How big does your garden have to be to keep chickens in it and would they be scared of the cat?

[CaptainPicardsPineapple]

I would love to keep a chicken or two but we have a very, very small garden. How much space does a chicken need?

Do they poo everywhere? Obviously we still want to be able to sit in the garden etc.

Can they fly at all(like into next door's garden)?

If the cat were inclined to terrorize them would they be scared of her?

have a look here

Never had chickens myself but have two friends who have in the past.

If you let then have run of the garden I have heard they demolish every piece of plant life they can reach and yes there's a fair amount of poo

Take a look at the Eglu online, you don't need much space but think about how much space you'd like them to have.

The other thing seems to be storage of feed: Both the people I know ended up with rats after the feed so you really need to be able to store it in a garage or other brick/concrete structure and even then the little so-in-sos can often find a way in.

I used to have 3 that roamed the garden, yes they poo everywhere and when it gets into lo's wellies and they bring that into the car/house it stinks!!
mine didnt' wreck the lawn or plants (I was lucky by all accounts) and they used to wander off to visit the neighbours.
now I have 11 fenced in behind electric chicken fence and they still have a huge area to wander but we dont' have to tred in it.
also whenever my dd's were inthe garden eating an icecream or something the chickens used to fly up and grab it - many tears!! they cant' do that now lol.
we also have 4 cats - the cats used to keep away from the chickens, we don't have bantams but quite big birds and the cats were most respectful towards them

My cats do not bother my chickens once they are grown. You can get breeds that don't fly. They do make a mess - even the feather footed breeds and the smaller area you have for them, the more you will notice it. Wouldn't be without them

We keep our feed in the kitchen.

I've been surprised by how little poo there is since I let them out of their run - from what I'd heard on here I thought it was going to be everywhere, but it only takes a few mins every few days to pick it up.

as long as there is space for your coop to be moved occasionally you dont need much room. I always found that my chickens were really happy roaming free, they did poo, but it disintegrates very quickly, and my pekin bantams didnt seem to eat everything, they just had a lovely time rootling in the soil. They did have a tendency to bugger off under the gate, and were often to be seen six houses down the street, aparently the lady of the house did good leftovers!
Having seen a broody pekin put the fear of god into my cocker spaniel, i dont think you would have much problem with cats!
Go on, go for it! chickens are lovely, I have had a break, but decided I cant live without them, so am getting some more. I can recommend pekins, and transylvanian naked neck bantams, the nakeds are funny looking, but have the sweetest temperaments.