Any chicken keepers out there?

[Birker2020]

Hi. My other half and I have been discussing having chickens for sometime now (for eggs only) and yesterday he started work on a chicken coop/run and has made the framework for it. It is about 7ft long by 5ft wide and about 5 ft high, in a triangular tapered type shape (if you follow me). We are thinking about buying just two chickens to start with and if we get on okay with looking after these will increase it to four, but we are not sure if this will be a large enough coop for 4 of them. We have been told by a fellow chicken keeper that if we buy them at the point of lay they are vaccinated anyway so we are hoping to do that. We are thinking layers pellets are about £6.00 per bag, do they have to have this or is there a cheaper way of feeding them? I know they eat scraps but does anyone have any tips on what is best for egg production. How many eggs would you get a week from two chickens? Do they need grit for their eggs? Dad says if you crush egg shell in their food they make grit from this as this is what they used to do during the war. I am going to get a book from the library and read up on chickens and my OH’s brother has some so at least we can get some advice if we run into problems.

TBH I’ve always fancied ‘rescuing’ a couple of battery chickens and giving them a really nice life, but I’ve been told that introducing these birds to an existing group could be a recipe for disaster as they can carry all sorts of diseases so if we were going to buy this type of bird we would have a group of these and not a mixture of normal and ex battery. We have also heard that ex battery hens do not lay very well/at all as they are so stressed out at finding themselves in a totally different environment to the cramped conditions they have always known.

Finally do they always have their wings clipped. If we let them out of their coop/run into the garden whilst we were there to watch them in case of foxes which is fenced with 3ft hire post and chicken wire fencing would they be able to fly over that?

Does anyone have any thoughts/comments? Can anyone think of two girly names for our 'chickens to be'. I like Henny and Penny but I’m open to suggestions if anyone can suggest something a bit better!!

 

[RhiannonE]

Hiya that coop should be plenty big enough - especially if you go by the "official" measurements for chickens. Our coop is about the same size as that and we have two bantams in it,wallowing in space and possibly a few more on the way ("Tikka" is sitting 6 fertile eggs).
Before our bantams we had 5 rhode island x sussex chickens at point of lay and they were great layers and very friendly. We feed our chickens on layers pellets mixed with corn(the corn we buy has grit in it also - Dodson&Horrell sell it aswell as other good names) or you can pick up grit really cheaply seperately.
We give our chickens left overs of our dinners- they have veg peelings or cooked veg, or chips or anything really. They are birds so they actually like meat - especially worms! So we buy them some meal worms sometimes. We buy a bag of pellets and a bag of corn probably about once a month - they don't eat all that much especially when we let them roam around the garden.

If you let them go around the garden remember that they destroy everything!!! Also they need to be packed off to bed and securely shut away each night - between November and February the foxes are usually out in force so early nights for the chickens is best.
We haven't clipped our bantams wings as they aren't ones for flying off anywhere but we did with our RIx S that we had before as they often used to escape and wander off down the road to our neighbours house with the cockrel- any good book will show you how to do it, its very easy to do.

We had a Henny Penny before and a Angel Buttercup, Ruby etc but our current two are "Tikka" and "Massala" - mean i know.
Best of luck xx

 

[jordanross]

applecart im not too sure about your questions as ive never had chickens either. ( im getting some)


and i see you said you fancy rescuing some battery chickens!

I think thats a lovely idea ( thats what im also going to do)

you can get them from the RSPCA and they are cheap and lay good eggs! ( so im told) lol

 

[legaldancer]

Hi, I've had between 5 & 19 at any one time - they breed like rabbits if you let them & have a cockerel!
Mine freerange, but I have had some ex-battery hens who were the tamest of all & great characters. One was called Jemima & she took herself off to the pub everyday! She layed enormous eggs but had a bad habit of eating them if you didn't get there quickly!
My chickens can fly up to roost about 7 foot, launching themselves from a gate & don't have their wings clipped because I can't catch them, so I think yours may be able to escape over the fence if you don't clip them.

As mine are loose they don't need extra grit, but you can buy special grit for the purpose or the eggs shell idea would work if crushed.

Theres quite a good chicken forum on the Joules Clothing website of all things!

 

[Aoibhin]

mine have a small run & coup for evenings but are free around the garden during the day, as they were hand reared the do not roam far from home.
the old hens (5 of them) have to be kept shut in due to flying off & annoying the neibourghs.
they get layers mash in winter & layeres pellets in summer, a little mixed grain as a treat each day & some veg scraps.

