where to start!

[Bryando]

Hi.

I'm Bryan. 24 from Ayrshire Scotland

Just discovered this web page.

I'm looking to get some chickens for my back garden. Live in a housing scheme. Therefore wary due to possable noise pollution.

Upon reflecting the council will not stop me as well, people keep racing pigeons near. So I expect my potential chickens will be in the same remit.

I have no idea where to start. So any advice etc would be great.

Thanksh

[MaureenHall]

A huge big welcome Bryan You've just made one of the best decisions of your life!!!

Where to start? Well where are the chooks going to live? Think about the housing and space for them to run and scratch around. Do you want hens to provide you with lots of eggs or just to look pretty (and provide just a few eggs)? Do you want big or little hens? Look at pictures of hens to see what kinds you like the look of. Have you thought about rescuing some ex-battery hens? (Not sure about availability in Scotland, but it's worth looking into through BHWT) Hens aren't that noisy really, it's the cockerels that's the noisy ones! Don't think about getting less than 3, they do need company, but they don't all have to be the same breed, you can mix and match

Lots and lots to think about and you'll get loads of advice on here

[RedThorn]

Hi and welcome to the vine. Girls don't make much noise(except if you're not quick enough to let them out and when they've just laid an egg) and from that point of view, you should be fine. My neighbours requset was no cockerels!

I would suggest you build your own coop and run. This can be done a lot cheaper and will more likely last longer than bought coops.

Do you want eggs or meat and eggs?

Free range or not? ( are your girls gonna have full or partial access to your garden(they can decimate a garden in no time flat! depending on the number of girls to forage space)

Ex-batts or posh girls... annother long debate this one

They are easy to look after and be warned, this chook keeping malarky is highly addictive!

[RedThorn]

Agree with Aunty Mo's tip for a minimum of 3 girls

[Eco-Chic]

Welcome Bryan.
I'm new to Chook keeping (September) and I look on them as pets who provide eggs (sometimes).

I read up extensively beforehand and I read everything on this forum (42 pages at that time) except the egg hatching and incubation threads.

If I was to start over, I would buy a 6' x 4' shed to house the chooks and add perches, shelving and nest boxes (cardboard boxes would have been ok) and adapt the door with a pop hole and attach a small weldmesh run.

The 'Sticky' threads above re Chicken health and red mite are informative. I've kept a list of my start up costs. If you want to see it PM me or search on my posts.

I've never regretted my decision to get chooks

ps I live in a terraced house and only one neighbour hears them and that's only if she has her door or window open, and she says she likes to hear them.

[Bryando]

Hi there folks.

Thanks for the replys.

I would like chickens for a]eggs and b for poss meat. The other thing that is sitting on my mind is rats! I have a phobia of them. Will pass out, no question. Why well I dug into a nest when I was younger when helping a Gamekeeper. So I link it to this.

I did have rats last year. However the council baited and they're gone. Were using my neighbours food waste compost bin as a supermarkert.

Is there any strongly chance rats will come due to the chickens? I have so many things to ask etc, however will spend some time reading on here first.

Thanks

[Snadger]

Hi there folks.
..............................

Is there any strongly chance rats will come due to the chickens? I have so many things to ask etc, however will spend some time reading on here first.

Thanks

No more chance of geting rats than the guys with the pigeons (which in my book are just flying rats anyway!)

Good place to start is to read a few books........then build a coop!

PS Welcome to the vine btw!

[frias]

Wecome to the vine Bryan. I'd say yes chooks will encourage rats but so will bird tables and as you know, compost bins. Remove the chook food at night and keep it somewhere rats can't get to it. I'd seen rats in my garden before we got the girls but strangely enough not since. I do have 3 metal rat bait stations in the garden and traps in the garage and shed.
I can guarantee you won't regret having the chooks.

