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Gardening

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Original poster

does anyone have chickens??

38 replies

dither · 20/03/2007 14:43

for laying... how easy are they to take care of?
what is entailed?
if i live in the country and i know there are foxes about is it still possible to have chickens, or pointless?
ummmmmwhat kind are nicest/easiest/best?
where do you get them?
what do you house them in?

and on and on....

any tips advice for a dunce beginner (grew up in concrete jungle, so clueless, me) MUCH appreciated.

OP posts:
sunnywong · 20/03/2007 14:44

No
I don't
Spawn of the devil with their scaly legs and beady eyes and pin heads

Shudder

Original poster
dither · 20/03/2007 14:47

awww, dont sit on the fence sunny

OP posts:
EllieK · 20/03/2007 14:52

I have 4 chickens

EllieK · 20/03/2007 14:56

We live in the country, garden backs onto a field and I know there are foxes about which did make me wary but have had no problems so far, had them since september.

I was given mine, look in local freeads, people often need to get rid of them if they end up with loads of chicks!

no idea what mine are, just random chickens!

we have an old guinea pig hutch up against the shed and some green plastic netting stuff (kinda like the orange stuff they use on raodworks/building sites) to make a pen for them, held up with stakes in the corners.

my mum has some and lets them have the run of the garden but the poo smells and i don't want it everywhere!

EllieK · 20/03/2007 14:57

they stopped laying over winter but are now back up to sometimes 1 egg a day each, some of them seem to lay every day, others alternate days.

oh, and we go to CWG wholesalers for the feed.

nickytwotimes · 20/03/2007 14:58

i used to keep chickens as a kid. they are nice beasties and easy to look after, but VERY destructive on your grass/garden. a company called eggloo i think does fox proof houses. soory, don't know their website - just google it. they only lay decent eggs for a few years, then the shells get thin. also, they tend to hide them and you get rotten eggs in the garden.

i'm not really selling this am i?

they are nice pets imho

Original poster
dither · 20/03/2007 15:02

soooo, if you let them have the run of the garden, do you have to go hunting for the egss?? or do they lay them in the hutch or whatever its called?

(thanks for answers btw!)

OP posts:
jumblesale · 20/03/2007 15:03

I had three till the fox got 'em when we moved house and their pen wasn't secure enough for the new area.
They are FAB. Easy peasy to look after and EXCELLENT comedy value. I loved 'em and will get more as soon as we have a decent coop ready for them. Got mine from the local poultry farm, £4:25 each. Feed them layers pellets and poultry corn, make sure they have fox proof wire and that they are locked in at night (my mistake; poor old chooks ), let them eat lots of grass and you'll have yummy scrummy eggs. When DH made scrambled eggs with ours, it always looked as if he'd put turmeric in there, the yolks were so yellow! Go out and collect your eggs first thing in the morning and they are still warm, which is fab. But also icky in a weird kind of way.

jumblesale · 20/03/2007 15:03

Oh, and make sure you clip their wings!

nickytwotimes · 20/03/2007 15:04

most of the time mine laid in their nests, but every so often we would find a stinky pile elsewhere!

jumblesale · 20/03/2007 15:05

I could go on and on! I have to go to school now; may post later. Chickens are fab!

nickytwotimes · 20/03/2007 15:19

i really fancy getting some more chickens now!!!

Loshad · 20/03/2007 15:39

mine live a spare stable, have put some large branches 9more like skinny tree trunks) across at various heights for roosting in. I don't clip their wings, allows themn a fly a little, very badly, but enought to escape foxy loxy. Mine are p* easy to take care of, let them out every morning, scatter corn, veg peelings about for them. check they have clean water, clean out when stable looks mucky, chuck fresh straw down. They are laying like mad atm , so am giving eggs away to all and sundry - got 15 mini geraniums inreturn the other week, and Dh is making fresh egg pasta for the freezer. dc's love egg collecting, and yes they find creative places to lay but that's all part of the fun
I was given a few, they are very good at reprocing

Original poster
dither · 20/03/2007 15:51

oh this enthusiasm is infectious...

OP posts:
MegaLegs · 20/03/2007 19:37

We have been keeping chickens for about 8 years now (see my profile for pic).

Started with Black Rocks - good layers.