 

[sidesaddlegirl]

Your coop and run should be big enough for 2-4 chooks.

I would advise buying layers pellets as they have all the nutrients they need to lay. Yes, you can feed them scraps but I would not feed them them only scraps. I wouldn't suggest feeding them crushed shells though as chooks can get a taste for them and then start pecking and eating their own eggs (chickens are omnivores like us).

We give our chooks crushed grit (you can get this from any feed shop, a big 15 kilo bag will last for months and costs about £5). We feed our chooks the Smallholder range from Allen & Page as we found with other feeds (especially the REALLY cheap no-name feeds) that the egg quality started lacking. It's a bit more expensive but it's worth it as ours seem to like it and do well on it.

At first POL pullets will lay every couple of days or so until they get into a routine but once they mature and there is more daylight, you will get eggs every single day. Ours are about a year old now and we get four eggs a day (we have so many, we don't know what to do with them!!)

We keep a cockeral too (Barry) so we have to remove eggs straight away so the chooks don't get broody and start inclubating them although we did hatch 11 chicks in the spring (we keep them in a separate run).

We also supplement ours with limestone flour in the summer when they are laying everyday.

You will also find that the Hybrids tend to lay more than some of the fancy breeds too.

If your debating getting two more chooks in the future, I suggest you bite the bullet and get get 4 straight away as then they will be able to establish a pecking order straight away instead of having two at first and then adding the stress of adding two more in the future. The "old" birds will fight any newcomers so that is why it's best if you just get 4 straight away.

The hybrids usually are vaccinated and I would suggest going to a reputable dealer to get your first chooks as you don't know if ones at auctions or such are carrying parasites like red mite.

Where are you in the country? If you are in Leicestershire, I can HIGHLY RECOMMEND Merrydale Poutry in Enderby. They carry everything for chooks, sell hybrud and fancy breeds, offer aftercare service, EVERYTHING.

Ours have clipped wings as it stops them from flying up into the trees and into the next field. You only clip the feathers on one wing with some scissors but we don't clip Barry the cockeral as we feel it's important to have all his "weapons" available if he is to protect his ladies. He doesn't fly off anyways as he always keeps his girls close to home anyways.

Practical poultry magazine is excellent, there are always loads of tips in there.

LOL, keeping chooks is addictive- we started just getting some for eggs and now we have a whole pile of chikcens!

 

[imafluffybunny]

We have rescue battery hens, they are the best laying hens we have ever had, we used to get an egg a day from each hen! If you look at http://www.bhwt.org.uk/ the charity who rescue the hens there is a lot of useful information on there. The hens that are rescued do not have loads of diseases, they are fully vaccinated against most things and they adjust really well to free range life and believe it or not are really friendly!
I will not get hens from anywhere else now and to top it off you are giving them a fresh start in life and there is nothing nicer than seeing them blossom into healthy confident hens.

 

[kerilli]

i'd clip their wings, they're surprisingly good at getting airborne and difficult to chase down! it's easy to do and doesn't hurt them at all.
i've had ex-batties and mixed them in with my existing chooks with no problems.
you might get an egg a day each, for a while, with the odd day off. or, you might get none for a while and then they'll get going.
when i picked up my ex-batties one laid an egg in the car on the way home. they kept laying and weren't traumatised by the change, although the first time i let them out of the run to be truly free range (i have about 5 acres) they flapped their wings and then stared around and then up at the sky in absolute astonishment, it was one of the most touching things i have ever seen. there's a real feel-good factor about having ex-batties. i can't tell mine apart from my others (bought at point of lay) now.
i give mine corn, grit, layers pellets, scraps, a bit of brown bread (which they love), and black sunflower seeds, which they go nuts over.
they're lovely to keep, enjoy!

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

DONT feed your chickens scraps as suggested above, it is illegal and you can be prosecuted (and people are). The only thing you are allowed to feed them are vegetables which you feed them straight from the veg plot (ie if it goes in your kitchen where you have meat and stuff stored, you can no longer feed it to the chickens).

Im not saying whether the rules are bad or good, but you def cant feed them chips! well not legally anyay.

