Topic: Back yard chickens

[Powderfan]

Hi Guys and Gals

The wife and I would dearly love to get some chickens for both eggs and meat but we have a few too many pets at the moment and we are also undecided if we really have the room for them.

We probably will not do anything until our pet collection of 2 large dogs and 1 cat is reduced a little but we still have questions we would like the answers to. 
Firstly do chickens really need to be on grass?  I ask this for a couple of reasons.  We have no lawn area due to having a low maintenance garden with an expanse of gravel.  Not my first choice but sensible given the two dogs.  Years ago when keeping chickens was common I'm sure people living in small terraced houses with a small yard would have kept them and they would have had no grass.  The area I believe we could house the birds is down the side of our house. There is a space about 3.5 to 4' wide and the full depth of the house (about 30')  Being between the house and the neighbours fence it is a shady area but not a damp dark hole.  The space is blocked off at the front end and can only be accessed from the back garden and thus wind issues would be low.  The shelter from the fences and house mean not a huge amount of rain will fall here either.  The ground surface is currently soil.

Do you think it would be reasonable to build a chicken shed say at the far end then allow the rest of the space to be used as a run with a gate and wire roof to ward off cat and fox attacks?  Would this "run" be enough? and if so for how many chickens?  If it were not for the dogs and cat perhaps we could open up the while garden to the chickens provided their wings are clipped to prevent them fence hopping.  That way they would have a lot more space although still no grass.

Our plan would be for me to let the chickens out each morning before work (early bird) then the wife can collect eggs and do food and water before she goes to work.  The birds would be left to their own devices until early afternoon when I return from work and then before going to bed they would be put away again.  This is why the area they occupy needs to be secure not only to prevent them fluttering off but also to protect them from attack while we are out.

You have probably picked up on the fact we don't really know what we are talking about at the moment but we are reading and learning what we can and at some point will have to jump in with both feet.   ANy help and advice you can provide would be appreciated.

Thanks

Michael

[outdoorgirl]

Personally I would not house chickens in the space you described by the side of your house. They love to scratch around in soil and be able to 'sunbathe'  when the weather is good. (That is definitely a sight a sore eyes!!).  8)
Chickens can end up smelly in the summer months if you are not careful and your neighbour may not like the 'Country Smells' coming from over the fence!

Allow it is nice to let them have the run of your garden they will mess the garden up and depending of the personality of the chicken, may get bored in a garden with no soil and wander. (I have 2 escapee's and two that are content to scratch and wander in their permitted area!!

As you have two dogs it may be unfair to consider getting chickens unless you are able to secure them completely. Most dogs do like chase (or worse) poultry so like you said it may not be a good time to think about getting them.

[kt.]

Sorry, but I would have to agree with outdoorgirl that the area sounds unsuited to keeping poultry.  If that area is all that is available, it would not be fair to the hen.   I have 12 Hens that live in a 8x6ft shed ( I know they could have a smaller coup, but it was already made).  They then have an area to the front  of the cree 8x12ft, and at the side 12x18ft.  There is also a 1ft gap around the other 2 sides.

They scratch around all day.  If you had hens and they got bored - they will start featherpecking, bullying others which will result in disease, possibly non-laying hens and possibly even the demise of the hen victim.

[Robert_Brenchley]

If the ground surface is soil as described, there isn't a problem that I can see. Vegetation won't last five minutes anyway, apart from stinging nettles.

[Poet]

our chickens are down the side of our house, we don't have a problem with smells.  Their run is on soil covered with aubiose and providing you keep them well maintained and clean, you shouldn't have a problem.  We add garlic powder to their food which stops their poo being smelly.  Their run is partly in the shade but does get some sun.

They're ex batts so would be perfectly happy kept in the run but we let them free range round the garden when we're their.

It's a joy to be able to sit in the conservatory and watch them.

flick thru my album and see what you think

http://club.omlet.co.uk/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=22866

[kt.]

