Give me some top tips for Chicken Keeping please

[Washersaurus]

DH has been on about keeping chickens (for egg laying) for ages...long before all this media coverage of chicken abuse by Hugh F-W et al.

He wants to keep 3/4 hens, I think, and ideally would like to construct a home for them himself.

He has been researching thoroughly, but I just wondered if anyone had any hints/tips on which hens to go for and what sort of hen house design, and if anyone has anyone design plans that would be extremely helpful.

I would say go for it, but it ends up being strangely addictive!

My husband built his own coop and run and it's great because we got what we wanted. However, it might actually have been cheaper to buy one. The best thing is to search on the internet and see what sort of features you like, then work out if it's best to make or buy one.

As for hens, what do you want - pretty ones or egg-laying machines? Some breeds go better throughout winter, others go off lay for months. We started with a few ex-battery hens, but have since added some rare breeds and some meat birds. We're now trying to build up a few that lay good colours - chocolate brown and green for starters!

There are several forums around too - Practical Poultry is a good one, lots of ideas and help for novices. The Practical Poultry magazine is a good read too.

Also be aware that big hens make a big mess in your garden. I love free range hens but mine made such a mess - digging in the flower beds and creating dust baths everywhere, that I downsized to bantams.

Also you'll need to worm every six monthsish and de-lice regularly. Be aware also that H5-N1 is in the wild bird population right now.

Exbatt is right about, erm, ex batts... Ex battery hens make brilliant first chooks - very friendly and lay tons of eggs. Good luck and go for it.

Oh, and plans for chicken coops can be downloaded from the internet I would think - just google it.

And chickens are just as noisy as cockerels when they have just laid an egg...

I got mine three years ago from eglu.co.uk. Very easy to keep and clean out - the eglu itself is very strong. Lots of info on there about keeping chickens. I have never deliced or wormed mine (they don't have lice or worms though). Tremendously easy to keep though make more poo than you can ever imagine and I second that you will have a ruined garden.

My two are currently sitting in the outhouse catching the warm air from the tumble dryer vent

One tip (esp if you have children who are going to get attached to the chickens)....never underestimate the intelligence or ability of Mr Fox!

I would definitely recommend you get a couple of ex battery hens too - its a very rewarding thing to do and you should still get a decent amount of eggs from them.

Laurie - that is like saying you're dog/cat doesn't have fleas. All animals carry creepy crawlies and chooks do need to be de-liced and wormed regularly. A sign of worms is smelly, runny poo.

Sorry, haven't had a chance to check back until today. Thanks for all your tips - we will prob start with some ex-battery hens and have directed DH to the Poultry Forum mentioned.

I didn't realise they were such trouble around the garden generally though - not sure what DH will do about his veggie patch!

You can use wire netting to fence off the veggie patch and other bits of the garden you don't want destroyed. That's what we do - so they can 'free-range' in a very defined area! Although some can jump better than others, so you need to watch the beggars and sometimes adjust your defences!

Callisto, i'm 100% certain my dog doesn't have fleas. I don't delouse or worm my chickens either - we have a flock of about 20-30 for eggs and meat. They certainly don't have lice when i pluck them. But they are very free range, i keep them clean and they don't have to peck over the same muck all the time. Not keen on stuffing them full of chemicals anyway - I've stopped worming my horses, and just do poo picking, field rotation and their worm counts are non existant.

We don't worm or delouse either and all seems well so far. Have had 3 for 3yrs and very much enjoyed having them and the eggs are wonderful. The hens are such characters could watch them for hours!
Ours eat mixture of organic food and kitchen scraps - we keep small bin in kitchen (no citrus). Only thing that's suffered since they came is the compost heap!
We also have egglu (lge) and it's very easy to clean and very hygienic, ours also have a defined area of garden to free range but it's a bit like chicken run out there sometimes they love an escape. Nothing makes them happier than a dust bath, sweetcorn and linseed to peck at - an increase the omega 3 content of our eggs[ wink ] Think that's it now we'll probably always have hens, haven't bought an egg since we bought them!

we don't worm or delouse either, they seem fine. I would say invest time and money securing the area you want them to be in, don't half do the job as i did and then have to keep rounding them up from other people's gardens! They are great, and you will never have to scrape plates into the bin again!

Seconding the fox and cat concerns... not to mention intervention of the two-legged variety.

We kept all sorts of fowl when I was a child - chickens, ducks, geese and even a turkey tom. I enjoyed it as a kid, aside from mucking out the coop. My brother hated the noise and mess though. We never wormed our fowl, though we did keep an eye on them and dusted them for mites. Chickens do like to dust themselves and scratch and peck, so any grass in your garden will be a distant memory.

I'd recommend that before you get chickens, just think about how you use your garden. There's a fair bit of occasional work with chickens, but overall, why not give it a go?

I've been smallholding for the last few years with pretty much every type of feathery and hairy going and would offer the following advice!

1. Foxes will get them the minute you lock up late/ don't mend the fence/let your guard down! Sorry to sound dramatic but it's true, I've lost full size geese in daylight to a hungry fox.Make your run 100% fox proof and don't rely on weeing round the enclosure or dog hair or whatever the remedies are. They can't hurt but they won't stop them.

2. Unless you're quite experienced I would start off by working and de-lousing your birds, especially if they are kept on the same patch of ground. We ended up not worming/lousing but we had them ranging over 4 acres and used sand baths, vinegar water etc and a strict poo collection regime for all animals. There are organic methods. When de-lousing, don't forget mites and beasties love wooden hen houses too.

3. Ask as many questions as you can, Practical poultry, Country smallholder and ACountryLife sites are exellent.

4. Keep hens away from seedlings. End of

5. If you don't mind the smell, hens love a mash boiled up of peelings, a few oats, crushed egg shells etc. They eat almost anything and I've never had an egg tainted with odd flavours. Hens are not veggie, they will knock you down for a sniff of fish or meat but I wouldn't go overboard on them.

6. Ask friends and colleagues for heels of bread, peelings and cardboard egg boxes. I also know people who keep their hens on shredded paper from the office but I found that this gets tangled in their crops and sticks to eggs if at all wet.But if you're not selling the eggs it might be OK.

&) I'm sure you won't but please don't keep one hen alone, at least two is ideal.

If anything else occurs to me I will post!

my husband is going to build me brick hen house has anybody got any usefull tips

make sure there is a full sized door so you can clean it out comfortably