Chickens

[Imsayingnothing]

Hi everyone, we are looking into getting some chickens. I am looking for all and any advice on for a complete newbie on getting and keeping chickens.

Anyone who does keep chickens, is this a bad time of year to buy them? Should we wait until spring or summer? Also did you build your own coop and run or buy them?
If you have bought coops or runs are there any you'd recommend and any other useful advice is really appreciated.

Thanks in advance

We bought a coop and run - first one was just a cheap one then we upgraded to one from FlytesoFancy which is beautiful and high quality but expensive - this is the one we got, its the Maggie Hen House for 6 with long legs. They are overwhelmed with orders so was a delay of 5 weeks or so.

We got our chickens in the spring but as long as you have everything ready for them can get them anytime of year AFAIK. We have 3 silkie chickens which are gorgeous (all girls) but their eggs are quite small.

There's a MN chicken keepers board here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/chicken_keepers

Thank you so much ❤️ I shall pop over there for a read now.

This is a basic guide and the shop we got our coop and run from but you can get them much cheaper elsewhere:

www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/basic_chicken_keeping.html

This is our coop but painted is £200 extra and the run is extra so starts to add up.

www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Long-Legged_Maggies_Six_Hen_House.html

We have chickens and I love them. In general they are incredibly low maintenance and such lovely characters. We have the eglu coop with the automatic door. This makes a world of difference because we don’t have to go out at the crack of dawn and late at night in the summer. Yes it was expensive but they hold their value. They are amazingly easy to clean and less prone to things like red mites.

Chickens lay less in the cold, winter months. If you want something that is laying now you are better off getting a rescue. There are lots of rescues looking for chicken homes at the moment. It’s also a much cheaper way of purchasing chickens. If you get chicks they won’t lay until 26 weeks and unless you get an autosexing breed like a cream legbar, you might end up with cockerels.

Love my chickens!! The eggs they lay are no cheaper than supermarket ones due to the costs of food, cleaning supplies etc but we won’t run out and they are just lovely little girls.

My coop came from Flyte so fancy, I got the long legged hobby coop and run, took about 8 weeks to arrive. Loads of chicken info on their web site too. My chickens have cost a lot to get set up and I’ve had a few teething probs with ex bats (I have four). But it does make you feel good taking on ex bats and they are so funny. BHWT are not rehoming now until lockdown is over (you can get your name down though). I am still getting 3 eggs per day (one of the chickens has never laid - see post on chicken board). They seem very easy to look after - although as the ground gets wetter, the air colder and the days shorter, I think it does get a little trickier (especially for a newbie like me). Def get a good chicken book, and before you get any, get a chicken first aid kit together and get registered with a chicken friendly vet (I didn’t!)

Thank you all so much for info and advice. We are reading, reading, reading now. Thank you for pictures and links there's so much to learn.

Do your chickens lay just at certain times of the year or do some kinds lay most of the year? Also are there chickens which are more friendly than others or are they all pretty good natured?

We got ours in March at around 7 months old, they started laying at around 9 months old and so far its been every day but as they are silkies its around 2 per day for 3 chickens and small eggs. Not slowed down yet but I think I read if they get cold in winter they can stop laying over the winter or reduce a lot and reduces with the dark. Think if you give them a light and somewhere warm more likely to lay over the winter but I'm not an expert as we are new to this and ours are for pets more than for eggs.

Our silkies are very gentle but think it will vary - one is more nervous and runs off if approached. They are very cuddly with each other, the white one puts its wing round the black one and the brown one tries to hatch the eggs of all 3. They are all girls so good luck to her with that.

The amount that chickens lay depends on the amount of daylight, so they lay a lot less in the winter. In my little flock, the oldies don't lay September - May, the silkie November - March (and then she spends most of her time trying to be broody tbh).
I have a golden legbar (shes a right arse, but lays pretty blue eggs), a Welsummer (extremely elderly now, very friendly), an elderly hybrid we were given, a goldentop Silkie, 3 Light Sussex youngsters, and what is supposed to be a Welbar that we hatched this year. Since she's been handled since she was just hatched, she is incredibly friendly and comes and taps on the door to come in so she can sit on DS's lap while he is gaming and share biscuits/noodles/cereal with him

Chickens can live for 18+ years, so decide if you'll be able to cull them when their laying slows down after a couple of years. I have about 40 chickens, some ducks and peacocks. I couldn't cull them as I know and am fond of each one. I am actually vegan now. The chickens were a factor but that was never the plan and I would have laughed at anyone suggesting this would happen a couple of years ago!