Who keeps chickens?

Hi all.

When we first moved into our new house, the wife asked if she could have some chickens, and I promised her she could once the garden is ready to accomodate them.

I expect to have the garden in some sort of order by late spring or early summer.

I know a thing or too about chickens, as my dad has always kept them and as a kid I was heavily involved in looking after them, but I'm not an expert as I've never kept them myself, and my dad always has loads of room (he allocates about half his allotment to them during the main growing season, then lets them have the whole allotment once the summer crops have finished or gone to seed). I'll be allocating the far end of my back garden to them.

So I have a few questions. Bear in mind that the we'll be keeping the chickens primarily as pets, so they're to have everything they need to happy and healthy. Any eggs we get off them will be a bonus. Here goes:

* What's the smallest flock size we can get away with? I know they are social creatures so a lone chicken is not an option, but I'm not sure how many to get. I was thinking 3 or 4. Too few and they'll e lonely, too many and they'll be overcrowded and might fight.

* How much space do I need to allocate at a minimum for their main living/foraging area? They've already got a small shed for the night time, and while they won't always have the freedom of the whole garden, I'll let them in sometimes, but most of the time they'll be confined to their own designated patch/

* Are there any issues with keeping them in a residential area? We won't be getting a cockerell so noise shouldn't be an issue unless something spooks them, but what do neighbours typically think?

* Apart from corn, what can we feed them to keep them well fed, healthy and happy? Are there any weeds I can grow in their patch that they'll eat? I know they enjoy chickweed, and summer purslane, but in a small area they'd soon devour all that.

* Any other advice or opinions will be gratefully received.

 

I think it all depends on how tolerent your neighbours are clueless. Wether you are private or council.

They dont really give a damn untill neighbours start complaining. Going off my daughters experience she

thought it would be good for the children to grow up with live stock (chickens to start with) they rescued

battery hens and gave them a good home in return they recieved an egg of each hen every day.

The kiddies loved collecting the eggs and feeding the chickens.

Family and chickens were all happy untill neighbours started complaining,

not even being able to give good reason. To cut a long story short she had to get rid.

I think some people like to complain just because they can.

Some people ar'nt happy unless they are interfering in other peoples lives.........but what can you do? :dodgy:

 

Thanks for the tips T, and sorry to hear about your daughter's awful situation.

You're right T, some people love a good complain.

We're fairly lucky in that we have a noisy social club on one side, and a nice old lady who god bless her is nearly deaf and too frail to look after her own garden, so I can't imagine her complaining, besides she is lovely and doesn't strike me as the sort to be a pain. A couple of doors down there is an annoying yappy dag goes off if I so much as dare to step into my own garden for a smoke, and the neighbours seem to put up with that. All in all I'd say our neighbourhood is alright (it has a bad reputation but I haven't seen any bother, and the neighbours all say it's ok, but a little clicky - it's a 'deprived' neighborhood of my home town, small village mentality in a larger town).

 

Neighbours can be an awful pain. Someone tried to grass her up to the social.

They presumed because she had 6 children and her husband was at home most

of the day that she was on benefits!! Her husband works from home so they

presumed wrong!!

Why are people with big families these days treated like scum

...............I say do your homework first before you slander people.

 

You're right. Too many (but not all) people spend their lives wearing blinkers. They see a headline on the news, hear a rumour and then formulate their own "fact", and refuse to even consider the possibility they might be wrong.

In any case, so what if someone is on benefits? Isn't it one of the few remaining things that make our country decent that we look after people who hit hard times? I have a decent job at the moment, and haven't been out of work for about 15 years (except the two days between being made redundant from one job and starting the next - 2 days I didn't bother to claim for), but I could easily get laid off, the company could fail, I could have an accident rendering me unable to work etc. I fully understand that there are some folks who are career spongers but I believe the vast majority of those dependent on benefits hate being so.

I digress, you're right, and it's awful the way your daughter was treat by her neighbours. But if there is a consolation, it is this: There are far more good people in the world than bad, and of those bad minority, most are misguided or simply not intelligent enough to understand they might be wrong, only a tiny minority are rotten to the core.

 

Jings, I know nothing about keeping chickens.
We did keep them free range when I was a child - but have forgotten nearly everything.
One of those chickens was a Bantam (|Bunty) and she laid very small eggs.
There was 4 of us kids, and every morning at breakfast there was a great big squabble about who was having Bunty's little egg. We all wanted a big one and declared it wasn't our turn to have a little one.
My poor Mother

 

Hi we have kep hens for about 2 yrs now, we started off with 3 with a coop and small add on run,but found the mess too much(and smell) we use to poo pick 3 times a day and still couldn't keep up and decided to have a break, we then had a large walk in run made with coop inside and brought 2 hens and find we can look after them better then 3(plus 2 cause less destruction on garden) I would reccommend having a enclosed run (roof as well)for safey of hens,all in all it is fun ,you just need to decide on numbers ,the hens all have their own personalities and are allowed to free range while we are present, you wont regret it.[hr]
forgot about feed ..feed them a good layersmash or pellets that is all they need,corn you can give a small amount during the day(oo much and egg production is affected) We also give ours porridge (made wih water) raisins and some poultry spice on cold evening before they go to bed, hey will also eat any cooked veg left over from dinner,our eat spring greens uncooked we just throw a bunch into run,also melon during the summer,I dont give mine potatoes(some do but dont think they are good in large amounts and must be cooked) they also have corn on the cob uncooked and fruits you should google what food can i give to chickens comes up with loads of things.Meat is a no no not sure why,
We live in a residental area and have no probs, just make sure you keep the run clean o avoid smells and flies in the summer. I'am sorry if I have come across a bit negative but they are honestly nice birds to haqve as pets,
ps you may notice my t key is playing up

 

[hr]
I have one bantam that roams in the garden and six hens that have a shed and a run( 144sq ft. )I dig it over regularly and throw in plenty of green stuff. I have kept hens this way for years, no problem. No issues with neighbours as don`t have a cockbird, and they like the eggs. If you let this many hens out in a normal sized garden they would trash it, O.K. if you are not a gardener.

 

Thanks for the tips folks. I have my work cut out before we get the chickens. I promised the wife she could have them by last summer, then that came and went so I said this spring, which is now rapidly approaching and I'm way behind on getting the garden done. To be honest I hadn't factored in the amount of snow and the freezing conditions we had. It doesn't normally get that cold where I am because a combination of the sea, and all the heavy industry nearby usually keeps the worst of the cold away. I reckon I lost about 3 months in all, so the chicken enclosure is still a complete tip.

Still, I reckon we're going to get some chucks. Probably by mid summer now by the time I get all the other jobs done.

 

Eric the Chicken

 

[size=large]Nice Eric. I hope she will not lay an egg in the middle of the table[/size].

 

:D No, this one,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJF6PBhAhlo[hr]

It was amusing when she roosted up next doors fir tree, I couldn't get her down from my side so I knocked on their door. We couldnt see her through the foliage so I just called out.. "Eric !"

A reply came from halfway up the tree.. "Baawwwk"

The look on my neighbours faces was priceless:D

 

Check out the local rules with the council before you start and providing you comply with those the neighbours can't do a thing. Most councils are fine provided you don't keep cockerals.