Cluck cluck cluck!!! Im thinking of getting some chickens - Is it a good idea!

[Yurtgirl]

Our garden is only 15m by 3m but I reckon its big enough for a small chicken coop. I offered ds who is 5 the choice between a swing or chickens - he chose chickens

As a chicken novice can any of you give me some of your wisdom

We get frequent visits by rats so I am wondering whether this is truly a good idea!

Some reccomendations on what breed to get, what sort of coop and good chicken websites would be really helpful

TIA

Ive been looking at chicken coops on randomly chosen websites
Average for a 6 chicken house and run seems to be £200 - Is that about right?

It seems to be a lot more than I was expecting!

Tbh, that's at the cheap end. You can pay anywhere up to £500 for a top-of-the range Eglu with all the accessories.

no! but thats just my personal opinion

I had hens as pets when I was growing up. We had a 1/2ac garden, and even then the hens (bantams) scratched some areas so much that they got rid of the vegetation. For a while we also had a Jackdaw that couldn't fly - until a rat killed it one night (so, yes, having rats could be a problem). Even hens on their own can be quite noisy, particularly when they have just laid an egg, but some can also complain quite a lot (even when free range). If you have a cockerell you will have to make sure that you shut them up every night so that you don't wake up all your neighbours and yourself. Even if you don't have a cockerell, you can't guarantee no crowing - one of my hens learned how to do it quite late in life when we had no cockerell for a while. If you don't have a cockerell you won't have any chance of chicks unless you buy fertile eggs from somewhere for your hens (when broody) to hatch out.

You may have the odd health problem - and often the vets can't help much - either they don't know what it is, or if they do they can't help much anyway.

So its not straight forward and its certainly an on-going commitment - who will look after them while you are on holiday etc.

Thankyou for the replies
I have no intention of getting a cockerell so that solves that q

I know there are some really costly options - eglu etc.
I am really surprised at how many different styles of coop there are and how much more initial start up costs seem to be.

Holidays arent really a problem cos we dont go away! Also friends have chickens who will help out with mine so it shouldnt be a problem

Im still keen

Yurtgirl -- I can't recommend chickens highly enough. We have 3 in our 20x3m garden. They have an ark coop inside a pen, which is really just a fence and gate put across the garden 5m from the back. If you don't pen them in, they will eat everything in the garden. We've always had hybrids rather than pure breeds: black rocks and white stars have both proved prolific layers. The black rocks came from Country Fayre near Andover; the white stars came from Cotswold Chickens, based in north Oxfordshire (we're in Oxford, half way between). I don't know where you are, but I'd recommend them. Both have websites (I've always found Cotswold Chickens easier to contact over the phone than Country Fayre, but you may find things different). I think that both firms do coops and hens, and they'll give you plenty of advice as a first timer. But, whatever you do, be vigilant about shutting the girls up at night. We've lost several to foxes, even though I've never actually seen a fox in the garden.

They are lovely but they will ruin your garden. If you keep them penned in all the time there will be a big brown patch on your lawn (it woild have to be a biiig patch to give them enough room) and if you let them roam there will be nothing green left alive. Plant some cactus . They also like to make dust baths in the soil and dig for grubs. Also their poo is evil.

However they are nice beasts to have around. If I had more room I'd do it.

I intend to keep hens forever!

They are fantastic - really amusing, easy to keep and they lay amazing eggs.

RE your pen size, I would section off as much of your garden as you can spare (and base the no. of hens you get on the size of the pen - I would recommend a minimum of three as a good number). When you have worked out how much you can spare, consider running a fence down the middle of the enclosure - if there is still ample room this is a good plan as you can rotate the grass space every few weeks.

RE the cost of the actual hen house - is your dp any good at woodwork etc? My dh converted a wooden wendy house into a hen house by adding a wooden crate for a nesting box, along with a removable plank of wood (with brackets on either side of the house) and he made a slatted droppings board - cost about #100... alternatively look for a local person who makes rabbit hutches etc - found out (too late) that there is someone near me who makes them at a fraction of the over inflated prices you'll find on the www!

(Hello Orm - fascinating story about your link to Miss JHD - you must be proud of that, I know I would be -but then I'm a bit of a ponce! Hope you're well.)

Sorry for hijack...

I agree with LadyM (helloooo LadyM!) about finding a local to make one. They aren't complicated really.

Yes I'm fine (apart from hayfever - even when it never stops raining!!). I suppose I am quite proud of it - I've seen pictures of her when younger and she was a real golden girl .

... ahh that would be because she was furinish'd and burnish'd by Aldershot sun

Yurtgirl - did you get some chooks in the end?
We have 6 hens arriving sometime later this week. DH has built a fab 12ftx12ft run and we are getting a reconditioned coop from a local farmer - can't wait!!! Just hoping that we can outsmart the foxes. I would like to have them free-ranging a bit when we are around, if possible. Any tips? We have hedges between us and open fields. Am presuming that if we keep the girls in for a few weeks, they will work out where home is and will come back when out and about??????
Any tips gladly received