chickens????

[mushpea]

ok we have so far 1 hamster (my daughters in her room mindees not allowed upstairs) 2 gerbils, 2 guinea-pigs 2 outside rabbits and one inside rabbit and a labrador. all of these are 'shared' animals with the mindees and we all take part in caring for them (only i pick up dog poo though!)
we are now thinking about having chickens, mum kept them when i was younger but i cant remember much about them excep they would nick my biscuits from my hand!!
we are doing lots of vegie and fruit growing this year and thought it would be great for the kids to learn about chickens and where eggs come from and don't worry i realise a chicken is for life (although not sure how long they live?) and wont keep them out when we have finished growing season!!!:D
does anyone have chickens? if so how do you care form them, do they need lots more care than say rabbits ? probably only going to have 2 or 3 and would love to adopt the ones they rescue from battery farms but again don't have a clue about this. so any help would be great please.

[Ripeberry]

Go for it! Ofsted love chickens and not just to eat :laughing: Seriously, they are so easy to care for. Depends how big your garden is and whether you would like them to roam around. We have two big chickens in a run 12ft by8ft and they have a wooden coop with a rain shelter.
The run did used to have grass in it but they dig so much that it was all destroyed.
A bag of mixed grain is a bit more expensive that it was (£6.50) for 25kg but then it can last sometimes up to 3 months or more. They also love scraps from the kitchen, old bits of bread, veg peelings (NOT potato), old fruit and even pasta!
You need to worm them for internal parasites every few months (just give them special medicated feed) and you need to check them for mites, but usually the fewer birds you have the less problems.
You may not get many eggs between November and December, but they go MAD at laying around now (more daylight).
They will need cleaning out fully every 3 weeks, but its good to just take out the mess each day (use rubber gloves). I use woodshavings, don't use straw as it gets mouldy and may give them an infection.
But chickens are very funny and educational for young children and my own daughters enjoy feeding them scraps and collecting the eggs.

[flora]

I would asy they are comparable to rabbits sort of:D

You need to watch out for mite and parasites and if they doo get these they can easily be treated quite easily :thumbsup:

You need to have room in the garden for them to scratch about, they wreck grass and so you need to move them freqeuntly.

I feed my lot layers pellets which I buy in bulk sacks and they also get all veggie kitchen scraps, which they love.

If you are short of room I would get batams thay are smaller. If going for a full size chuck, warren's are mega freindly with kids. I have four of these in the flock and 2 sit down to be picked up by Hannah :thumbsup: they sooon regret it :D Hannah loves her chucks :D

Pm if you want to know more.

If you are local to me you can have some of mine in the spring. My lot love to hide their nests and then hatch them. The first I know is when I see loads of fluffy chicks runnning around. Defo a down side of toally free range:laughing:

Good luck xx

[Ripeberry]

Another thing, re-reading your post as you have a dog it's best to have a fenced run and if you have large chickens (normal sized eggs) then the fence will have to be dug into the ground for at least 1 foot and it must be 6 foot high (some chickens can fly quite well). You also need to deter rats so only feed the chickens in the morning so no food is hanging around to attract them.
Just my experience. We once used an Eglu type of run and the rats dug up the grass trying to get in! Made a right mess.#
Don't get an Eglu as most hen-houses can be bought for £50-£100 and the chickens themselves are £5-£7 each. The most expensive part may be the fencing (if you want a large run).

[mushpea]

sounds good then. we have in our garden a patio area then a fenced off grassed area where i was hoping to put a chicken house and run. the dog is not allowed on the grass area because its harder to clear up his poos on the grass and i can disinfect the patio !!
if youhave them running around the lawn freely do ofsted mind this? and do they mind that they poo on the grass were children play?
the plan was to have the house and run for them to live in then for some of the day let them roam the grass area is this ok?

[flora]

I have to say I am not sure.

Ofsted liiked the fact we had chucks on the farm but did ask re muck and cleanliness and eisk of e coli and samonella.

Think you will find the poo and kids mix too much??? Even a few hens can make a lot of muck :D

[Ripeberry]

My pre-reg Ofsted lady seemed to like the fact that they did NOT have the run of the garden. Best to keep them in a run, also easier to find the eggs!:laughing:

[aly]

my friend has 4 chickens go for it.

I did show her this link out of interest ;)
http://www.omlet.co.uk/products_services/products_services.php?view=Eglu%20Cube

[mushpea]

i do like the eglus because they are so easy to clean and modern looking too but they are way out of my price range!!
ust wonded what the oppinion was on keeping chickens in a large run with attatched henhouse but with the run having a solid bottom, i would put lots of hay or straw down form them then put their corn and worms etc in amongst the hay so they still had to scratch for them. would this be ok do you think? as having thought about it i probably wouldn't want them on the grass with young ones around.