chickens.

[sargie]

Hi does anyone keep chickens here?

What are the keeping costs involved is it worth it? Seen some good value runs and chickens are not expensive to buy locally. Is it worth the work for the eggs you get.

 

[alonso]

Would like to know myself, been thinking about it for a while now.. Are they easy enough to look after? Low maintainence??

 

[sargie]

Would like to know myself, been thinking about it for a while now.. Are they easy enough to look after? Low maintainence??

Yeah also which breed to get for eggs? Also i have an african grey parrot is there any risk of disease passing over?

 

[Tamarc]

How Juicy are the thighs ??

 

[Ratts]

How Juicy are the thighs ??

:Laugh:

as from others i know who kept chickens, its seems easy !!!, but as long as you dont worry about the mess, go for it. fresh eggs are lovely mate

 

[sargie]

:Laugh:

as from others i know who kept chickens, its seems easy !!!, but as long as you dont worry about the mess, go for it. fresh eggs are lovely mate

Chicken shit on the borders = natural fertiliser!

 

[ellie1998]

We keep chickens they are dead easy and the eggs are really nice.
We have 3 and they cost about £9 for a bag of mash which lasts 6 to 8 weeks.
They are crapping machines though.
If the run says big enough for 4 then it really means big enough for 2, I also laid a concrete base as it's much easier to keep clean.

 

[Captin]

We have 3. Nothing special just general brown farm chooks.

We pay £7 for a bag of layers pellets, it lasts for 6-8 weeks also. But for treats we give them a bit of mixed corn once or twice a week, plus greens and scraps from the kitchen, the especially like cooked spud peelings (don't give raw though as there too much starch). The pellets also contain grit which they need. We have the food in a 10kg treadle operated hopper to keep the mice & rats out. We have a 20l water container so there's always clean water for them.

Their fav thing is oats in natural yoghurt.

Chooks naturally lay 1 egg every 23 hours, but can sometimes miss a day. Unlike what some people believe you do not need a cock for them to lay eggs, unless you want to breed them.

We have a coop we bought from ebay and a 4m x 3m x 2m run placed straight on the garden, it has a roof on so it doesn't get too soggy. We also let them roam the garden most days.

In the run we spread a bag of chippings every year, and use straw (dont use hay) in the coop. 1 bail of straw will last ages, we've had these chooks for 2 years and haven't reached halfway through the bail yet.

I thought about making a solid base for the run but apparently they don't like it as it gives them nothing to scratch about in, they are natural foragers and like to dig and scratch the ground looking for food. A solid base just under the coop would be ok though.

Chicken shit is great fertiliser but don't put it straight on your plants as it's too rich, it can burn the roots, it needs to mulch down a bit first.

There was no problems in the 2 winters we've had the girls, they just scratch through the snow to get at what's underneath.

When we go on holiday it costs a fortune to put the cats in a cattery, but the chooks we leave where they are, the food hopper has around a months worth of food and same for the water, we just tell our neighbour to collect the eggs.

If you are in the Wigan area you can get hens from Lucky Hens Rescue, and they have lots of good advice and tips on their website, especially about the various diseases.

We treat ours more like pets than egg laying machines, so the cost is really irrelevant, after all we paid over £800 for the cats and they cost us a fortune in food and give nothing in return.

Lucky Hens Rescue – Wigan

 

[srgberian]

we keep chickens and bread them we started off with x battery hens cost £2.50 and lay large brown eggs. now we have white sussex black rock and cream horns. we pay £4.99 for 20kg sack of layer pellets . we sell our eggs £1 for 6 which cover the cost of the feed posted a few pics of ours and our new chics

incubater cost £69

 

[Manse]

Not great on a housing estate, our neighbour has about 10 chickens 5 cockerels, ducks and from 3-30am the racket is a fookin nightmare.
i love this rainy weather has it keeps the ba$tard things quite lol.
but atleast they got rid of the sheep they had

 

[ellie1998]

Not great on a housing estate, our neighbour has about 10 chickens 5 cockerels, ducks and from 3-30am the racket is a fookin nightmare.
i love this rainy weather has it keeps the ba$tard things quite lol.
but atleast they got rid of the sheep they had

It's illegal to keep cockerels in a residential area so whinge to them and if they don't listen whinge to the environmental health people.
On the concrete base it does stop them scratching but they are let out into the garden daily so get to dig up goldies flowers
@captin they look like rhode island reds, we have 1 of them, a white sussex and a speckled moran.

 

[Captin]

It's illegal to keep cockerels in a residential area so whinge to them and if they don't listen whinge to the environmental health people.
On the concrete base it does stop them scratching but they are let out into the garden daily so get to dig up goldies flowers
@captin they look like rhode island reds, we have 1 of them, a white sussex and a speckled moran.

I have no idea what breed they are, just farm reared bog standard egg layers.

We were going to put concrete under the coop for a stable base, but i'm glad we didn't as that's the place they go for shade and daily dust baths to keep clean and cool. The mrs puts steel mesh over her raised veggy beds cos the little pecker like to dig it over, which she lets them do after the veggies are out, plus they drop some nice fresh fertiliser as they are doing it.

One thing you have to watch out for is rats & mice as they are attracted to the food if they can get into it. The treadle operated feeder we have requires the hen to stand on a treadle which opens a door to the food, which shuts again after the hen steps off. Rodents can't get at the food.

We have CCTV cameras in the coop and run, we use them when were on holiday, and we've seen a few furry boddies running about, the hens just flap their wings a shoo them away. We use humane traps and then drive out into the country a let them go. Illegal I know but I can't kill the poor things just for living their lives.

