getting started with chickens - advise please

Well they have said it all

 

Think how many ,six will give you 6 eggs a day ,42 a week..

make sure you get a big water feeder that will last them..

would be good getting to the laying area though the fence without having to walk in the pen (winter muddy) and be able to clean..

Design and location is essential..

 

I recommend either getting a cheap/free shed (or commandeering part of an existing one) and some cheap/free cupboards and building your own hen coop out of them - much easier than having to go into the run to get the eggs each day and to clean them out. Even buying a new one is cheaper than most henhouses. Having a whole small shed for a few chickens is good as you can make their bit be inside the cupboards, and use the rest of it to store stuff like food and egg cartons and chicken mucking out stuff!

Cut a small hole in the side out to their run and make (or buy from a site like http://www.chicken-house.co.uk/ - they're only a few quid) a door for it.

Also, after a few months, and as it gets darker earlier you are probably going to want to know there are such things as automatic chicken door openers (by light or by timer) which despite being pricey I frankly would not be without! My chickens aren't really profitable in themselves (I trade their eggs for beer and as thank yous mostly) but I've found that I keep them for the amusement factor as well as the lovely tasting fresh eggs.

Oh, I also recommend learning a few recipes that use up a lot of eggs - you'd be surprised how they can mount up!

 

Noooo!!! Don't do it, chickens are evil unless cooked!


See my post in the "what scared you as a kid thread"!!!

 

Chicken are great, they have their on personalities, watching them is better than Sky TV.

 

I'm liking the idea of a shed

 

it will all end in tears once you start finger licking

 

We've got a few that we keep in an eglu go coop. I think it's great as it's super quick to clean out once a week. Not the cheapest though.

 

When we had them we lived within sight of the canal across one field, our hens were had by a Mink, very messy and sad,we know it was a Mink cos my wife saw it coming back next day for its kill, few days later it had 24 of near neighbours pigeons, he was devastated! I'd bought a trap by then and he borrowed it and caught the little Marmite next day.
If you live near water make sure any fencing has small holes and chucks are shut in properly at night!

 

Well if you like the idea of it, I'll bore educate you more with tales of my top shed mods for chickens... great bedtime reading, if nothing else!

So, automatic doors outside, door leads straight into a couple of cupboards inside (easy access to clean out from inside the nice dry shed away from the horrible rain). 1 metal (rat proof) bin down one side for food, another smaller metal bin on a shelf for chicken treats (mostly meal worms and maize). Kitchen worktop on top of the cupboards also allows room in my shed for a beer fridge... I also put in a kettle, but in all honesty I usually walk back to the house if I run out of tea.

Perches can be placed reasonably high up in the cupboards (not 2" above the floor as in henhouses) allowing for folding poo trays to be positioned beneath them. Chickens poo a helluva lot while on perches. I find it much quicker to not put bedding underneath, but put two folding boards (use cardboard for the first week or so if you don't want to waste effort making things to begin with) one beneath each set of perches, so when you muck out you can just pick them up, fold them for easy sliding off of poo and tip it straight into a bucket or on the compost heap. Because of my bedding choice I also use a cat litter shovel (like a plastic shovel made out of a sieve) to quickly remove any other poo without wasting loads of bedding (which makes it easier to give to keen gardeners - you end up with a lot of poo too, unless you can use it yourself or throw it in the bins).

For bedding I use Aquamax (other brands are available) which I used to use for horses - great stuff, like dried wood pellets, just add water and you have at least 5x as much volume of sawdust. Try not to put them unsoaked into henhouses with chickens that are unfamiliar with them as I shouldn't think it would do them much good if they ate them, but having said that I've not had any issues with my chickens and I use them unsoaked on the bottom to absorb the liquid/damp and put a covering of already sawdusted ones on top. i've heard it's better than straw as straaw can host redmites, no idea if this is actually true, but between the Aquamax and DE I've not had any issues with redmite so far :touchwood: oh yeah, DE - Diatomaceous Earth (not at all earthy) - I buy a big tub and chuck some in when fluffing bedding around occasionally and also throw handfuls into their dustbath areas. It kills creepy crawlies without harming the chickens.

Put in a few low down egg laying boxes - I haven't gone fancy with customisations here, but some do, making eggs roll outside the hen area for easy collection, and so on. Mine are just basic boxes with removable partitions for easy cleaning.

Other top tips, don't do what I did and install the water tank for the automatic waterers above the worktop, or if you do then do a better job of it than me - mine leaks regularly and warps the tops.

Put a light in the shed - it is almost always dark in winter when I muck out the chickens around work.

Keep loads of eggboxes in the shed, away from rats as they chew them. Or have several containers for carrying eggs and remember to take them back to the shed occasionally - I've broken more eggs than I care to count by trying to juggle them rather than walk back for a container.

Put in a rat trap or two - they are utter gits and eat all your chicken food and crap on everything else if they get in.

And finally.... put a camping chair in the shed. It's great for watching the antics of chickens you never knew you'd be so amused by as you get to know them.

 

toptip..

me too ,put them on the passenger seat ,left turn ,bang bang bang ,put them on a hammock once.tuesday_wildchild

Start saving egg boxes now ,soon they will be rare...

 

@Diddymen Finish your van first

 

Go gentle, plenty of lube.

 

Chickens will turn anything into a smelly desert. Free range eggs are available down the road, or at work where I am where they save semi-retired battery hens.

 

Check that you do not have any covenants on your property.
We are specifically not allowed to keep poultry or hovercraft.
Yes. aeroglisseur.

Suspect that as our house sits on an old aircraft factory somebody probably made a hovercraft and trimmed a few hedges in the village going to the pub before a halt was called.

 

We've got 9 hens, 7 - 8 eggs a day in the summer, 2 sacks of corn a month at about £8 a sack. Given the price of eggs in the shops, that's a good return. Don't be tempted to buy fancy chickens or bantams unless you want them as pets, as they will only lay seasonally. Hybrids are the best option, they will lay regularly for most of the year.

Don't let them loose in your garden unless your wife is very tolerant, as they will dig up plants when they scratch in the beds. Free range is better, just consider fencing off a section of garden where there's nothing to damage.

Be careful giving them waste food as it attracts rats.

Straw is good for bedding, remember they generally sleep on a perch so no point wasting money on fancy bedding. 50 pence a bale from the farmer, lasts for ages.

 

That's a lot of eggs what do you do with them all?

 

with this arrangement do you end up with a very smelly corner of the garden, and did I read that you have 12 birds in this area, I know nothing about keeping chickens but that seems a small area for that number

 

Got a big family and give some to the old dears next door and friends. Not so many in the winter either, now is peak production.