Urban working chicken keepers

[DuffyMoon]

Just wondered if anyone kept chickens in a suburban garden and also was out to work most of the day - is it feasible? I really want an eglu and some bantams but worried about neighbours and also the chickens getting cabin fever - though they would have a run - and whether the maintenance is feasible timewise in evenings/weekends.

Yes, me!
I Have 5 hens in a cube with extended run and let them out after work and at weekends. They are happy girls and amuse us no end.
There is a discussion forum on the omlet site where you can pick up man good ideas.

Yes have been mooching round the omlet forums could you give me an idea of your chicken timetable as it were - what you do when and how long it takes. Are they fairly quiet during unsocial hours ?

I have kept chickens for past 4 years in my largeish garden -they have bottom 30 ft of garden under trees.
Both DH and I work fulltime-they need feeding in the morning and freshwater.

I usually get up 6-7 to let them out even at weekends and I know people who get up earlier!
They need to be fed late afternoon and then shut in at dusk.
Having said that they are great fun and the eggs are amazing. No problem with noise unless you get a cockerell-dont!
Weekends we clean them out really well-to avoid flies and smell.
Good Luck!

I leave their bedroom door open so they get themselves up and go to bed.
I keep food/ water topped up - extra feeder if necessary.,
poo tray emptied twice a week 5-10 min job including washing and drying.
Full clean at weekend.
Home 6ish, plenty of time for free ranging in summer.

Im afraid we have to keep our girls firmly shut in at night due to a local fox that took one of my girls-ripped the door completely off our old ark.
We now have a fox/badger/rat proof run 9x12 ft with a roof and weld mesh-foxes can bite through chicken wire.Concrete floor and weldmesh dug in all around the boundary.Use Easibed horse bedding on the floor.
I still lock them in their house which is inside the run as Im paranoid it will find its way in!
We have a larger run that goes on the grass but only let them in it if we are at home.

That is such a shame, Lincoln. Love the sound of your setup. Mine go outside when I'm home too.

... do you find that the easibed gets soaked with weather? I'm wondering about switching to something elser from hardwood chippings so that it's easier to maintain.

Bramble- We have a roof on the new run-its clear so they can still see the sky
The run is the predator proof run from FlytesoFancy.It was £££ but worth every penny.They get plenty of sunlight and the Easibed and the chooks stay dry.
We used Easibed in another unroofed run and it got soggy and nasty quite quickly.
The girls are all asleep in a big pile on the grass as its really sunny here today

aww. Mine have been FR over the whole garden today, sunbathing and dustbathing whilst we pimped their outdoor run. Very lovely to watch! now to watch them trash/relandscape the outdoor run!