Now have a motley collection of rescue hens, a Welsummer and a Rhode Island Red. All looked after by Eb our Light Sussex Rooster.

The rescue hens lay enormous eggs from Feb - Oct. The other two are past it and kust pets now.

In 8 years we have lost 2 to the fox and considering we are surrounded by fields and I see a fox every day that's not bad going.

Ours live in a garden shed converted to siut them by adding a perch, an egg box and a pop hole. They have a big enclosure but I let them out for most of the day.

Only downside is that they poo wherever we walk and usually on the front step and they will wreck the garden scratching and dust bathing

allmytimeonmumsnet · 21/03/2007 10:22

We've got chucks - numbers have gone up to 13 now as they are such lovely creatures I can't resisit them. We used to let them run free-range around our row of 8 cottages but a neighbour has a dog who likes to round them up now and he's also started an allotment so they can now kept in their pen which makes me feel sad and guilty. Need to make a bigger one. However since they have been penned we've not lost any to foxes or walkers dogs so that is a plus although we only ever lost the odd one.

They are not really laying yet. I worry it is because their pen is too small.

I use shavings in an old shed which has been cut down and they have a pen with dug in chicken wire. Even our old ones usually lay really well. Never clipped their wings - seems a bit off really but it means we had to cover the top of the pen to keep them in. If you clip them you can have a lower pen which looks better.

We feed them organic layers pellets and scraps. About £4-5 a sack from feed merchant. Pet shops often sell ordinary bags of corn.

I bag up the mess from the shed and leave it in a corner for a year. Makes fab compost for the garden. At least if they are in a pen you can harvest the poo in this way and it doesn't end up everywhere. I do miss ours though as they used to pop into the house for a chat

Original poster
dither · 21/03/2007 18:21

hmmm.... thanks to all for sharing your experience w me...

sounds like i want a large pen... like the idea of them roaming about, but not of the poo all over and them wrecking the garden... but id want them to be happy and i have tons of space, so could build them something i guess... i like the idea of harvesting the poo for compost as am a budding veg grower also

think i'll hold off on all this till i get back in my house (builders taken over for major works) apparently only 6-8 weeks to go!

OP posts:
BellaLasagne · 21/03/2007 18:38

Really STUPID question time....

If you have a cockerell/rooster as well, how do you know if the eggs have been fertilised?

(I'm petrified of cooking one with a chick in!)

Original poster
dither · 22/03/2007 08:52

yeah, how do you tell that?

and another prob obvious question; those of you who let them out dring the day and lock em in at night... is gathering them up straightforward? or do ou spend ages chasing them abou the garden?

OP posts:
CODalmighty · 22/03/2007 08:53

pph does

Original poster
dither · 22/03/2007 08:55

ooh, does she? WELL if shes got them...[grn] (shes my lifestyle coach)

OP posts:
burek · 22/03/2007 09:04

Another chicken beginner here with a question. Henhouse is almost complete (dh building it s l o w l y.....) and will be getting the chickens in the next few weeks once snow melts (we're not in UK).

My question: if I grow lots and lots of corn for them this year, will they be happy with that, and green scraps, grass, insects, etc or should I also buy shop feed for them?

AlienEars · 22/03/2007 09:18

We've had bantams for the past couple of years and have recently got two Rhode Island Red chickens, who look enormous. Our Frizzle bantam was not too impressed too start with and kept pecking them every time they even looked at the corn, but things have calmed down now.

DH built the 'Hen Hilton' - never mind the state of our house, so long as the chickens are happy... He converted the end of our greenhouse to be a coup with a chicken door out to a large outside run. We have have to adjust the upstairs as the chickens are taller than the bantams and only just have enough head room.

Burek - I think you would need to feel them growers/layers pellets to ensure that they get all the nutrients etc. Corn is viewed as a mid-afternoon treat here! If you want to really give them a treat ours go mad for melon.

burek · 22/03/2007 10:56

Ta v much for that alienears.
Was thnking along the lines of 'corn fed chickens' being so tasty but really didn't know where to start

Greenshoots · 22/03/2007 11:02

Oooh, we are planning to get some chickens in a few weeks time? How many eggs per week would you expect to get from 4 normal-sized chickens?