Does anyone here keep chickens?

[FISHGUTS]

Stupid question alert: Don't they just fly away? What keeps them at your property?

You have either a dovecote on a pole or wall mounted that provides a safe roosting place & nest boxes for raising young.
Once you get doves, you then "home" them to the cote by netting them into the cote area.
Give them plenty of food, water & a bird bath, then after the 6 weeks take the net off & they will stay in your garden.
Fantails are more docile than straight tailed(garden) doves. Mine just fly around maybe a 50 mtr radius of their loft.
They are tame, as in they mooch around your garden, fly onto your window sills,etc.
Just keep feeding them & they stay.

 

[413x]

Wondered if they'd be a thread.

I love chickens. I grew up with chickens, only time I haven't had chickens is when I was at uni and while renting.

So when got my House in 2020 it was a requirement that I could have them. (on some of the covenants it can be prohibited). If I couldn't have them, it would be a no go.

These are my three girls, all ex batts (destined for slaughter if not rescued)

Recently I've added a Google nest cam so I can check thier food, water and just that they aren't ill. Although a neighbour looks after them they might not know the signs for a vet trip.

So yeah. A couple of pics of my girls. Currently they aren't allowed out of thier coop due to avian influenza.

 

[{SAS}TB]

Nice !

We have six in a sizeable coop with a decent size run too.

Great personalities and very friendly. Not overly noisy but will demolish a flowerbed or veg patch in a few hours.

 

[413x]

Nice !

We have six in a sizeable coop with a decent size run too.

Great personalities and very friendly. Not overly noisy but will demolish a flowerbed or veg patch in a few hours.

Usually they roam the back garden during day but with bird flu around poor girls are cooped up. Literally.
Only 3 girls so they have enough space.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Secure them well, foxes are crafty. Bury the wire, they’ll dig under. Chickens are easy to keep - grain and a hen house and you’ll get loads of eggs.

 

[Participant]

I want chickens now that we have plenty of garden space, so I'm keeping a keen eye on this thread!

The only thing is balancing having a cockerel vs. having to 'replace' them every so often.

 

[labbby]

had 7 that then turned into 17 due to an out of control **** and me being lazy, they are dirty, messy and also as others have said vandals. They can also be fun but expensive to feed.

Bantams are the way to go as someone else mentioned. All mine ended up in the put and instead settled for geese, best guard dogs ever haha.

Chicken coops are just nasty to clean out

 

[psd99]

Great idea for the eggs and teaching the kids but unless you have fortified security like that from the FBI
Mr Fox will always make your life difficult

They dont even eat em
Just kill and run.

 

[Participant]

All mine ended up in the put

Do you mean pot? Or is that chickenese for something?

 

[413x]

Mine are on slabs so be digging under the garden is quite secure. But I do need to upgrade their wire gauge to be more fox proof.

They aren't expensive to feed. But they do require some effort. Once a week I clean out their house. And once every month I clean out thier run.

It's reason I only have 3. More hens. More poo!

But I love giving them a new home vs being killed.

They are very tame.

 

[PlacidCasual]

I want chickens now that we have plenty of garden space, so I'm keeping a keen eye on this thread!

The only thing is balancing having a cockerel vs. having to 'replace' them every so often.

Don't get a cockerel they are a massive pain in the arse. Noisy will keep you and neighbours awake in the Summer. Aggressive little bugger will probably have at you when you come into the run. Also they can hurt the hens when they shag em. So if you don't have enough hens their claws can cause damage. For the cost of an incubator or day olds it's a lot less stress unless you are breeding.

 

[{SAS}TB]

Absolutely agree, do NOT get a Cockerill

Almost everyone I know who has had (or has) one has got rid (given away or rung it's neck) or is trying to get rid and it's not as easy as you would think.

You still get eggs, have a lot more peaceful environment and chucks. No stress with being woken at stupid hours and / or ****** off neighbours

 

[413x]

Yeah no Cockerell. Completely agree on that one too.
If you want sleep. Or you have neighbours who want sleep don't.

We had them growing up and they can be lovely. But I grew up on a farm

 

[Ninco!]

Years ago, a neighbour on a housing estate had a Cockerel, I'll never forget 3:30am on a warm summer morning and its letting rip when all neighbours have their windows open.

 

[Werewolf]

Cockerels are noisy fellows, and your neighbours may not like them...
You also then run into the issue of if you're not careful getting eggs that have living embryos in them when you go to make a cake.

We used to keep hens when I was a kid and they gave the best eggs, but keeping them secure was a must, and a never ending battle for us due to our location and the number of local foxes, but the hens definitely had their own personalities ranging from some of the bantams that would never stay still for handling, to the rhode island reds and big white ones (I can't remember their breed) that would actively come over for a fuss and to see if i'd got any treats for them, a couple of them used to like to jump on my shoulder (there was also one who as both an escape artist, and loved laying eggs up high so we'd occasionally find half a dozen in the nook of a tree branch).

 

[Rroff]

Years ago, a neighbour on a housing estate had a Cockerel, I'll never forget 3:30am on a warm summer morning and its letting rip when all neighbours have their windows open.

Over the years there used to be the odd person who'd think it a good idea to keep one in their garden in amongst a housing estate near where I lived for awhile as a kid... never ended well - some of the stories that appeared in the papers people would think I made up.

Fortunately we lived just far enough away it wasn't a problem.

EDIT: Slightly more recent one in the same general area https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/apr/16/ukcrime

 

[mike9199]

Can anyone recommend a good incubator maybe?
Asking for a friend, I have enough to do without chickens

 

[Gav_r26]

Can anyone recommend a good incubator maybe?
Asking for a friend, I have enough to do without chickens

I have the Brinsea Mini II Ex incubator that works well. Only complaint is the 7 egg capacity is a bit of a wierd one. Otherwise does everything automatically inc humidity. Not the cheapest though but seem to hold their value well on eBay.

 

[DXP55]

When we bought the last house we had chickens -Ex battery ones' We put them in the run and they just stood there wondering what to do. Didn't take them long to work it out and wife was happy as she could tip all the weeding soil in there and they went mad for it.

Only disadvantage was when she put her hand in for some eggs she touched a rat.

I bet the country yokels living next door were laughing their head off - two townies trying to be yokels.

had two geese as well - When the female was sitting on eggs he wouldn't leave my side -he was like a dog followed me every where.

Sometimes it was a real bind having chickens and geese. If I could start from scratch I wouldn't do it again.

 

[Chris Wilson]

Be careful, we started with a few chickens, but it snowballed.... A lot!
As I have got older I have cut down a bit as the work was getting oppressive, but we still have a fair old menagerie. Peafowl and Kookaburras are a definite no no if you are in an urban environment, they are seriously noisy, but a few hens are pretty quiet, interesting and productive. There's still a fair bit of work involved. I do have a friend a few miles away with flamingoes and cranes on the back lawn, we never quite reached those esoteric heights, sadly

Here's a selection of the gang:

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