Topic: Chook forums

[carrot-cruncher]

Hi folks,

Can any of chicken keeping people out there supply me with some links to forums on keeping chickens, especially those relevant to first timers?

I've got a large patch on my allotment (approx 30 ft by 30 ft) which I'm unlikely to cultivate & am considering getting 4 to 6 chickens to produce my own eggs.   I've checked my allotment contract and I'm ok to do this but just don't know where to start regarding keeping domestic chickens. 

My main concern is that I've been told by an "expert" that I would have to visit my chooks at least twice a day.   The area I'm considering for the chooks will be fenced off and have a nice roofed house for the chooks, complete with nesting boxes.    The selfsame "expert" also announced to me that I "ABSOLUTELY MUST" have a cockerel in order to get the hens to lay!!!!

Any informed advice gratefully received

CC

[CityChick]

Oh dear, I'd avoid that "expert" then ::)

My favorite is:

The Poultry Keeper

and there is also:

Practical Poultry

[glow777]

Got 8 hens that are laying 8 eggs a day at the moment no cockeral in sight. They might hear one in the distance!

We visit ours at least twice a day, but that is only because we walk the dogs near the allotment and are chickens lay throughout the day not just in the mornng

[Jesse]

I can recommend the practical poultry forum as well, packed with information and well worth joining if you will be keeping chickens. I too would avoid advice from that expert you talk about, we don't have a cockeral and our hens lay quite happily without one. Ideally you would visit them twice a day but I think you could get away with once a day, but it really does need to be at least once a day because your hens must get fresh water every day and you (or someone else) needs to check that the water is there and available to them. Our hens scratch about the run and bury their drinker in bits of straw and dirt, if you suspended or raise the drinker off the ground then you might avoid this problem but in winter you also face the problem of their water freezing so you (or someone else) needs to make sure the water is defrosted each morning for them. :)

[loz2006]

Hi, you definitely dont need a cockrel in order to get the hens to lay.  Hens will lay but they wont be fertile.  So unless you plan on breeding you dont need a cockrel.  we have four hens which we keep in a totally enclosed run, ie wire mesh all round the sides, we've had a problem with the fox.  We certainly dont go down twice a day to check on them, probably every other day in the winter to top up their feed and water and collect the eggs.  A good website ive found is www.poultrypages.co.uk  this has a forum anfd links to other sites

cheers

Lorraine

[Rosyred]

We had three hens in the back garden, didn't have a cockeral. They take alot of work and you would require to visit twice a day I think. Once in the morning to open them up and then in the evening to shut them up. I lost mine to foxes as my husband didn't lock them up. I'm thinking about getting more but not until all this bird flu has gone.

[teresa]

Think it was the chinese who said fertile eggs taste better,
But I cannot tell the difference you dont need a thingy I think it would attract a fox by its noise.
PP is a good site also backyard chickens a US site.
If you had a automatic opener in the house this would save you going down twice a day to let them out and close them up.
You can get large feeders and drinkers and on a raised platform so dirt and bits dont go in. You could get away with once a day.
The run would have to be fully enclosed with a hard roof as prenvention of bird flu. and sides would have to go down into the earth to make sure its fox proof they can dig a tunnel. Not always at night. A finer net over to stop wild birds getting in spreading bugs other than bird flu.
Also read up on minor illness they do get sick and have a nursing aera at home and a first aid kit for them.
 Preparation is the key word