Anyone keep Chickens ?

[BADGER.BRAD]

Hello All,

Do any of you keeping Chickens ? I'm looking for a couple of chickens mainly for eggs but also as pets and was thinking of old British breeds such as Sussex or Buff Orpingtons. What chickens do you have and how successful as egg layers are they, what do you keep them in. Photos would be really appreciated.

Thanks all

Brad

 

[threebikesmcginty]

We're thinking of getting some too, mainly for neggs.

*watches with interest*

 

[rich p]

I had 2 ducks but a fox ate them. Bastard foxes.

 

[biggs682]

would love to as well , but when we looked we realised our back garden wasnt big enough to do it .

so at mo only keep them in the freezer !

 

[Archie_tect]

How many eggs to you get a week biggs?

 

[smokeysmoo]

My Sister keeps 4 on her allotment.

She uses GardeningChat under the name Twinklekat, pop over there and PM her, she'll happy to discuss anything chicken related with you.

 

[Fnaar]

I'm gonna cut out the middle man, and just get some eggs. And treat them as pets. Which I normally boil, and eat.

 

[Thomk]

I've got a couple, little ones, don't know what breed. When they were both laying I got about 10 eggs a week, now it's 5 or 6 as only one lays.

We keep them in a fenced off area in the garden and have a chicken house inside there.

Things to think about:

1. What will you do if/when they stop laying
2. Can you make them secure enough to stop Mr Fox from chomping on them
3. You will need to check on them most days rain or shine (or snow)
4. It isn't really cost effectinve - don't do it to save money
5. They will trash your garden if let loose
6. You need to clean them out regularly
7. Some of them can make quite a bit of noise
8. Someone will need to look in on them while you are on holiday
9. Their food may attract scavengers of various sorts (rats?)

Otherwise fill your boots, they are great!

 

[mickle]

Weve got six in a fenced off corner of the garden. Feed them on organic layers pellets snd kitchen scraps and get six eggs a day from them. Bought a self assemble £110 coop off the interweb and a 5ft net fence to contain them. I made a gate out of a fence panel. We do let them out now and again to attack the grass in front of the house. Its great to have them around.

 

[Mr Celine]

We've got four silke bantams which produce two or three eggs a day except in winter. They live in what was the kids wendy house but have free run of the garden during the day, apart from fenced off bits where things haverecently been planted.
When allowed on the veg plot they scratch up and eat bugs and slug eggs. On the lawn they remove moss and thatch and eat bugs, but also scatter stones all over the place so the mower needs more sharpening.
They are treated as pets, much more interesting than the guinea pigs we used to have. The eggs are a by product.

 

[Dayvo]

I've got a few, in bits, in the freezer.

 

[Dave Davenport]

We used to keep half a dozen and get more eggs than we (family of five) could use, we had some Cuckoo Maran's and a couple of hybrids.

 

[Rezillo]

I've got a couple, little ones, don't know what breed. When they were both laying I got about 10 eggs a week, now it's 5 or 6 as only one lays.

We keep them in a fenced off area in the garden and have a chicken house inside there.

Things to think about:

1. What will you do if/when they stop laying
2. Can you make them secure enough to stop Mr Fox from chomping on them
3. You will need to check on them most days rain or shine (or snow)
4. It isn't really cost effectinve - don't do it to save money
5. They will trash your garden if let loose
6. You need to clean them out regularly
7. Some of them can make quite a bit of noise
8. Someone will need to look in on them while you are on holiday
9. Their food may attract scavengers of various sorts (rats?)

Otherwise fill your boots, they are great!

+1 to all of these, plus think about breeds. Those bred for egg-laying will in general produce egg after egg then keel over after a fairly short life, whereas some of the more traditional breeds will live longer but produce next to nothing after two to three years of laying or spend half the time being broody.

Here's our chicken house when it was first built:

This came as a kind of rough flat pack from http://www.chicken-house.co.uk/ We went for a biggish run after bird flu restrictions a few years ago required all poultry in our area to be kept secure and under cover for a number of weeks.

 

[vernon]

I like to keep chickens in a pie crust.

 

[rich p]

We used to keep half a dozen and get more eggs than we (family of five) could use, we had some Cuckoo Maran's and a couple of hybrids.

A Marin hybrid?