Looking good there Poet,  looking gooooood

[Poet]

thank you  ;D

[Old bird]

Hi Powderfan

I took the plunge a couple of months ago - I got 12 ex bats to my allotment. 

Gingerbread - the only one with a name - was hurt and couldn't walk and was being bullied by the other so I took her to my house!

I have two big dogs that are used to catching and killing rabbits/squirrels - so kept them firmly apart - and made Gingerbread a run in the garden.  Well the occasion arose when dogs and bird were both out at the same time!  I gulped and thought we are now going to have a bloodbath not a bit of it Gingerbread - now recovered - stood up to her full height and added a couple of inches - from where I don't know - she pecked both of them firmly on the nose - and didn't run away.  Having tried to re-integrate her to her old "buddies" they all attacked her so have kept her at home where she runs around the garden - de-slugging, wood liceing - snailing and worming the lawn.  She doesn't make a mess at all and is good company!

So don't let your dogs put you off keeping chooks!

Old Bird

 ;D

[Poet]

that's a lovely story old bird, does me heart good  ;D  Not all dogs are as good as yours though so I'd just urge caution.

[Old bird]

Poet - If you met my dogs you would find out that they are complete hooligans!

Lurcher does a reasonable impression of an ASBO teenager on speed whilst the labrador completely ignores me and does her own thing!  I have very little control - except last resort - screeching!  The neighbours know me by now - so they don't call the police!!

But yes Poet I do agree major caution is required!

Old Bird

 ;)

[Mr Smith]

There is a way round the problem and that is why not keep Bamtams in a big box cage I can remember when I was a kid going to friends of my dads who had cages fixed to the wall up in the air on the back of their house with about four bamtams and a cockeral in :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

When my sister worked on a farm, she had an English pointer because it would be safe with the animals. She realised chickens were warm, so she used to grab one on a cold evening, drag it to her kennel, and lie on it all night. She never harmed one.

[Rosyred]

Poet - Really like your run - did you build it yourself?

[Poet]

There is a way round the problem and that is why not keep Bamtams in a big box cage I can remember when I was a kid going to friends of my dads who had cages fixed to the wall up in the air on the back of their house with about four bamtams and a cockeral in :)

that sounds cruel, almost like battery cages!

[Poet]

Poet - Really like your run - did you build it yourself?

thanks, my husband built it.  It looks even better now as it's been stained the same colour as the fence and the attached baskets have all bloomed

[Andy H]

I too would love to keep chickens but what would you lot accept as the smallest area to keep 2???

Just to give me some idea...

[Patrick King]

a large chicken like the battery hens need 2 1/2 sqft each and 12-16inches of perch space.
a small chicken like a bantam needs 1 1//2 sqft each and 10-14inches of perch space.

and most people tend to get 3 chickens instead of 2, incase some thing happens to one. then the one would'nt be on his own.

[GodfreyRob]

I too would love to keep chickens but what would you lot accept as the smallest area to keep 2???

Just to give me some idea...

Chickens really don't need much room to perch and sleep but they do need lots of space to scratch in, take dust baths, etc. So a small shed can house quite a few as long as they have lots of room outside. Ideally two runs so you can let them onto one whilst hte other recovers (they will scratch fresh grass to bits in no time).

The more (fenced in to keep out Mr Fox) space they have the better. I started with 6 in an 8'x6' shed with a run of 20'x10'. Within weeks they had completley stripped it of grass and it became a mudbath in the first rain. Now they have twice that and with careful rotations I can keep the grass on it all year.

[Andy H]

Oh well, what with sheds and 2 greenhouses and pond/bridge and donkey I guess we dont have the room.....

Will have to settle for battery hens then... running in AA`s ;D

[Mr Smith]

Poet,
            Keeping Bamtams in large cages was very popular after WW2 and into the 50's which I remember well, in my part of the world they hung on the backyard wall because terrace houses had small backyards in East Lancashire, totally different condictions when you compare them to battery chickens, personally I would stop old ladies from keeping budgerigars in small cages and demolish all high rise council flats which are human battery cages, ;)