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Keepingchickenstrackworld
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lambchopFree Member
Veganuary is nearing its end and I’ve been missing my breakfast eggs more than anything else that comes from something with a face. However the chicken/egg industry is one of the worst culprits for animal cruelty in the farming industry. So to that end I’m considering getting some chooks.
Any practical experience from the hive mind on keeping foul? We have a long garden with room at the end for a run/coop. Has anyone built their own or is it best to go for a ready built. Any recommended breeds of bird?
jonnyboiFull MemberBuy ex battery layers for a few quid each. Check gumtree, local animal welfare Facebook page etc,
Buy a coop, a give them more space than you think otherwise they will ruin your lawn. As they’re omnivores they will devour your leftover food ( as this is stw someone will say there’s a law against that/you’ll die)
Chickens shit everywhere, the Black/caramel crap is the worst.
They will often ignore the laying box and find a bit if bramble hedge, and they don’t lay in winter.
Chickens are great, do it
Three_FishFree MemberIf you have neighbours, consider the impact on them. Chicken coops smell and the food can attracts rats.
Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition
Latest Singletrack VideosFresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...jonnyboiFull MemberSmall chicken coops don’t smell at all if the bedding is changed regularly.
koogiaFree MemberGet some, they are fun and having fresh eggs is great. Children will love them. They don’t make much noise in my experience, just the occasional clucking (except if you get a cockerel).
Second the fact that they lay anywhere, often just on the ground. They do go off laying as they get older as well as laying seasonally.
Don’t smell if cleaned out plus the manure they create is wonderful for a garden. Keep them clean and on the look out for red mites.
Make sure that your coop & run is protected from foxes. Crafty little blighters will gnaw through anything to get to the chickens. Ended up putting that Prikastrip spiky fencing to stop them chomping at the coop
Having said that, had 3 bantams that fought off a fox, although 1 died of shock later. If you are worried about rats, my experience is that the chickens will attack and attempt to kill a rat.
beefheartFree MemberThe more space they have and the more they can roam, the better the eggs will be.
Maybe not an option in suburbia, as they need protecting from neighbour’s cats etc.
We’ve had hens from a local chicken farmer (‘free range’ but keeps 14,000 in a couple of giant barns with outside access to fields) who replaces them every 14 months. He is happy to sell any he can for £1 each rather than send them off to become dog food, and they still lay an egg each most days.
I used to think of them as brainless egg laying machines, but they are funny little creatures with different personalities.AlexFull MemberWe kept between 4-6 for a few years. Stopped naming them after a few were killed by Fox/Stoat and one of the many diseases a chicken can contract. Things we learned
– the coup needs fencing dug down below ground to stop rats/foxes/other unwanted animals burrowing in
– we also kept the food in secure metal dustbins. Rats -especially we live by a river- are very clever at breaking into anything.
– keep the hutch really clean. If you can get creosote still, paint the inside with it as it stops red-mites which are the bane of a chicken keepers life!
– you’ll never have to recycle food again. They’ll eat anything. Even stuff our labs turned their noses up at
– winter you’re feeding them but you’re unlikely to get any eggs- days are too short
– they are social animals, quite fun to interact with. They used to get on really well with the dogs
– Don’t get attached to them. We tried really hard to do all the right things but sometimes they just seem to gt tired of life! Maybe that’s just our experience
– As above as the first set a fox got in and killed 5 and took the other one. It was carnage. Kids were quite young and it was a bit traumatic
– Get ex-battery. We used a place that had 1000s. It was horrendous the state they arrived in. But a month of being looked after and they were back to full feathers and very perky. It’s a good thing to do
– As post above you can grow ANYTHING in their poo 🙂We gave our last two away as we were away on hols for three weeks. Never got round to getting any more. Still got a nice hutch and a good run (and we let them out in the garden when we were out) so we might get some more this spring.
koogiaFree MemberYep, definitely don’t name them as it prevents you getting too attached to them. You will still be sad when one goes, but it makes it easier.
Will even obey rudimentary commands and gestures.
Very curious creatures, wonderfully friendly.
beefheartFree MemberNaming them is half the fun.
We have Princess Layer, Hen Solo, Chuck Norris amongst others.Food and water can be kept off the ground with suspended feeders to keep rats away, with the rest kept securely in a wheelie bin.
sharkbaitFree MemberUse electric fencing if you can.
An automatic pop hole opener/closer makes life a lot easier.
You can add artificial light on a timer in their coop in the mornings to make them think it’s not winter so they lay better.Great fun to have, not tried ex-bats but will do next time.
I made my own coop up on legs and it works great.+1 for real creosote dissolves the red mite! Modern stuff is crap though.
sparkyspiceFree MemberWe’re still getting 15 eggs a week from our 4 hens in the winter. They are two years old.
Definitely get an electric pop hole. It means that once you’ve guaranteed they’ve got food and water, you can leave them for a weekend. They put themselves to bed.
Rats are an issue. Our coop has chicken wire buried underneath but they still come from our neighbours garden if there’s the slightest access to food. It also is covered over the top to prevent foxes. Foxes will dig underneath, or climb a 6 foot fence, so creating something sturdy and well thought out is a good idea.
They will destroy your garden if left unattended.
We bought ours from a farm who used to handle them every day. This meant that they are tame enough to pick up and handle. Both the chickens and the kids seem to enjoy this interaction. If you go to buy them, and the guy has to run around to catch them, or use some sort of net, it is unlikely you’ll be able to tame them to such an extent after.
Contrary to what’s been said above, ours lay in the nest box all the time…
ransosFree MemberWe have Princess Layer, Hen Solo, Chuck Norris amongst others.
Ha! We had Layla, Henrietta, Shelley and Yolko. Must get some more.
We have the Eglu which works well for smaller gardens. It’s easily cleaned with a pressure washer.
hedleyFree MemberAll good info above. We used to have 40+ chickens and ducks.
Different types of chickens have different egg output. We went for a mixture of bog standard broon chooks which are great egg layers and some White Sussex as they are lovely to look at.
Rats can be a problem but solved with a .410 and a few Fenn Mark 4’s. Fox was a bigger problem. We lost over half one day which was quite depressing as we went round with a few bin bags collecting the bits.
LadyGresleyFree MemberWe have an Eglu Cube for our four girls (two hybrids and two Pekin bantams and yes, of course they have names), and Omlet’s 4m x 3m walk-in run, which (so far) has proved fox proof. We go away for three days or so and just leave them with two big feeders of food and two water, and don’t worry about the coop door being open as the run is so secure. No red mite with a plastic coop, expensive set-up, but so trouble free, and looks neat and tidy too.
corrodedFree MemberMy folks have half a dozen hens. They have a large compound in the corner of the garden (including the compost, a dust bath etc) and my Dad made a state-of-the-art coop for them. They’re pretty good about laying in the intended boxes. There’s no smell at all (the compound and coop is regularly cleaned and waste is used as fertiliser). There are no problems with rats if you’re disciplined about putting food troughs away at night too. There might be a bit of clucking after an egg is laid for a few minutes so best check your deeds on whether poultry is permitted on your property.
Definitely do it if you can: the eggs are incomparable (though not exactly free when food and other costs are taken into account). Some of our hens have been extremely sociable too (not the current bunch of feral Rhode Islands). They’re a great learning experience for kids. Can’t think of a downside except to be sure that their pen and ideally your garden is fully fox-proofed…
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