[Bramble-Poultry]

to reduce the risk of rats, put down some bait - such as eradibait as its safe for wildife - except rats! we keep out bating station locked and loaded and dont have much in the way of problems. we have over 100+ chooks and occasionally we see a rat so then we launch in the heavy mob to get it (heavy mob = Phoebe and Fern the Ferrets)

regarding keeping chooks and the council, it is worth calling them and asking for a tennacy variation. this notifies them of what you are doing and keeps it all above board. if they start on the "you cant keep chooks" lark, quote them the Allotments Act 1950 which states that all persons using land as if it were his own (i.e your garden) irrespective of covenants or be it owned or let, may keep poultry or rabbits for the purpose of raising meat and eggs so long as there is no hazard to the health of the neighbours

Therefore, dont keep cockerels, put down a baiting station to demostrate that you are nailing any rats and then make sure you clear up after them. all boxes ticked, no footing for complaint from the council.

[Eco-Chic]

I had rats before the chooks agreed to live here. Have only seen one since they arrived and the JRs left it outside the kitchen for me to dispose of

It's certainly not Chook food that has attracted vermin cos I'm cluttered up inside the house with it until I reorganise my exterior areas.

[BUFFS]

ayrshire chooks

hi bryan,imalso in ayrshire and started the chooks habit last may,keeping hens in the back garden does not seem to create any major problems,as long as there are no cockrels(noisy little buggers).you get the eggs,get hold of someone to look after them while you are on hols,and you get a great deal of laughter at them,as they can be absolutely hilarious,like tempremental little brats who have the funniest run...good luck.

[Bryando]

Hi there.

My housing responded. I did come across an Act. Town and country planning. I'm studying Law, so reading it was not a problem. Will find it again and paste it here. Found it in a respnse to planning application for flying rats loft.

Housig oficer asked me this in email: write and specify regarding the size, position of the coop and the amount of chickens you are
keeping.

So I though I would ask advice in response to this. I only want to start of with as little as possiable at the moment. Therefore I would assume the coop does not need to be that great? Whay size and how many chickens are best to start with?

[Bryando]

Legal research should it be required.

Should anybody in my area be intrested. This was in response to an applicant in regards to pigeon loft :

Whithin the response in the key. I don't need permission as keeping chickens would be covered by this.



4. Given the large number of pigeons likely to be accommodated, it is questioned whether or not this scale of proposal relates to a business use rather than a hobby. A business use of this type would be inappropriate within a residential area.

Response: The applicant has advised that 100 racing pigeons and 30 pairs of breeding pigeons would be involved and that the keeping of pigeons is for hobby purposes. Furthermore, the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992 permits development within the curtilage of dwellinghouses that would be required "for a purpose incidental to the enjoyment of a dwellinghouse" and defines such as "the keeping of poultry, bees, pet animals, birds or other livestock for the domestic needs or personal enjoyment of the occupants of the dwellinghouse." This comment relates to this case. Planning permission is required in this instance because the lofts would be sited within the curtilage of a listed building and would be less than 20 metres from Brisbane Road. However, the reasons for requiring planning permission are not related to the keeping of pigeons but the possible effects on the setting of the listed building and the siting/design issues affecting the public domain.


Above taken from: Committe reports 22 Jan 2008 from North Ayrshire Council

[MaureenHall]

Hi there.


Housig oficer asked me this in email: write and specify regarding the size, position of the coop and the amount of chickens you are
keeping.

So I though I would ask advice in response to this. I only want to start of with as little as possiable at the moment. Therefore I would assume the coop does not need to be that great? Whay size and how many chickens are best to start with?

Start off with a 6'x4' shed, adapted with perches for the chooks. Have a minimum of 3 with the possibility of adding more if you want to (6 is a good number to start with )

[tlck9]

I would start with 3 chickens, I had my first 4 in June, I now have 7 and had to buy a new coop as the one I bought was not big enough.

I would suggest a 6/4 shed, perhaps partition it off so you could keep the food etc in half, that way, since you only want a few chickens they have a smaller area to heat or keep warm in.