Chickens

[bwestlake]

Couple of questions about keeping chickens.

 

Who has some? if so how many?

 

- What time do you let them out in the morning?

 

- When do they lay there eggs? (before you let them out, or do they go back and lay them)

 

- Do you let them roam around when you are not at home in the day?

 

- What time do you lock up?

 

- How many chickens did you start with?

 

[featured_spectre]

neighbour does...she has 7 I think. She lets them out for whenever she is home, they have a very well protected coup (a fox got stuck trying to get in, none have tried again, same goes for cats). They lay their eggs in the morning, she will get maybe 15 a week. She lets them roam all the time when she is home, but if she is out she only opens part of the coup so they can still go out and scratch and eat bugs and stuff. She will lock them up at sunset and she had 2 to begin with (she has had them for 14 or so years, and gets new rescue ones when one dies).

[Tall_Paul]

-Who has some? if so how many?

 

I had six ex-battery for around three years

 

- What time do you let them out in the morning?

 

At daybreak preferably. I used to let ours out about 0700

 

- When do they lay there eggs? (before you let them out, or do they go back and lay them)

 

Ours mainly laid during the day

 

- Do you let them roam around when you are not at home in the day?

 

We had them in a fruit cage which they could roam around in

 

- What time do you lock up?

 

At dusk. They put themselves to bed!

 

Some other notes

 

- If you buy a henhouse or run make sure it is made of weldmesh and not chicken wire. Foxes will bite through chicken wire.

 

- To stop foxes getting in you will also have to bury the weldmesh into the ground

 

- Chickens are VERY destructive. They will strip to earth whatever ground you will put them on (we put them on our lawn and they stripped it in a couple of months). You also need to think about all the manure that's going onto it and whether or not you can move their run occasionally due to this.

 

- There are several types of bloodsucking mite that live in the henhouse and can affect your chickens. You will need to throughly clean with a mitekiller periodically.

 

In summary, I loved having chickens and rehoming ex-bats is very rewarding. They are real characters too. However, I got brassed off going to let them out and lock them up in all weathers (like now!) and it also affected us on days out (we had to be back to lock them up, which is early in wintertime).

 

Would I have any more? Only if I could have a setup where they could let themselves out and put themselves back in.

[FN-GM]

We used to have a Chicken over 10 years ago. It just turned up in our garden one day and never left!! It moved itself into a bedside cabinet that was in the garden to be thrown away. As @Tall_Paul they will put themselves to bed, just make sure you close the door behind them.

[Oaktech]

My Sister in law keeps about half a dozen rescue hens, one doe not lay at all, the rest lay somewhen between being put back in the coop around 9pm - they are usually already there by the time you go out to shut them in, and letting them out around 7am.

 

They have a 3m square mesh run around the coop and they can be in that all day but she lets them out into the rest of the garden when she or her partner are working in the garden.

 

SIL's partner is a vet, so she knows what she's doing!

[pcstru]

We have three - hardy Blackrock's. They are let out into the run between 6 and 7am - depending on the season. They lay between Feb/Nov, they just wander back into the coop and onto the nesting box when they want to lay. During the day they are confined to a fenced in run, when I'm about I let them wander round the garden and hunt slugs and snails. They go into the coop themselves when it's getting dark and we tend to shut them up (close a sliding door and a door on the coop) last thing before we go to bed. They don't always get locked up at night, especially on weekends when I want a lie in (so they get themselves up) but they are reasonably secure even without shutting the coop. We started with three and still have three, they must be 4-5 years old now. We did get given another two but they were so badly bullied by our girls, we had to give them away.

[localzuk]

I used to have a few as a teenager.

 

Who has some? if so how many? 3 Welsummers and 2 Barnivelder bantams (1 cockeral of each, the rest hens).

 

- What time do you let them out in the morning? They were let out aroun

 

- When do they lay there eggs? (before you let them out, or do they go back and lay them) Varied. Some eggs in their house, some found under plants etc...

 

- Do you let them roam around when you are not at home in the day? Yes

 

- What time do you lock up? About 7pm usually I think!

