Allotments 4 All

I took on a vacant plot in May, and half is converted to no-dig beds (4 x 12 ft). The allotment terms allow you to keep chickens, provided there's no rooster, and my son is very keen (my Gran used to have her own chicks too). Touch wood, this group of plots doesn't seem to get vandalised, and it's fairly well occupied.

The theory is that I would get an ark covering 4 x 6 ft and let the chickens dig and manure the beds by moving it about. Oh, and there's the eggs.

BUT - how big a commitment of time and money would 3 or so chickens be? Are there any tips to prevent human and animal predators getting to the chicks? Are there breeds tough enough to live outside during the winter (in Peterborough)? And is there a downside to having chickens and their manure on your plot?

Any advice you can give gratefully received! :D

Sarah

Hi.  My Mum and Dad used to keep 10 chickens at the end of our garden when I was a kid.  We buried chicken wire up to 4ft deep to stop Mr Fox burrowing underneath and made the side fencing 6ft tall.  This was made with robust fence posts.

We also made a chicken house on legs, with a door that we closed each evening when the chicken went to roost.   The chicken house was built into the fence with access to doors from outside the run by each nesting box so that we could get the eggs from outside the run.

We fed them in the morning and gave fresh water, collected eggs, and then put them to bed at night.  You will need to clean out the chicken house once a week, and once a month fork over the run to turn the earth over - and give the chickens access to all those huge worms!

Apart from eggs,  the clearings from the chicken house is great for gardens.  My Dad used to put it in an old water butt and let it ferment for a week of two, and then use the water on his marrows.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the tips, especially the weekly/fortnightly routines and how to keep out Mr Fox. Glad to hear that chicken droppings make for huge worms! :D

Hi Supersprout aka Sarah.    I replied to your message before reading your posting.   As DJC etc has said, you need to protect against the fox digging as well as climbing.   One of our chicken people has sensibly divided his plot so that when the chickens have devastated one half, he will move them into the other, to give the devastated plot time to recover.
Give 'em corn from time to time, and you'll get eggs with yellow yolks, not the pallid yellow you get from supermarket eggs.
Think about when you want to go on holiday.   My neighbour went on two weeks holiday and found a mug to look after his - that was me.   So you will need to find a mug for when you go on holiday.
An arc that you can move about might be just a touch too small for your chickens to be free range - or it could be too big to move.   
Chickens can become very friendly, and in the early days, I even had one having a cuddle on my lap - sounds daft - but 'tis true.
Every best wish, Regards Colin.