Calling all chicken people!!!

[!CobsCan!]

Hi! I've recently decided to fulfill my lifelong dream of getting chickens. But I want to do it right. Could you recommend any books, websites etc? And any tips in general. I have cats a large dog and live near a forest in the west of Ireland so would it be possible? Thanks so much! ETA: Please could you guys also tell me about your coops, if your chooks are free range etc. Basically everything! I'm hoping to get them next year so plenty of time for research! Thank you again!!!

 

[paddi22]

we have kept chickens for years and they are great fun. there are a ton of different coops depending on your budget.
we started off about 12 years ago with 2 chickens and we bought this coop https://www.omlet.ie/shop/chicken_keeping/eglu_classic/
it was brilliant and it is still going string. really easy to clean and has never needed any maintenance or repairs. the run is great as well and you can extend it easily.

we ended up getting a load more chickens and bought various other style coops. the cheapest wooden ones were absolute rubbish, they rotted, a fox chew through one even! so if I'd any advice it would be to buy a good quality coop if you can as it will save you hassle in the long run. we also keep some chickens in a metal insulated dog kennel and thats good as well, but not as easy to clean as they proper coops.

we bought a good quality wooden one from this company and it has been amazing http://www.greenhenworks.com/?product=green-acre-hen-house its still going ten years later and has proper wood and fittings, and it's easy to clean. it fits about 11 chickens too. if I was starting from scratch this is the one in hindsight that I would have bought from the start.

chickens themselves are so easy to keep, you'll have no hassle! we used to let ours freerange and just locked them in at night. but our dogs killed one one day so now we have an enclosure for them.

 

[!CobsCan!]

we have kept chickens for years and they are great fun. there are a ton of different coops depending on your budget.
we started off about 12 years ago with 2 chickens and we bought this coop https://www.omlet.ie/shop/chicken_keeping/eglu_classic/
it was brilliant and it is still going string. really easy to clean and has never needed any maintenance or repairs. the run is great as well and you can extend it easily.

we ended up getting a load more chickens and bought various other style coops. the cheapest wooden ones were absolute rubbish, they rotted, a fox chew through one even! so if I'd any advice it would be to buy a good quality coop if you can as it will save you hassle in the long run. we also keep some chickens in a metal insulated dog kennel and thats good as well, but not as easy to clean as they proper coops.

we bought a good quality wooden one from this company and it has been amazing http://www.greenhenworks.com/?product=green-acre-hen-house its still going ten years later and has proper wood and fittings, and it's easy to clean. it fits about 11 chickens too. if I was starting from scratch this is the one in hindsight that I would have bought from the start.

chickens themselves are so easy to keep, you'll have no hassle! we used to let ours freerange and just locked them in at night. but our dogs killed one one day so now we have an enclosure for them.

Thank you! One of my main worries was predators so this is very helpful! I think a bigger coop is a good idea as I predict my flock number will grow! It happens with most animals i own?

 

[paddi22]

yeah we were the same, we started off with two and ended up with millions!!
we got some off little hill, who rehome the ex industry hens. I found that really rewarding to see them turning into normal chickens and growing feathers and stuff. I know they do runs across the country, might be worth looking into it. we got great eggs off ours, they laid for years.

 

[JackFrost]

Kept chickens for decades. Biggest threat is foxes. If you have foxes in your area, make sure all coops and enclosures are really fox proof. Also watch out for buzzards and birds of prey, even with big chickens they can swoop down and pick them up. Seen it several times. Feeding - favourite foods are chips, lasagne, pizza etc, anything but chicken food. Do not feed anything with small bones in, like fish.
They will lay far too many eggs when young then slow down year on year, after about 5 years don't lay much except in spring. Live naturally about 8 to 12 years. All have different personalities. Cockerels are really noisy - I say don't ever get one, particulalry if you have neighbours. You can get fertile eggs to put under a broody hen if you want to breed. Broody hens behave oddly, you will get to recognise it. A broody hen may accept day old chicks and you can buy them already sexed (i.e. someone else will have despatched the males). If you breed and get cockerels it' s always a problem what to do with them. Hens moult every year or so and lose most of their feathers, this is normal.
Nice if you can to get rescue hens ex-battery, some websites cater for this. Have fun.

 

[!CobsCan!]

Thank you everyone! I was considering ex battery hens actually! Some of my friends got a pair a few months ago so I know I can find them. We definitely have foxes and buzzards (seen them both multiple times) so will be doing lots of safety research. I've heard of people putting CDs on their runs. Do you do this and does it work? Thanks again!!!

 

[paddi22]

nothing keeps foxes away. only thing that can stop them is a strong coop that's locked at night. we had them digging under coops, they also chewed part of one off, that's why I don't buy the cheaper coops now as the wood is too flimsy. a good solid coop, locked at night will keep them safe.

 

[Lois Lame]

Yes, and don't grow complacent like we did.

Our three hens started roosting in the golden elm and I thought how nice that was. One day it wasn't so nice. A fox came and killed all three chickens, stealing one for a snack.