 

- How many chickens did you start with? The 3 Welsummers. Added the bantams later

 

If you're thinking of getting some, I can't recommend it enough. They're great animals to have around.

[PotNoodleTech]

I hope your friendly with your neighbours! Even if you are, you might not be after a year of them putting up with the noise!

[pcstru]

I hope your friendly with your neighbours! Even if you are, you might not be after a year of them putting up with the noise!

Cockerels will make a bit of noise, but Hens are quiet enough, unless they are being worried by a predator. You don't need to keep a cockerel to get eggs.

[ticker]

Couple of questions about keeping chickens.

 

Who has some? if so how many?

 

Yes, 9. Three different types.

 

- What time do you let them out in the morning?

 

Usual before i go to work in the morning about 7 ish, last few weeks with the weather they have refused to come out

 

- When do they lay there eggs? (before you let them out, or do they go back and lay them)

 

It depends i usually only check in the evening (so i am guessing they go back to lay) and depending on the chicken and weather we can have none all the way upto 7 or 8.

 

- Do you let them roam around when you are not at home in the day?

 

They are in a secure pen (fox got the last lot) so they have space to roam around, again depending on time of year and weather we let them also roam around the field.

 

- What time do you lock up?

 

Usual after i have got home had tea and put the kids in bed. Also depends on time of year. Winter about 7 in the evening. Summer as late a 9-10pm.

 

- How many chickens did you start with?

 

we started with 12, found one dead in the coop, one went missing after they were left to roam in the field, and the other was my fault for not counting them back in one night and it got locked out.

[rich_tech]

-Who has some? if so how many?

 

I had six ex-battery for around three years

 

- What time do you let them out in the morning?

 

At daybreak preferably. I used to let ours out about 0700

 

- When do they lay there eggs? (before you let them out, or do they go back and lay them)

 

Ours mainly laid during the day

 

- Do you let them roam around when you are not at home in the day?

 

We had them in a fruit cage which they could roam around in

 

- What time do you lock up?

 

At dusk. They put themselves to bed!

 

Some other notes

 

- If you buy a henhouse or run make sure it is made of weldmesh and not chicken wire. Foxes will bite through chicken wire.

 

- To stop foxes getting in you will also have to bury the weldmesh into the ground

 

- Chickens are VERY destructive. They will strip to earth whatever ground you will put them on (we put them on our lawn and they stripped it in a couple of months). You also need to think about all the manure that's going onto it and whether or not you can move their run occasionally due to this.

 

- There are several types of bloodsucking mite that live in the henhouse and can affect your chickens. You will need to throughly clean with a mitekiller periodically.

 

In summary, I loved having chickens and rehoming ex-bats is very rewarding. They are real characters too. However, I got brassed off going to let them out and lock them up in all weathers (like now!) and it also affected us on days out (we had to be back to lock them up, which is early in wintertime).

 

Would I have any more? Only if I could have a setup where they could let themselves out and put themselves back in.

 

Was about to put up the same thing there, my parents have kept ex-battery chickens for a good while, that summed up everything very well, they can be a bind though I agree, numerous times if my parents were away for the day me and my sisters would be on chicken opening and closing and walk the dog duty, in terms of pets though they are great, with a friendly personality and good in that they do tend to go in and get ready themselves for locking away at night, though their cockerel was always a bit of a b*gger to get in and generally needed a friendly push with a sweeping brush up the ramp to get in.

 

My fathers friend has a lot of showbirds and has an automatic closer setup for the door using some of this gear - VSB Automatic Chicken Door Opener For Coops & Poultry Houses not cheap, but it works, as long as they all get back inside in time

[SYNACK]

Neighbours do, get more than one as they are very social. They are also:

• loud
  
• destructive to the garden
  
• will eat anything not behind sold wire protection
  
• unphased by cats
  

 

Unless your section is very well secured make sure your neighbours like eggs and give them some to keep them from secretly or not so secretly hating you and your chickens.

Edited February 18, 2014 by SYNACK