Paved Garden - Chooks???

[El Greeno]

I have a fully paved garden, but would like to keep some chickens.
I assume chickens and paved areas don't really go hand in hand.
If I were to erect a coop, and put a 'tray' into the bottom laid with turf, would that be OK?

I know very little about keeping chickens but the idea of fresh eggs on demand is appealing...
Plus maybe a chick or two as they are so cute!

[Flummery]

My garden isn't paved but the chook area is. That's so that intruders can't dig in (or the chicks dig out!) It can also be swept and hosed out. It's got about 5" of hemp horse beding in to which the poo clings obligingly making it easy to pick up daily. Have a look at some of the fox-proof runs people here have made - try the search button.

[jessmorris]

My garden is part paved, and so is the hen run. Its easy to clean and doesn't turn into a mud bath in the winter. Why don't you put down a thick layer of wood chips for them over the paving in their run? Then they can scratch about in a chooky way to their hearts content..I've used wood chips in the part of their run that ins't paved and they love kicking it about and scratching it up. I also have a lot of bushes and bamboo for shade which may be something you'll need to think about if you haven't.....

[vicky]

As above - you should give them something to scratch in, not necessarily turf (this would quickly be de-grassed!), shavings, hemcore, straw etc etc. And you'll have to think of a way of containing it - planks maybe, like a raised bed? But paving is good for when you clean them out and the area can't get really mucky like some runs do in winter when they turn into mudbaths!

[sheena]

My run was just mud and weeds when I put the girl's in, have since learnt a valuable lesson. That if I don't want to continuiously go down and take the top layer of dirt off every month or so, then paving was the way to go.

The run is now 80% paved with only underneath the house being mud as they use that as a dust bath (it don't get wet, so doesn't go boggy-fied).

Keep the paved area and throw some easibed in, it's like hemcore but without the strawy bits that my girl's love to eat (yes they are weird).

[Gro-Bag]

My girls live on my paved patio. I keep straw in their runs and they love scratching about in it, and I have some big pots of compost that they enjoy for dust-baths. I have lots of bamboo in pots and they graze on that, as well as weeds, and they are as happy as Larry (whoever he is).

[RichmondHens]

I have a fully paved garden, but would like to keep some chickens.
I assume chickens and paved areas don't really go hand in hand.
If I were to erect a coop, and put a 'tray' into the bottom laid with turf, would that be OK?

I know very little about keeping chickens but the idea of fresh eggs on demand is appealing...
Plus maybe a chick or two as they are so cute!

Start off with two or three adult chickens and see how you get on with the paved area system. I'm not a fan of keeping chooks the way you suggest but if you provide plenty of digging/scratching material - woodchip, hemcore etc then in theory they should be ok.

Don't get seduced by the idea of fluffy chicks till you have had a bit of practice with adult chickens. Chicks are fluffy for about a week and by then they will be growing wing feathers. By just six weeks they are fully feathered. Also at least 50% of each hatch is male so you need to know what you will do with the cocks prior to hatching.

[El Greeno]

Start off with two or three adult chickens and see how you get on with the paved area system. I'm not a fan of keeping chooks the way you suggest but if you provide plenty of digging/scratching material - woodchip, hemcore etc then in theory they should be ok.

Don't get seduced by the idea of fluffy chicks till you have had a bit of practice with adult chickens. Chicks are fluffy for about a week and by then they will be growing wing feathers. By just six weeks they are fully feathered. Also at least 50% of each hatch is male so you need to know what you will do with the cocks prior to hatching.

I know what you mean about keeping them like this, however if I do get some that's all I've got to work with. Surely it's better than a battery set-up that I'd probably end up getting some from???
I do see your point that a free ranging lifestyle is best.

As for chicks, it was more of a throw away comment than anything else. lol.
I have never kept birds before so wouldn't have the foggiest how to hatch them.