I could have kicked myself because OH had even made a box that they could be put into at night (which was inside the cage, and up high). The chickens would, one by one, step onto my hand to be elevated to their sleeping quarters. Then in the morning I would have to race out of bed to open their door asap, because one of those chickens was a good layer. She would run across the yard as though she was going to wet her pants, then lay her egg.

I'm a big believer in giving chickens as much room as humanly possible.

 

[KittenInTheTree]

We built a fully enclosed walk in run for our birds using metal polytunnel frames and wire mesh, because we discovered that we have too many tree roots to get posts into the ground. Their house is also scratch built, using 3/4" thick planking and rat proof steel mesh panels for the floor and doors. It's somewhat open plan compared to traditional hen houses, which makes it easier to clean, and gives the birds more space when closed in at night. Since we hatched our flock from eggs, we ended up with some that are male, so they have a batchelor pen all to themselves.

 

[Widgeon]

We built a fully enclosed walk in run for our birds

We've also done this, we used treated 4 x 4cm diameter square lengths of timber from the local timber yard and attached thick wire to it using galvanized staples. The run sits attached to a shed with a pop hole in the side so we still shut them up at night, and there's a door so you can walk in to clean it our. Inside the shed we've sectioned off an area using more wire sheeting, so again, walk in. This makes it SO much easier! Particularly in the winter when everything's wet and horrible. We've just rigged a tarp over the top of the run because the ground was getting so manky with all the rain.

 

[ihatework]

New chicken keeper here with some ex-commercial and 3 others hatched this year.

Things I have learned:

They are super characters, I hadn’t quite appreciated what personalities they all are, so I’m now very pro-chicken!

Buying stuff for them and getting set up has been very expensive!! Made worse by the fact I only have a small cottage garden. They destroy grass and scratch up anything and everything. So they turned my patch of garden where they were into a mud pit. They love being free range and I the area I give them is just about adequate but if I’m honest they could probably do with more.

So for the 7 chooks I have (one of which is a tiny bantam cockeral) I have:

A walk in metal framed run measuring 3m x 2m. The base is rubber grass mats which are cable tied together and directly to the frame, and with a layer of sand and woodchip. This has given them a nice allweather enclosure. The roof has white tarp all year round for shade in the summer. I have recently put tarp all round and over roof for weatherproofing through winter.

In the run is an Eglu Cube coop. Spendy and a bit funky looking but so so easy to clean and perfectly big enough for the 7 of them. They have an auto door on the coop and get locked in the run overnight.

I use horse bedding (chopped rape straw) in the nesting box area. I poop scoop the run, nest box and perch tray daily - then clear out the coop once a week and spray it with an anti-mite stuff.

They get the run door opened to a section of the garden during the day. It’s not a huge area, prob about 8m x 3m, but just about sufficient. I’ve just had the area fenced and mud proofed to save my sanity.

I’ve experimented with a number of the commercial chicken feeds, they are fussy little blighters, but have settled on Allen & Page smallholders layers crumble which they noticeably prefer to pellets or mash.

Once you are set up they are very easy to keep and surprisingly rewarding ?

Other things I have learnt - they are vicious blighters if you try and introduce new ones, so needs to be done strategically!

They can escape from the tiniest of holes!

They are a good disposal unit for the mice/voles the cats bring in

They sound like they are being murdered the first time they lay an egg

 

[Nicnac]

Another newbie here. Always wanted chooks but decided to wait until I retired as have enough going on. OH retired in July so I ordered an Eglu which arrived late August! It's my birthday/Christmas present. I got 4 chickens in early September - 2 ex battery and 2 youngsters. Oh my goodness they are amazing - such characters and so funny. They have a home made perch in the coop and in the Eglu run made from a broom handle and then during the day the run is open and they have part of the garden fenced off so about 3m by 7m as well. The top of the run has a tarpaulin over it for shade/shelter as the Eglu supplied one is pretty cr*p. I have a small shed in the area where I can store all the chooky stuff. They love Allen and Page Layers pellets, corn and go mad for dried meal worms and I have a list in the kitchen and in the shed of what they can't eat. They have straw in the nesting bit and shavings in the floor bit in the coop. I muck them out properly at the weekend and sprinkle red mite powder all around with bedding on top. I just add straw during the week as it's dark. As the run is next to the horses electric fencing which runs off the mains, the exterior is electrified - the chickens can't touch it but it has been useful in getting the dogs to leave them alone! Mine are retrievers so would bring me a bird every minute if they could

OH has built them a swing and a ladder in their 'playground' which they love - he's actually quite taken with them. The two older girls and one of the younger ones lay pretty much every day even now, but one the youngsters is full size but hasn't matured i.e. small comb and wattle. It doesn't matter as she's not going anywhere even if she doesn't lay. With just the two of us at home we have more than enough eggs.

This morning, one of the ex-batts went back into the coop when I was pottering as had vet coming for a horse and didn't have to fly off to the office, and I watched her lay an egg. Fascinating. Once it had plopped out, she put her head in between her legs and had a good look and sniff. I gave her a few sunflowers seeds as she's such a clever girl

Good idea IHW to make it all weather - I may look at doing so next year as it is a bit muddy - chooks seems to like the mud though, especially a good dust bath!

 

[spider]

There's a Facebook group called Chicken Keeping UK which has loads of info..