Not yet a chicken owner, my next steps

[tlck9]

HI all

I have got my self an allotment and have a space around 5m x5m

I have been thinking of getting some chickens, as have a couple of others on the allotment. I have no knowledge of keeping chickens apart from talking with the others and also reading on the net.

I was thinking of starting with 2-4 chickens (or banthams) Which should I start with?

I have a local place that I can rescue ex battery chickens from.

However, I would like to know peoples views on the following:

How much time will it take to look after them per day (or week)

I've read about egg's getting stuck and seems to be in every magazine where the egg sack gets infected...with such widespread magazine features, is this regular..it worries me

How much to set up, a local company do a great run, and I thought one of these enclosed runs, customised so they can go into the larger run for around £119 for the main coop and

Roof Length - 168cm Main Length - 160cm Main Run Length - 104cm
Depth -71cm Height - 104cm Main Nest Area -56w x 71d x 64t

and a 6 x6 x6 run which is £135

I was thinking that I wont be able to get to see the hens twice every day, and was thinking if I know cant make it keeping them in the main coop and run, and when I know I can come back up and shut them in, have then in the coop and extended run

What else do I need, is there a buying list??

What is everyones opinion of what it will cost.

The eglu (omlet looks good but expensive)

What should I look for in terms of the type of chicken

Any advice is most welcome

I know you can read loads, but I always think first hand advice is more rewarding!

[RichmondHens]

I'm afraid that if you cannot commit to seeing to your hens at least twice a day (morning and evening), then perhaps the time is not right for you to start hen keeping. I hate to be the dasher of dreams, but we should all put our animals' welfare before ourselves. At the very least the hens need to be let our early in the morning, fed, watered (ensuring enough feed and water left to last them the day) and have plenty of space to move around in all day - they will only use the hen house for roosting in at night and for going in to lay eggs. Plenty of outside space is vital to stop your hens getting bored. The less space a hen has, the more work you in fact have to put in to keep the hens in good condition - moving the run/coop around daily so they have access to fresh grass etc, providing hen "entertainment" (see other threads on here) in the form of hung up greens, branches to perch on etc. (I'm afraid to say the system that involves the least amount of work is the truly free range system, where the hens have access to everything and anything and the area they range over is limited only by how far they wish to go.) In the evening you will need to return to shut them up and collect any eggs. I'm afraid that if you are tempted to leave them in the run, it will have to be a very secure one to prevent predators digging in. In the winter months in any case, they should always be shut inside a house with the pop hole closed against the weather. Hen house cleaning should be a weekly chore, and more often in winter when they spend longer inside due to the short days.

I'm sure others on this forum will agree that part (or indeed most) of the pleasure of chicken keeping is just being around them and watching them. A good stockman spends a good deal of his/her day observing - only that way can you spot problems before they get out of hand, and you would indeed miss out on the very joys of chicken keeping if your "visits'" were as limited as they sound they might be.

I'm aware that I haven't answered all your questions, but some of them made me rather concerned. I apologise if I come across as bossy and dictatorial.

[digthatchick]

Sorry Tick, but I have to agree with Richmond.

[Suechooks]

Yes I'm with RH too.

[Hans Mum]

sorry me too......

if others on your site have chucks could you sort out a rota for twice a day (minimum) visits but dont forget it means everyday high days and holidays thats why i waited until i could keep mine in the garden at home

[MaureenHall]

I too agree with Richmond, it's a big commitment and the welfare of the chooks has to be put first and foremost. Once you can do that, we'll back you and help you all the way Good luck

[Hilary B]

Yes, you have to be able to visit morning and evening (you can get away with it being 'just beyond daylight' when days are short, as long as you give them a lot of extra attention at weekends and sometimes during the week.) I would strongly disagree with the 'must shut them indoors at night in the winter'. If the run is secure, and except in the most expoesed parts of the country, you just need to position the house so that the pop-hole is protected from wind blowing directly in. I never shut a hen in just the house in the roughly 25 years I owned some, but a lot of the time they really were TOTALLY free ranging. We were lucky about predators and only ever lost a couple of ducks to foxy (had a few attacked by rats, but that is another story).
Rather than buy a run, make one, as big as you can manage. I would recommend a cheap (secondhand?) shed, a solid 'floor' (slabs or concrete) for the house and an immediate adjoining area that they have permanent access to, then a fenced (and mesh-roofed) larger run that you let them into as often as you can. If the solid floored run also has some rain-proofing roof (not necessarily the whole thing, an area as big as the house is enough, which wouldn't be more than half the total), it would simplify feeding, because that is the best place to keep the feeders.
With the wide availability of ex-battery hens, if I was in a position to keep chooks again, that is what I would go for, but each to their own.
Decide what you CAN do by way of attention, then realistic advice can be offered....

[bluemoon]

I agree with RH. We keep chickens on our plot and, because of our variable working hours, spending time with them can occasionally prove difficult. But we are always there very early in the morning to let them out, replenish water and fill the feeders, and last thing at night to lock the houses (foxes from the nearby nature reserve pay visits) and make sure they have settled. This is the absolute bare minimum though and most days one or both of us are there for considerably longer. We have also left a set of keys with a relative who lives closer to the lotties than we do in case of emergency (for instance if flooding or snow prevents us from getting there, car breakdown or whatever). An Eglu, in my opinion, is meant for a back garden, a lottie needs something considerably bigger and stronger, but is easily made yourself if you acquaint yourself with the chickens' needs. I've never owned ex-batts, but I would have thought they needed more care than your average hen, not less. If others on your site are also wanting to keep chickens then perhaps a rota where you all help each other might work, but I'd want to really trust the other people.