 

[sargie]

Thanks for the reply's i plan to get a couple of hens to start with and a coop with run and then let them roam free too. Do they need treating for mites and things or is it only if they are unfortunate enough to catch them?

 

[Penners]

We also have chicks (ISA browns, Black Rocks, Silkies and Wyandotes. We've recently added 2 Muscovy ducks 1 drake and a one female.

The chicks are easy to keep, clean the coop at least once a week and ensure no food is left on the floor etc. The kids love them, every night my 2 children always ask to go see the chics and ducks. We personally clean the coop at least 2 to 3 times a week which is excessive but it gives the kids something to do especially since we've had all this rain.

We are hoping to rear some baby ducks this year if Donald and Daisy lay in time, hopefully they are about 6months off.

 

[Penners]

QUOTE=sargie;2120706]Thanks for the reply's i plan to get a couple of hens to start with and a coop with run and then let them roam free too. Do they need treating for mites and things or is it only if they are unfortunate enough to catch them?[/QUOTE]

Yes mate I treat mine with an organic mite powder once a month and add organic pellets for worms etc once a month as well. Providing you use organic there is no egg withdrawal period. With the organic range you should treat once a month regardless of infection or not as a preventative measure.

Be careful with the roaming bit as foxes are crafty buggers and will have their heads off before you've got up the garden path.

We allow ours to roam free in the orchard does wonders for the fruit trees and they can peck all the fallen apples etc... but we do section the orchard off with a temporary 6 foot fence (which the fox has cleared once before).

In winter you will get other animals foraging within the coop for feed i.e rats / mice / squirrels and hedgehogs. We use a humane trap but shoot any rats on site. The human trap has also caught several hedgehogs which we release. I also allow my cats in the coop on a night which works more effective than any trap. To be honest though providing you keep the coop clean and don't leave amples of food available day and night you'll be fine.

@ Captain where did you buy your feeder from? That’s an excellent idea. We currently only put enough feed out for the day but the feeder you have would be excellent for us.

 

[Captin]

@ Captain where did you buy your feeder from? That’s an excellent idea. We currently only put enough feed out for the day but the feeder you have would be excellent for us.

We got ours from ebay, not sure from who as it was a couple of sleeps ago. But this is one exactly the same. They aint cheap but worth it. We got a 30l water feeder from the same place. Both will last the chooks over a month, so holidays are no problem.

10KG TREADLE POULTRY FEEDER VERMIN & WEATHER PROOF | eBay

18kg POULTRY HEN CHICKEN FEEDER & 30LTR METAL DRINKER | eBay

Or you can get a plastic water container if you use Apple Cider Vinager as it reacts with metal containers.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16KG-POUL...t=UK_Pet_Supplies_Poultry&hash=item43b0f029f1

 

[srgberian]

Thanks for the reply's i plan to get a couple of hens to start with and a coop with run and then let them roam free too. Do they need treating for mites and things or is it only if they are unfortunate enough to catch them?

red mites are the main threat to chickens make sure you clean the coop burn any nesting materials if u are unlucky to catch them. A lot of mites are spread from wild birds if they mixing with your chickens in your coop.

as Captin says a auto feeder is by far better then leaving chicken food out all the time as rats will set up camp under your chicken hut and steal as much food as they can leaving your birds short.

There are lots of products on the market for chickens to keep them healthy and read up were you can .


Chicken coops can cost a fiar bit but the 1 i have just built so far has come in under £20 (will post pics) .

 

[Penners]

We got ours from ebay, not sure from who as it was a couple of sleeps ago. But this is one exactly the same. They aint cheap but worth it. We got a 30l water feeder from the same place. Both will last the chooks over a month, so holidays are no problem.

10KG TREADLE POULTRY FEEDER VERMIN & WEATHER PROOF | eBay

18kg POULTRY HEN CHICKEN FEEDER & 30LTR METAL DRINKER | eBay

Or you can get a plastic water container if you use Apple Cider Vinager as it reacts with metal containers.

16KG POULTRY FEEDER +HANGING CORD+ 30 LTR LITRE TRIPOD DRINKER - REMOVEABLE TANK | eBay

I've ordered this one mate 25KG GREEN TREADLE POULTRY CHICKEN HEN FEEDER - WEATHER PROOF | eBay

P.S did you have problems with the chickens learning the device at first or did they take to it like a duck to water.

 

[Captin]

I've ordered this one mate 25KG GREEN TREADLE POULTRY CHICKEN HEN FEEDER - WEATHER PROOF | eBay

P.S did you have problems with the chickens learning the device at first or did they take to it like a duck to water.

They were a little apprehensive at first because of the door banging shut when they stepped off. But they soon got used to it.

We looked at one with a solid treadle but decided against it, we got one with a thick mesh treadle because they crap all over it and the mesh lets it through instead of it piling up and need cleaning all the time.

Don't let the food get damp as it just blocks the door from closing. Out run has a roof on so it doesn't get any rain at all.

 

[Penners]

They were a little apprehensive at first because of the door banging shut when they stepped off. But they soon got used to it.

We looked at one with a solid treadle but decided against it, we got one with a thick mesh treadle because they crap all over it and the mesh lets it through instead of it piling up and need cleaning all the time.

Don't let the food get damp as it just blocks the door from closing. Out run has a roof on so it doesn't get any rain at all.

It’s difficult to see from my pics but half my run has a roof on it so food and water is always protected from the rain etc

Valid point with the treadle !!! I didn't even consider the mesh or the solid plate lol I just looked at the largest capacity. Hmmm I may contact them and see if they do the same size with the mesh treadle instead. Cheers.