New to all this

[MTBMummy]

DP and I have been considering getting chickens when we move to our new house in a couple of months, but aside from having a couple of bantams (for 1 week before the neighbors dog ate them) when I was a teenager, I really am a bit clueless.

I love the idea of adopting some ex battery hens, and I think having hens would be a great experience not only for DD, but for all of us as a family.

But before we venture into this, there are a few things I'd like to ask mumsnetters (aka font of all knowledge)

firstly, what size garden do you need? Our new garden will be an average sized family garden with plenty of room for a 2mx1m run (was thinking 3 maybe 4 chickens?) and a separate coop, ideally once they've settled in and I can be sure the garden is escape proof, I'd like to be able to be able to let them roam the garden, particularly at the weekend, and on days when we're at home during the week.

Secondly what the heck do you do with chickens in the winter? Our neighbor sends his off to a friend who has a large farm and barn for the chickens to spend their winter in, and they return every spring.

And finally the place we're buying has a small, shallow pond, if we were to let the chickens out would we need to cover the pond, or would they be smart enough not to drown themselves in it?

Our cats seem completely un-phased by our neighbors chickens, but we'd obviously make sure that we kept a very close eye on things if we did start letting them our to roam the garden.

Anything else I should know? Any advice thoughts or comments that we haven't thought about

I wouldn't worry too much about the cats. Ours is a feisty killing machine yet the chooks trapped him in a corner and he had to be rescued .
It's the foxes really, my mum's neighbour lost her chooks in broad daylight when she'd only popped into the kitchen for five minutes, and she'd thought they'd be safe with her high fence. Foxes are very quick!

Ours were fine in the winter (our first winter as chook owners) although they weren't terribly impressed with the snow. They carried on laying every day whatever the weather. They had lots of lovely warm bedding and an old horse rug over their coop for a bit of insulation, and I gave them plenty of porridge and warm mashes to keep their spirits up.

GET CHICKENS!! DO ITTTTTTT!

We have ex-free rangers but our next lot will be ex-batts. You have to feed ex-batts on different food to start with. Have a look at BHWT website for info.

We originally let ours have 25ft of the garden with their coop in but since a neighbours were eaten by a fox, ours are now in a walk-in run. I don?t know the dimensions but we built it using Heras fencing so it?s 1 fence panel long, half a panel wide. We have 3 chooks and their coop with little run in there and it?s plenty big enough. We put some turf in (which they?ve pooped all over and mostly dug up), we?ve built a dust bath station and put an old decking board in which they can climb up. They seem fine ? obviously it was a bit odd for them to start with, they?d gone from having oodles of space to not having so much but they really seem to like it. We let them out when we?re in the garden, either in their old area if we have guests or we let them roam free if it?s just us. Quite often they have a little play and take themselves back into their walk in run. On a hot day they like shade, so last time we had one in a plant pot having a dust bath, 1 asleep under my chair and 1 asleep under DH?s chair! Very cute.

In winter they take a bit more care but not much. I make mine a little warm porridge using their layers pellets and we shut the door across their little coop when they go to bed (which is as soon as dusk falls) so they?re warm. They get extra bedding too. That?s about it!

We have a deep water feature in the middle of our garden?the chickens have never fallen in. One has attempted to drink out of it and she likes walking around the edge of it to give me a fright but mostly they ignore it.

The chickens will see off the cat, trust me on that one!!

Having them in a walk-in run is so much easier. I no longer have to get up at the crack of dawn to let them out, they let themselves out. I no longer have to lock them in early, or leave a party early to get home to them because they take themselves to bed and they?re secure.

You need to poo pick and collect eggs daily, deep clean once a fortnight in summer and once a month/6 weeks in winter to stop red mite. We give our chooks poultry spice once a week, maybe a little bit more in winter if they?re struggling with the cold. Otherwise they pretty much entertain themselves. Treatswise, they get whatever is in the ground, sometimes I?ll cook up some spaghetti for them if they need a dose of poultry spice and they?re avoiding it in their food. I mix oyster shell and baked egg shells in with their food. I also shake little snails out of the bamboo as they go crazy for those. They love cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage too but they don?t get these often as they don?t eat their pellets if they fill up on treats! Corn as a treat shouldn?t be given too often ? ours get a handful once a week. In winter I mix a bit of corn in with their evening porridge as it?s warming.

They?re amazing and have really enhanced our lives. I know that sounds daft but we really do love them and we look after them like you would any pet. They?re such funny little creatures.

Thanks both for replying, and Hazel for all that info, it's a great help to get some real life experiences from people.

I have been warned about ex batts needing a special diet and that they can be very wobbly on their legs until the regain their strength, but that doesn't worry me too much, my view is that we'd only every rehome other pets (cats or dogs) from a rescue, so why not chooks?

I've been looking at this run www.woodenart.org.uk/products.php?product=The-William-Chicken-Coop-Hen-House-and-Run# but I wasn't sure if it would be too big for only 4 in winter - do they get cold? or do you need a nest box per hen? I thought 4 would be a nice easy number to start off with - but am I being naive, should I start with 2 and see how we go?

I've read a bit about them establishing a pecking order, honestly how bad is it, I've dealt with it in cats and dogs, so I know to pretty much leave them too it (otherwise you just draw out the process) but it sounds quite violent amongst hens.

They fluff themselves up to keep warm and they'll snuggle together at night. You won't need a nest box per hen, they tend to all lay their eggs in the same box!

That is quite a big run but they love open space so I don't think they'll be "rattling around" in it.

I'd start with 4 personally. We'll never have less than 3 as they do like company. 4 is a lovely number to have. Weirdly, when we first got ours they quickly established the pecking order without much violence. However, this year, the pecking order changed and I'll admit, it was vile to watch but only because I was so used to little Nancy being bottom of the pack. They didn't really fight, just pecked each other and chased the one that was now below them away. The only time I was horrified was when Nancy pulled Cheska down the ramp by her ear. Cheska didn't seem too bothered about it (plus she was a vile little madam when she was broody so Nancy was only getting her own back ) The only chicken to sustain an injury was Cheska and we came home to find her comb bleeding. A quick clean up, some vaseline and a big cuddle and she was fine. The establishing of the pecking order took around 2-3 weeks and during that time they were moved from free range into a run so had a fair amount of stress during it as well.
Now the girls get on fine and all play together as they did before. I think it's pretty natural and I let them get on with it but obviously kept an eye incase things got too out of hand.