Anybody keep Chickens?
Discussion
I keep bantams - Silver Spangled Hamburgs in actual fact.
Piece of pis.s
Keep them penned in for a few weeks and then let them roam free. They won't go far as soon as they associate your house with getting fed.
Mine ar completely free and roost in the trees.
Having a hen house is a pain as it'll need cleaned out every week or so. The down side of completely free range is that you'll have to hunt for eggs.
Cheers,
Eric
Mod edit
Eric, Just had to alter p i s s word to allow people to see at work
(yes, I know they should be working...)
Piece of pis.s
Keep them penned in for a few weeks and then let them roam free. They won't go far as soon as they associate your house with getting fed.
Mine ar completely free and roost in the trees.
Having a hen house is a pain as it'll need cleaned out every week or so. The down side of completely free range is that you'll have to hunt for eggs.
Cheers,
Eric
Mod edit
Eric, Just had to alter p i s s word to allow people to see at work
(yes, I know they should be working...)
Edited by missdiane on Tuesday 21st July 16:24
Kiltie said:
I keep bantams - Silver Spangled Hamburgs in actual fact.
Piece of pis.s.
Keep them penned in for a few weeks and then let them roam free. They won't go far as soon as they associate your house with getting fed.
Mine ar completely free and roost in the trees.
Having a hen house is a pain as it'll need cleaned out every week or so. The down side of completely free range is that you'll have to hunt for eggs.
Cheers,
Eric
And presumably accept the risk of fox-related fun?Piece of pis.s.
Keep them penned in for a few weeks and then let them roam free. They won't go far as soon as they associate your house with getting fed.
Mine ar completely free and roost in the trees.
Having a hen house is a pain as it'll need cleaned out every week or so. The down side of completely free range is that you'll have to hunt for eggs.
Cheers,
Eric
Edited by missdiane on Tuesday 21st July 16:26
We used to keep ten or so.
As said you either need extensive grounds (which we did) which the chickens can roam around without fear of roads ect. Or you need a large pen. And you must get them in every night. (unless they roost in the trees, you may loose a few when they are trying this out)
As soon as night falls (if you are in the country) foxes are on the prowl, and will kill as many chickens as they can.
Other than that, its easy, scattering of chicken feed in the morning, same again in the evening and leave them to do their thing!
As said you either need extensive grounds (which we did) which the chickens can roam around without fear of roads ect. Or you need a large pen. And you must get them in every night. (unless they roost in the trees, you may loose a few when they are trying this out)
As soon as night falls (if you are in the country) foxes are on the prowl, and will kill as many chickens as they can.
Other than that, its easy, scattering of chicken feed in the morning, same again in the evening and leave them to do their thing!
Edited by okgo on Tuesday 21st July 13:49
I keep chickens, Currently have 14. They are really easy to look after, We have some Bantums and some normal "industrial egg layers" that we got free from a farmer who was going to slaughter them.
We orgianlly let them roam free in the garden with thier wings clipped. We had a small hut for them to roost in. We then had an incident with a fox killing 9 of them.. that was one big mess to wake up to!! Two were still alive the next morning, with rather nasty bite wounds.
We now have a nice hut that is fenced in. They get locked up every night to keep them safe. Really easy and cheap to look after and freshly laid eggs every morning are excellent!
We orgianlly let them roam free in the garden with thier wings clipped. We had a small hut for them to roost in. We then had an incident with a fox killing 9 of them.. that was one big mess to wake up to!! Two were still alive the next morning, with rather nasty bite wounds.
We now have a nice hut that is fenced in. They get locked up every night to keep them safe. Really easy and cheap to look after and freshly laid eggs every morning are excellent!
We've got three. They're really easy to keep. They wander round the garden as they like, they feed themselves with what they find (including kitchen leftovers), they lay my breakfast etc. I'd say they're easier than goldfish to keep, and way easier than a cat. Plus they keep neighbours' cats away.
All they need is a bit of the right pellets and corn every day, water, and letting out of their henhouse in the morning (they put themselves to bed at sunset). As long as you're not near foxes you'll be fine. Both my neighbours have a dog, one has a terrier, and initially I was worried about the hens winding the dogs up but no problems there so far(although it would get ugly if one of those dogs found its way into my garden.)
