Chickens

[andy_wrx]

Yes, the 'ark' you've seen was probably an Eglu from Omlet as rensos says.

They are more expensive than a wooden 'hutch' from the farmers supplies shop, but are very convenient, easy to clean, don't rot, etc.
Have a look on the website and scroll through the various options http://www.omlet.co.uk/homepage/homepage.php : lots of info, FAQ's, etc about chickens and poulrty-keeping generally, which is useful/interesting even if you buy elsewhere.

They supply eglu with chickens, a nice man (laid-back semi-retired guy - seems a great job to have) brings them, builds it up, shows you too-embarassed-to-ask type stuff like how to pick up a chicken, how to clip their wings (they can't fly exactly, but can jump 6ft fences with a bit of flapping if you don't), etc.

Excellent pets, very amusing, always cheerful (aka greedy), pretty robust/lowish maintenance, get on with cats and dogs after a bit of mutual hard-staring (chase other cats out of garden, excellent !), take themselves off to bed when it goes dark.

They are delivered at point-of-lay, lay for perhaps 18 months and then start to tail off - one of ours is now not laying, the other every other day.
In a battery farm, they'd be off for dogfood...but ours are pets (awwww!)

And don't get a cockerel. It's them who make the cock-a-doodle-doo (as well as making litlle chickens )

Hens just make a bit of a chucking humming noise ; your neighbours wouldn't know you have them

And Fnaar, they do like marmite, Omlet recommend you feed it to them on wholemeal toast once a week because it's good for them (I kid you not...)

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Go on Maggot, give'em a go. I've kept 'em for years. They don't need much space, but don't get too many with that amount. You wouldn't want more than three or four full size birds in that ark. Thing to do is to read about keeping them first and understand what they will demand of you in all weathers at any time of the year. They will need commercially produced feed. They don't thrive too well solely on kithchen scraps. (By the way, it's illegal to feed them meat scraps). Oh, and if you value your neighbours friendship, don't get a cockerill!

 

[Fab Foodie]

If you keep a Cockerel don't bother cooking their testicles...as I found out in Hungary the other week, they're fowl...

 

[Big Bren]

I've just put an order in with the wife Santa for one of those Omlet jobbies and a couple of occupants. If he doesn't deliver, I'll take matters into my own hands, since the chickens are part of a bigger project; I'm giving over a large part of my garden to start growing produce and I've just ordered a composter and a water butt from the local council. I intend to use child labour on this project, in that I'll 'encourage' my kids to get involved.

 

[Noodley]

As a country dweller I don't quite "get" town/city dwellers and keeping animals and the associated "problems".

A few years ago an "urban" chap and his family moved to live near us. He made much about how he and his family wanted to be seen as "country folk" and "fit in"....aye, well - dogs, cats, ponies, horses, sheep, deer, foxes, pheasants, slurry, pigs, tractors, stuck in snow, audax riders () fireworks at odd times of the year, sacrificing first-born children, etc is all part of country life. I even bought a cockerel to prove the point.

They have now settled in well, and are good friends. I still think they have a few hang ups.

 

[bonj2]

[<rant about="water butts">

sounds a good idea, but if you get a water butt make sure you put the gutters back to how they were when (if) you move out of the house. the previous occupier(s) of my mum's house had about 3 water butts filled from the downpipes but they obviously never bloody used the damn things as they were overflowing and the gutters were largely blocked with mud and leaves. And it was down to us (well, me) to get replacement gutter connectors and fix the gutters back to how they should be and clean them out. Good job it was a bungalow otherwise she would have had to pay a bloke with ladders to do it. I'm sure there's lots of such water butts scattered over the country where people have decided to try to do something to be environmentally friendly but not carried it through. grrr...

</rant>

 

[Big Bren]

Thanks Bonj. I'll be sure to a) actually use my water butt and restore the gutters to their previous condition when I move out, just in case you, or indeed your parents, buy my house.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

If you live on an executive estate, check your deeds to make sure that there's no covenant against keeping birds and animals other than domestic pets. A "building estate" covenant can be enforced by others on the estate, such as a neighbour who is fed up with your cock in the morning.