[tlck9]

Thanks for all your comments, and for being honest.

This is not a step that I am taking lightly, so I am open to everyones opinions. To be honest I spend about an hour up at the allotment most days as a minimum anyway and I'm always there at 7.30 each morning.

I dont live a great distance away and within 30 minutes walking distance.

Unfortuently dont have the capacity to keep them at home so the allotment was the next best place.

I had heard various different views on having to go back up in the evening to "lock them in" especially if you had a secure run within a secure fenced area.
However from everyones comments here, I can see that the thoughts of others I have actually spoken to arent completely true.

I dont have a problem with twice daily visits, and since they are on my allotment I normally spend quite a time there already and have enrolled someone to help me whenever I cannot make it of an evening or when we are on holidays

So again thank you for your comments on the time aspect and would appreciate any comments on the other areas:

I have since enrolled the hubby to make a run and was thinking more in line with the hen coup as per my original plans, but with the scope of a 4m by 2-3m by 6ft high run - with a couple of low growing trees/bushes to keep the interest, along with various other "toys" that I will pick up from reading this forum

again your thoughts are appreciated

(if everyone gave positive comments then I would not have to think things through, so all comments are welcome)

At the end of the day, I am keen to take on ex battery hens, so that it has a life, a happy life and this is probably more important that the actual hen laying anything.

[Suechooks]

To make the run fox resistant/proof you'll need a roof - netting or weld mesh as foxes can climb or jump a 6' fence with ease. The mesh also needs to be dug into the ground around the perimeter and paving slabs or similar around the bottom to stop them digging in. I sunk some recycled chain link fencing (off the allotment rubbish area) under the turf inside the run too.
Ex-battery hens are lovely - I have a mix of laying hybrids and pure breeds and ex-batts - but they do have special needs due to the horrible existence they've had. I'd read as much as you can before getting any but they are worth the extra care provided you have the time.
I keep mine on the allotment and visit 3 times a day which is easy in summer but does require some self-discipline in the wind, rain, snow etc. I couldn't get my car out in the snow so had to walk there and back with several flasks of hot water to defrost their drinkers etc. I think these are things which have put some people off having hens on my allotment site. My hens free range when I'm at the allotment so any vulnerable veggies need to be protected from the marauding chooks!
Old tyres make good learning perches for ex-batts - some of mine still go to bed on a tyre. Logs etc in the run. I use a wire hanging basket to suspend their greens which is more entertainment for them.
I also enrolled 2 people to help out on the only occasion I have been away. It doesn't always work as well as you think. One person was letting out and feeding in the mornings - they just let out and didn't put the feeders in place so the girls had no pellets available until the second person came ( fortunately a diligent carer!) and spotted the feeders still in the night time position. Luckily this happened on the first morning so carer 2 was there first thing the next day to make sure all was well!
Hope these ramblings help you see more pros and cons of chook keeping!

[MaureenHall]

Thanks for all your comments, and for being honest.

At the end of the day, I am keen to take on an ex battery hen, so that it has a life, a happy life and this is probably more important that the actual hen laying anything.

Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!! Not just "AN EX-BATTERY HEN" you need at least 3

[tlck9]

the hope is to have 3 to start with, hving no more than 4. with a view that the coop will allow 5 and the run probably around 6-10. Which should give them enough room to wander around.

My plot is 10 x 10m so the hope is that half of it will be secured enough for the hens to wander round most of that, but with a run with a roof - therefore they have the whole area when i'm there and then get cofined to the run when I'm not.

[bluemoon]

If your run isn't going to be roofed then you need to be wary of planting trees and bushes inside it as hens happily use things as 'step-ladders' in order to escape. Our hen-house faces into the run, but is outside with the run sort of joined onto the front, otherwise they'd be on the roof. I've planted a couple of apple-trees on the run's south side which I hope will eventually give them shade. We've built a shelter to keep the feed dry... imagine a small wooden bus shelter. I wanted it to have a lockable door so I could secure the feed from rats overnight, but OH threw a tantrum at that idea and refused (to be fair he'd been messing about with chicken-houses and runs for the best part of 5 months at this point). It's still possible that I'll persuade him in a few weeks when he's feeling less fed-up. We made a sand-pit for them to dust bathe, just a small raised-bed thing with sand in it. We only use the one large feeder, but have a couple of drinkers as it would be awful if one were knocked over while we were not there.

[tlck9]

sounds like somewhere I could live, quite a little palace.

This is the sort of thing I want to create, a nice environment for them....

I was worried, with people saying they move their runs, if I've built a run, and dig the foundation and wire down then i've got no chance of moving it, will they still be okay

Although we are not overrun with foxes, they are about, so I need to ensure they are secure, and although there are usually people around most of the day at the allotment, there is always going to be an opportune moment for one to nip in

all the comments are great....I still havent decide to go down the route of keeping chickens, as although we dont go away very often, I'm worried about them getting looked after properly, its not like our dog, that gets a1 travel arrangements and comes with us everywhere

[Suechooks]

I have 2 runs - one on each side of the hut and a pophole on each side so I can rest one and use one. You could have a divider in the run so you can use half at a time.