At present you only have to register your flock with big brother if you have 50+, but the more breaches of the feed regulations they find, the more likely that smaller flocks will be put under the same registration and inspection nightmares.....

stick to layers pellets, mixed corn and mixed grit and oyster shell for the egg shell formation and they will be happy as larry if they have fresh ground to scratch in.

You might not need to clip ex batts wings if you use electric poultry netting, none of mine fly over it and its only 3ft high.

 

[Chumsmum]

We have recently bought chickens so can't really advise that much as we still learning ourselves but they are lovely!

We orginally bought 2 POL and then very quickly bought another 2 - yes it is addictive.. I would buy all 4 at once as we had a few days of fighting before they all settled down. We normally have 4 eggs per day, minimum of 3. We have lots of omlettes

Wings are not clipped on ours but they haven't wandered far when we let them out - they are very tame and come to call.

They have the layers pellets but go mad for the mash.

Fox nearly had one of ours even though it was late afternoon and dog and OH were in the vicinity - dog was too busy playing with her ball but OH heard the commotion and scared off the fox - and shot him later that night when he came back

You may need a gun for the rats too

They make great pets - they all have their own personalities and soon put the dog and cats in their places if they get too near

Henny and Penny are great names but you need two more

how about Suzie and Floozie?

 

[karenjj]

Hi we never had chickens before but now have 3 ex-batts. They are so sweet and friendly, they aren't the prettiest to start with, they are pretty featherless but they grow back and watching them enjoy their freedom is brilliant. They start making little nests almost straight away, they know exactly what to do which is mad as they haven't ever been able to in the battery environment. Mine lay an egg a day each which is too much for us so I give them to my Mum and Dad and other relatives!

 

[jrp204]

We have 2500 free range hens, its alot of wings to clip! Actually we only clip one but i so hate that job. We also sell POL hybrid hens, atm if you buy a hybrid you will get eggs between 18 & 20 wks, a traditional breed will take longer. If you want a good supply of eggs feed a mash or pellet as there isn't enough protein in mixed corn and they also waste alot of it. Make sure they have a constant supply of food and water and put the feeder and drinker up on a couple of bricks it stops the dirt going in them. You will need to keep an eye on your hens for red mite at this time of year, if you look at them at roost you will see funnily enough 'little red mites' on their legs and bodies, they are red as they suck blood, you can buy stuff to get rid of it. If you look at your perches especially underneath during the day you will see the rm in little groups. As your house is new you may not have a problem this year. Make sure you worm them a couple of times a year, your local ag. merchant will have flubenzole or something similar. If your hens go broody it is purely a temp. issue rather than an hormonal one, put them in a wire bottomed cage for a couple of days and they will cool down.
Sorry for the long list, they are actually easy to keep and great fun, enjoy them, you can't beat your own eggs.

 

[karenjj]

Why is it illegal to feed them scraps?! I didn't know that?! I only have the 3 hens, are they not allowed bread crusts then? I've never heard of that, where does it say that?

 

[spaniel]

I feed Farmgate layers pellets (you can get standard or organic depending on how you feel) and you dont need to supplement with grit or shell, its all in. About £6 a sack and my three get through a sack per two months (they are bantys though).

I feed fruit and veg direct from the fridge (so not really scraps at all) as a top up to my three and they mug me daily for things like grapes and strawberrys!

http://www.urban-chickens.com/forum/php/index.php

This is an excellent forum for answering any questions you might have, they have helped me a lot!

 

[spaniel]

[ QUOTE ]
Why is it illegal to feed them scraps?! I didn't know that?! I only have the 3 hens, are they not allowed bread crusts then? I've never heard of that, where does it say that?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think its more to stop you feeding something that may be contaminated with stuff like meat scraps. If you arent selling your eggs I cant see theres a problem.

 

[Birker2020]

Thank you so much for all your lovely replies, you have been a real help. On discussing the situation with my other half we have decided to go down the ex battery hen route and I've been in touch with someone in our area by email from the BHWT today. I am really excited about the prospect, but I am very concerned about the fox threat, especially as we live in 220 acres on countryside where we see foxes on a regular basis. I would be so upset if one of our hens got taken. I think we are going to plump for three or four as people have advised to get them all together rather than introducing others at a later date. We have got some more names too from my colleagues at work - Carrie and Oakey, Drum and Stick (thats nasty!!) and Suzie and Floozie was mentioned by Chums Mum, Ruff and Tumble, and Topsy Turvey. Thanks guys, this forum is really great xx