Garden hens

[Bramble-Poultry]

as flummery says, everyone will recommend their own favourites. we have many varieties of birds here and each has its own special characteristics, having said that, they have their own personalities too!

Look up breeds, look at pictures and read, read and read again about them and their temperaments. then make an educated decision based on what you have read and what suits your circumstances.

and we are all here to offer help and advice whenever you need it

[Flummery]

Don't forget that some breeds have a tendency to go broody. Great if you want to hatch eggs. Useless if you want to eat them!

[pigletwillie]

Are they really that destructive? I dont think Kazzi would wear it if they had to be kept cooped up most of the time. Our garden is very well established.

[shirlthegirl43]

Established garden means nothing to a chook. They have cleared areas of our garden that madmax would never have believed could be cleared! Your lawn will turn into a dust bowl with dents for them to dustbath in in no time at all.

[vicky]

How big is your garden PW? Ours inflict little damage in ours (70x30ft approx) IF you protect emerging plants (wire hanging baskets are esp good to put over plants). They free range for several hours most days (when I'm in). My garden is mostly herb. perrenials which are more likely to be destroyed, if you just had shrubs they wouldn't do much damage at all. They are b*****s for flicking mud and stones on the lawn though so be careful when mowing as it becomes lethal!

[Flummery]

Ours are in a coop most of the day - DEFRA recommends 1 sq metre per bird I think but ours have more than double that. Give them plenty to do - e.g. a big tub of dirt to play in, a sunken fishbox of sand (and wood chippings and poo! - but I sort it a couple of times a day!) perches, they like my chair to perch on too. They get out daily into their own grassy bit - fenced off as I have a number of plants I think would be bad for them - foxgloves for instance - in the main garden. And of course they are fenced off the veg! They don't feather peck or fight so I think they are reasonably happy in their run. In fact when I'm going out and I open the pop-hole from their 'field' they all leg it back there quite happily.

My main reason for having them 'banged up' is that we do have daytime foxes round here. It's protection for them rather than for the garden.

[Birdie Wife]

Hi Birdie - nice to see you back!

Been doing more lurking than posting recently but thanks!

[TEB]

How big is your garden PW? Ours inflict little damage in ours (70x30ft approx) IF you protect emerging plants (wire hanging baskets are esp good to put over plants). They free range for several hours most days (when I'm in). My garden is mostly herb. perrenials which are more likely to be destroyed, if you just had shrubs they wouldn't do much damage at all. They are b*****s for flicking mud and stones on the lawn though so be careful when mowing as it becomes lethal!

Our 4 wrecked our garden and so we had to put them back in their own run (about 15' x 30).

[Hans Mum]

our lawn has come through reasonably well, can't say the same for all my pots, they delight in dust bathing in them and the compost/soil has been scattered all over the garden & patio - its hanging baskets for me next year. They have got an area which i gave them for dust bathing but they've decided its not for them!!!

[gingerlover]

We had buff orpingtons, nice eggs and nice cooked once they finished laying.