Keeping hens?

Anyone keeping hens? I just saw the omlet website. Fascinating egloo type chicken coop (if thats how you spell it!)
Looks like they give alot of value for us gardeners. Pest controllers ,s**** eaters ,entertainment for the kids, fertilizer and eggs of course!
Do they eat our veg though, that is the question?
And how high can they fly?
Can anyone enlighten me please?

 

We haven't started yet, but plans are afoot.... (We delayed because of restrictions which were put in place because of bird 'flu.)
:(
We got a very good book called "The Complete Book of Raising Livestock and Poultry" ed. by Thear and Fraser, published by Pan books, ISBN 0 - 330 - 30158 - 6. Seemed to answer all our questions. We'd like some Marans for the chocolate brown eggs, but finding pedigree birds isn't as easy here as in the UK. We also wondered about Light Sussex for the table - but whether Mrs HA would eat a chicken she'd talked to remains to be seen! :D

I've seen the "Eggloo" (if that's how you spell it, indeed!)in a TV programme. It looks convenient, but my daughter got a cheaper option by buying online and was very happy with it. She kept just four hens and that seemed to provide them with enough "cackle-berries"!

Everybody I've spoken to who's had hens says it's great! But they'll certainly eat your plants if you let 'em out!! And personally, I'd rather keep them in a pen with a chicken-wire roof on....

 

Yes, I think that chickens can eat quite a lot of your vegetables if left free .
It is not that cheap to breed chickens, but the advantage is that you know what you feed them and how you treat them, so you know what you get in terms of egg and meat.
If you buy them, you don't know much about it.
They can fly quite high (over 1.5 metres) if they have enough space to run before the jump.
They obviously have to be kept clean otherwise if not that would increase chances of parasites. The security is also an issue. The chickens have to be locked at night so that rodents, foxes and other small predators will not have access to them.

 

Oh dear,
Doesn't sound like it's going to work out for the chucks at the mo.
Low fence, and lots of tasty veg!
Maybe later!
Thanks for replying

 

They aren't that much work LL. We have 7, they have a shed which they are shut into at night and an outdoor run for during the day. They eat any left over veg, throw your weeds in and they'll demolish them. They are quite good at escaping, ours got into the field next door yesterday but were easily bribed back with corn and the fence made chicken proof, so you do need to spend some time finding all the escape routes and blocking them up. The eggs though are delicious and we a lucky to have spare which we sell and use the proceeds to buy the chicken feed. It's worth a try.

 

I'm getting tempted now. Its possible that now i'm seperated from y partner i will get a place with my aunt in a few months, and i'd love some chucks!

Will look into things i think!

 

We have six and as Celia they have a shed to retire to in the evening and a enclosed run for during the day. They get our left over veg and they love pasta. The eggs are the best.

 

M-in-L swears that the egg yield goes up when she feeds them leftover celery! She could be right maybe an experiment is in order

 

I used to breed hundreds of rare breed poultry -

Some of my Buff Orpingtons below



The orpingtons were big heavy birds so were containable, but the Dorkings used to scrat everything up, they were great for getting moss off the lawn though!

 

Chickens escaped 3 times yesterday, finally caught them sneaking out under the chicken wire. I didn't know that they squashed so flat. That escape route now blocked. We need to move the run as the future compost heap is in there so plans are being drawn up to make an escape proof run. Unfortunately they are no bird brains so expect war!!! Bunny also escaped today, took us an hour to capture him and put him back, thinking of changing his name to Harry Houdini. :D :D :D

 

Sounds like you have had quite a job on your hands Celia, I remember one of our chickens escaped out of the garden into the village hall car park, my hubby chased after it, was quite a sight I have to say, boy can the chickens move when they want to, a video camera would have come in handy but I probably wouldn't have been able to keep it steady for laughing. :D

 

:D :D :D

 

my brother has 3 hens quite easy to look after as long as there fed and watered every day the only 2 things he said is moving the chicken coop around alot is a pain, so he just buys a roll of turf every now and again and puts it in the run to keep them in the same place.
at night and early morning he cannot turn the light on in the kitchen because they squark like mad and wake the neighbours up
but it is very nice having fresh oraginc eggs most mornings alot tastier than supermarkets.

 

I just remembered something...that one doesn't have to help the new chicks breaking the shell

 

Before setting up in the fresh egg market , (which we love) I would highly recommend watching the movie, CHICKEN RUN !! it will give you a great fun insite into the working minds of chickens. I have soooo many laughs at the antics of my chicks especially after they have had a meeting of the escape committee, trying to outwit me as i do the weeding, they provide a great deal of top class entertainment.