chickens

[Rosiemay]

Hello

Just wondering whether anyone has any experience of childminding and keeping chickens?!

We would love to get a few chickens but wasn't sure how ofsted would react?

Thanks,
Rosie x

[jellytot]

Hi I have chickens and ofsted loved the idea of the kids collecting the eggs and helping to care for them. I think as long as you are sensible with hygeine you will be fine.

Oh and chickens are fab to keep :clapping:

[miffy]

I can't see why Ofsted's reaction would be any different to any other pet/animal.

So long as you risk assess and know about health/hygiene issues then there are lots of learning opportunities for the children.

Oh and fresh eggs for breakfast, of course! :)

Miffy xx

[Tiger Lilly]

I was thinking about getting two, but i might wait untill the spring...Will be great for the kids, collecting and eating fresh eggs, everyday..x:clapping:

[little chickee]

Hi - i have 10 hens and about 20 ducks and ducklings. I am with the Care Commission and they are absolutley fine with it. The kids love helping with the feeding and collecting eggs and looking after the babies - i have had parents choose me over other minders because of the kids getting to be with the animals so i say go ahead.

[Rosiemay]

Thanks for your replies. I think it would be great for the kids but you never know what ofsted will say!:laughing:

We don't have a huge garden so would only get 3 chickens. Obviously they will have their house and a small run but would generally be roaming free in the garden whislt we are there.

I would do a regular poo pick-up and risk assess it all. Hopefully it will be ok.
Do I need to let ofsted know beforehand?

Thanks again,
rosie x

[Ripeberry]

I've kept chickens for almost 8 years (only 4 at any one time) and it is great being able to collect your own eggs.
Best thing to do is decide where you are going to keep them, will it be in an open pen or a chicken ark?
Get a good quality wooden coop, Google on the internet and there are lots of independent suppliers who will deliver and some even put it together for you.
Next the most important thing is to find a good supplier of chickens, Hybrids are good layers and seem to be healthier than pure bred breeds.
Light Sussex, Maran and Buff Orpingtons are lovely friendly birds.
I would suggest you get the chickens in the Autumn as many young birds are coming into lay and by spring you will have eggs coming out of your ears :laughing:
If you are going to wait until the New Year, then most birds won't be ready until May/June and won't lay until later that year.
And of course chickens are fun to watch :thumbsup:

[Ripeberry]

Another important thing, if you decide to use a chicken ark, move it regularly and don't keep food in the ark. This is to deter vermin as once they know food is available they will burrow underneath the ark. Just feed the chickens twice a day and the last feed should be done before 5pm in summer and 3pm in winter.
Also you need to worm them (pellets that chickens love) regularly.

[Dragonfly]

Ive got chickens they are lovely. Food is layers pellets which is left down all day and all food removed at night to pevent vermin. they are fed scrapes during the day after midday so i know they had enough layers pellets and can still have layers as well as treats.Children love watching them climb up on their perches, squawking, collecting eggs etc.:clapping:

[emmadines]

Hello, I have 9 hens and 4 ducks, ofsted seemed fine with this, during the inspection they actually walked round the garden and we just talked chicken lol she said putting the inspection a side for a bit whats it like having hen...... lol

[Rosiemay]

Thanks for your help everyone - especially Ripeberry's advice. Brilliant. I'm really keen and am going over to visit someone today who lives in the next street and has some chickens.:)

I'm most worried about foxes. There are loads around here.

We have big plans for our garden - chickens and a big raised veg garden. Think it will be brilliant for the kids - mine and mindees - to learn about where food comes from and help with it all.

I'll let you know what we do!
Rosie x

[little chickee]

I know for sure that i have foxes and badgers in my area as i have seen both - We back onto a large wood - but i have now had my poultry for 5 years and always shut my animals into their secure house at night just as dusk comes in- this usually means chasing them for the first few weeks but they soon get the idea.

They are in a fenced off area outwith the garden and the fence is into the ground a few feet to make it difficult or at least time consuming to dig underneath and so far I haven't lost any to foxes or badgers.

Although i do know that if a badger esp wants to get into your hen house they will as they are incrediably strong - i know someone who kept his hens in an old caravan and a badger ripped the entire side of it off to get in.