All they need is a bit of the right pellets and corn every day, water, and letting out of their henhouse in the morning (they put themselves to bed at sunset). As long as you're not near foxes you'll be fine. Both my neighbours have a dog, one has a terrier, and initially I was worried about the hens winding the dogs up but no problems there so far(although it would get ugly if one of those dogs found its way into my garden.)
We had 6, now got 5, one went missing (or was stolen, depending on who you listen to in the family), my Mum did a LOT of research before she got them, several books from the library, a lot of websites, articles in Country Living, you name it she's probably read it.
We fenced off a chunk of the bottom of the garden and they have a lot of space to the 6 of them. My brother built the fence, dug a deep-ish ditch first of all and then stapled chicken wire to thick wood poles, then filled the ditch in, the chicken wire is partly buried in the ditch so it's difficult for a fox to dig under.
Mum ordered a wooden chicken house where the nesting and sleeping area are both raised above the ground, the ramp leading up to them is removed every night and all the doors are firmly locked every night as well, so hopefully even if a fox managed to dig under the fence or leap over it, it would have a problem getting in to the actual living area.
The chickens were bought from a place that also did a 2 hour "training session", so you learn how to pick them up, how to clip their wings, and how to kill them (if a £10 chicken gets ill you do not want to spend £60 taking it to the vet) as well as what feed to give them, and a whole load of other things.
They hate the rain so if you don't have many overhanging trees in the garden they will huddle together under the nesting box. And if you fence them off, the previously green space will be reduced to dirt within a few weeks XD Oh, and they will eat ANYTHING. My Dad saw them try to eat a dead frog once.
We fenced off a chunk of the bottom of the garden and they have a lot of space to the 6 of them. My brother built the fence, dug a deep-ish ditch first of all and then stapled chicken wire to thick wood poles, then filled the ditch in, the chicken wire is partly buried in the ditch so it's difficult for a fox to dig under.
Mum ordered a wooden chicken house where the nesting and sleeping area are both raised above the ground, the ramp leading up to them is removed every night and all the doors are firmly locked every night as well, so hopefully even if a fox managed to dig under the fence or leap over it, it would have a problem getting in to the actual living area.
The chickens were bought from a place that also did a 2 hour "training session", so you learn how to pick them up, how to clip their wings, and how to kill them (if a £10 chicken gets ill you do not want to spend £60 taking it to the vet) as well as what feed to give them, and a whole load of other things.
They hate the rain so if you don't have many overhanging trees in the garden they will huddle together under the nesting box. And if you fence them off, the previously green space will be reduced to dirt within a few weeks XD Oh, and they will eat ANYTHING. My Dad saw them try to eat a dead frog once.
Is it just that strip or is the bit on the right yours too?
Well I would think that might be cutting it a bit fine imo.. bearing in mind that the area will be covered in s
t and the grass worn away.. Not sure how your neighbours would take to the odd noise either (they don't look far away)
Well I would think that might be cutting it a bit fine imo.. bearing in mind that the area will be covered in s
t and the grass worn away.. Not sure how your neighbours would take to the odd noise either (they don't look far away)We are getting chucks next week, just in process of sorting out garden for their run and coop.
Very exciting
I think as long as you don't go away too often and have the desire to do it, then it will be worth it.
We just had to check our deeds for restrictions and we called EHO or similar to double check, both neighbours were happy for us to do it, so it was all systems go.
Our only problem now is a bloody great big laburnum tree next to where coop is going...
Very exciting
I think as long as you don't go away too often and have the desire to do it, then it will be worth it.
We just had to check our deeds for restrictions and we called EHO or similar to double check, both neighbours were happy for us to do it, so it was all systems go.
Our only problem now is a bloody great big laburnum tree next to where coop is going...
You'll go to the trouble of getting them, getting pissed off with them and looking after them, only to have them culled off at the next outbreak of bird flu.
P.s your neighbours will hate you, Especially during said outbreak of bird flu, I mean really hate as well, pitch forks maybe envolved.
P.s your neighbours will hate you, Especially during said outbreak of bird flu, I mean really hate as well, pitch forks maybe envolved.
miniman said:
okgo said:
Is it just that strip or is the bit on the right yours too?
Just that bit 
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff