that prohibit livestock, but I think these are mostly hard to enforce, unless its a new estate and there's someone really up on these things.

The vet is an occasional trip for treating specific illness rather than a regular visit, most of ours have never requried the vets. Its worth finding a chicken-friendly one in advance though, some will not treat chickens.

you only need to worry about laws if you have 50 hens.
make sure your run is fox-proof (that's a chicken-keepers' law ) and make sure your neighbours are on side! (free eggs every few weeks usually placates them
any law prohibting livestock is actually unenforcable, because the Allotment act states that even if your land has a clause on it, you are allowed to keep hens for non-commercial use.

no, they don't need regular visits to vets. Every now and then they'll get poorly, but they're usually okay.
maybe once a year? not sure. the more hens you have , the more it seems like you're visiting the vets!
ex-batts are more likely to get poorly (not marjorly, though), because they've lived in such santised/medicalised environments and the stress can make them poorly. It's usually something that's treatable with Baytril, though

yy to finding a chicken friendly vet - we have 2 around here, cos we're quite rural, (at different practices) but I had to take Mercy the other week, when my usual vet was on hols, and the locum didn't "do" chickens.

I had to take my chicken to an 'exotic vet' in the nearest city when she was ill. Our local vet, in the country, didn't do chickens either. Disappointingly he wasn't that exotic....

I never scraped poo out of the hen run, no-one mentioned that before! Perhaps I am the negligent owner

you should do it, longlist - only takes 5 mins, and it stops the ground from getting smelly when it rains.