 

[fossyant]

Kids love growing stuff - my son's really proud of his celery patch ! Keep the water butt near the area that needs watering - our's is close to the greenhouse and veg. patch - it's a bugger to cart lots of watering cans about, and you'll end up using the hosepipe.

 

[Will1985]

We have 12 chickens and 2 cocks here which are completely free range normally, apart from the last week when Defra have been in the neighbourhood! I've never had eggs like them from elsewhere, and they are comical to watch sometimes, and they all have different characters. We have a couple of pure Silkies and some hybrid Silkies which we hatched and they are the most stupid birds ever - one ran into a wheelbarrow while looking the other direction, and did the same thing 5 minutes later...totally crazy. Our Black Rocks are definitely our best layers, but they are also the most adventurous - they will come inside the house if the door is open and eat the cat food....cat is also scared of those 2 particular chickens!!

 

[andy_wrx]

A "building estate" covenant can be enforced by others on the estate, such as a neighbour who is fed up with your cock in the morning.

Fed-up with your cock at any daylight hour more like. It's an old wife's tale that cocks are at their most extreme at dawn, they do it all day long as well.

But you don't need a cockerel if all you want is just a few hens for eggs or pets. Obviously you do if you want them to breed, but they happily lay without any cock.

Your neighbours would never know you have hens, so have them a few months without them noticing, then take them half a dozen eggs.
Somehow a gift of half a dozen eggs laid by your free range chickens is wonderful, whereas if you'd just bought them in Tesco no-one would think much of it as a gift !
If they haven't noticed the chooks and now they're being given eggs, no neighbour will complain.

 

[Fnaar]

Fed-up with your cock at any daylight hour more like. It's an old wife's tale that cocks are at their most extreme at dawn, they do it all day long as well.

But you don't need a cockerel if all you want is just a few chickens for eggs or pets. Obviously you do if you want them to breed, but they happily lay without any cock.

I simply can't let this go by without saying "My wife's the same"

 

[Arch]

I simply can't let this go by without saying "My wife's the same"

I was just going to post a 'where's fnaar?' comment when I saw that...

I think I'm allowed to keep fowl on the allotment (but not livestock like goats or cows etc), but I wouldn't want to keep them anywhere I couldn't keep a daily eye on them, and don't want to have to go to the allotment everyday - anyway, they might get nicked/let out by the local scroats. But one day, when I have a garden, I'd quite like a few chickens....

 

[catwoman]

I used to work in a children's home and we got chickens for the kids and the eggs. There was a cock with 6 hens. We used to feed them with a hot mash in the mornings and they were really nice. Unfortunately the cock was rather noisy and we had a neighbour who didn't much like having a kids home next door who measured the noise from the crowing with a decibel meter while gathering evidence for her complaint.I remember one of the kids found a brick in the garden one day and chucked it over the garden wall and the neighbour claimed it hit her on the head as she was taking sound readings!
Always remember to separate the cock from the enclosure when you go in to feed them or he will get you! Aggressive little b*ggers they are.....
The dog at the kid's home used to nick the washing from the line of another nearby resident as well. He came back with a note on his collar one day that said "Will the owner of this dog please call XXX XXXX" We plucked up courage and called a few days later and had to pay for a load of shredded clothes the woman had kept as evidence against the dog! If I recall correctly I think she also had photographic evidence.
Then the kids kept coming back with some beautiful fish they claimed they had caught in a lake in a local park. They said they were allowed to fish in the lake. They really liked the fish and dug a pond for them. We eventually rang the local Council about the fish (we were suspicious) and they told us to bring the fish back as they were valuable ornamental coy carp.
P.S. The chickens were all found dead one day. There were a lot of remains scattered around and others appeared untouched, but were also dead. We thought a fox got in and did it. Either that or it was one of the kids.

 

[tomb1960]

We have six rescued battery chickens (no cockerels) they really are almost maintenance free pets with fantastic eggs as a by product! We got ours from the battery hen welfare trust. It took them about a week to get used to open spaces but now reliably provide 4-6 eggs per day! www.bhwt.org.uk