[Toothfairy]

Very envious, I would love some chickens but I only have a 40ft garden.

Good luck if you get them :thumbsup:

[Winnie]

Chickens are lovely and a good learning opportunity but a word of caution, we are not permitted to give the eggs to mindees. I was very disappointed to hear this but during our food hygiene the tutor explained that we would not be taking due care if we allowed children to eat eggs -and they became ill. He said the government have spent a small furtune on making eggs safe and so to then bypass this and give mindees eggs without the stamp (certified)would be looked upon as breaking the law by not ensuring due diligence- that is the exact term i think.

[mabel]

that was interesting, the junior school here, have chicken and they sell the
eggs is that not the same thing ?

I keep hens, the only eggs I have are what my poultry lay so my mindees
have had these eggs for the past 15 years

After reading your advice I will stop, that will go for cakes too as they are made from my eggs !

Fully agree about the vermin, they have rats at the school and the hens are only about 6ft from class 1's door ! right next to the children play area.

Ofsted don't seem bothered

[Ripeberry]

The certified thing should only really apply to raw eggs. Any eggs I give to my mindees and my own children are hard boiled. Also the smaller the flock you have the less chance of salmonella. You only have to register for flocks of 50+ birds.
Just make sure you clean them regularly, only use good quality woodshavings, pick mess up each day out of coop and renew the whole lot at least once a week.
Keep the water clean. Good husbandry if the key!

[Winnie]

[QUOTE=mabel;515549]that was interesting, the junior school here, have chicken and they sell the
eggs is that not the same thing ?

I keep hens, the only eggs I have are what my poultry lay so my mindees
have had these eggs for the past 15 years

After reading your advice I will stop, that will go for cakes too as they are made from my eggs !

Fully agree about the vermin, they have rats at the school and the hens are only about 6ft from class 1's door ! right next to the children play area.

Ofsted don't seem bothered[/QUOTE

It might well be that it is the tutors interpretation of the ‘law’, but it made sense when he went onto to say about the certified flocks. He said we shouldn’t buy eggs directly from the farm or farm shop unless they are from a certified salmonella free source. We can do what we want to will our own families ;)
Ofsted are generally only interested in the requirements of the EYFS, they dont seem to bother about all the other acts and laws that childminders should 'have regard to'...,i would'nt rely on them to know about Food safety but you could pass it by environmental health and see what they say.:)

[Winnie]

The certified thing should only really apply to raw eggs. Any eggs I give to my mindees and my own children are hard boiled. Also the smaller the flock you have the less chance of salmonella. You only have to register for flocks of 50+ birds.
Just make sure you clean them regularly, only use good quality woodshavings, pick mess up each day out of coop and renew the whole lot at least once a week.
Keep the water clean. Good husbandry if the key!

And thats fine (i do agree) but 'if' a child was ill and environmental health looked at all the places that child 'might' have picked up the illness- so maccy d's with mum, home, granny's, the childminders....and the only thing they could find wrong was that the childminder used home laid eggs- everywhere else food hygiene was spot on......:eek: all i'm saying (passing on) is that you wouldnt have a legal leg to stand on.
Remember that with one off illness environmental health can only guess where it came from. Its easy if there are a cluster of illnesses (thats why we have to inform them if two or more children fall ill) they have a head start identifing where it may come from, but with just one case they would look everywhere until they came up with a 'probable' cause.

[newandlearning]

you know I would love chickens .. all this talk of chickens makes me feel like going for a quick cluck around me garden myself.. sounds a fab idea to me... keep us uptodate with how everything goes.xx:clapping: :clapping:

[Ripeberry]

Lucky no-one wants to have chickens for the pot! :eek: Ofsted would certainly not want that. Anyway these are our pets :)

[mabel]

thanks Winnie

that has been a real eye opener and I think I may keep my mindees egg free
here from now on.

[flora]

Well I didn't kow about the lion mark only eggs for mindees.

My lo will miss her scrambled goose eggs :eek: , won't be a happy bunny.

I can sort of see the logic at a push, but If cooked correctly etc etc salmonella shouldn't be a prob. Should it?

Th amount of dirt my lot play in chuck eggs are the least of my worries :blush:

We cook and eat our chucks and duck etc but you can't feed those to mindees only immediate family members :thumbsup: