[friend]

We have been told we can keep chickens on our allotment.
Now I would love to have a go at this but as we go away in the caravan from time to time it would make it dificalt, so I have come up with an idea.
If on our plot we get say 10 allotment holders and rent a spare plot 10 poll between us, put in the kitty say £100 each, buy some chain link fence to go round plot build some chicken houses.
I think you get the idea, this way we can take turns on feeding cleaning or what ever.
What are the down side to this, would it work, we could form a commity have meetings.
I will have to admit I do not have a clue how to look after chickens but the good side there are no one on our site that has any, plots about 45 on site one or two empty each year.
Reg

[Beakybird]

Hi Reg

I'm sure there will be lots of other feedback on this from other members, but the first things which spring to mind are:

1) You would need to fox-proof the area (lots of info on this site) using weldmesh wire dug into the ground. I'm sure there's plenty of muscle there to do that though

2) As regards running costs (feed, potential vets' fees, etc, etc) it can be difficult to get people to pay regularly. This could cause a bit of conflict perhaps?

3) Could you rely on people to 'muck in' with the work involved or would it end up being left to just a couple of people?

Maybe there are other members on here who have tried this and made it work?

 

[joyfull]

Also before you get chickens get a good book about poultry keeping - a couple that spring to mind is one by Haynes (those of car maintenance fame) and one by Katie Thear.
Get in touch with your local vets to see if they will treat chickens - a lot don't. You will need those for the antibiotics etc.
Just to let you know that keeping chickens isn't always cheap, the first couple of eggs laid from my girls equated to £75 per egg  .
Read up on here about what makes a good design of coop - I have gone through so many trying to find one that suits my needs and have now settled on plastic houses which makes red mite easy to deal with but my two large arks cost in the region of £400 each from Solway Plastics and my little eglu cost £200 second hand.

[Tigerwren]

Hi Friend,
If you were to do this you would the chickens be for pets too or just for eggs?  If pets then what happens when/if a chicken gets ill and others want/don't want to pay bills for vets or antibiotics?  Do you get the eggs on rotation?  Personally, I think that it would probably be very difficult to keep chickens this way unless everyone is of the same outlook about them.  Good luck!

[Geo]

I Would keep hens on your own allotment.when  another allotment holder starts keeping them you could holiday cover for each other.
Too many people involved in anything leads to disagreement and squabbles.

[dennis]

we go caravaning and we have to rely on my mate or the grandaughter to look after them it works fine until they want to do somthing or go away the same time that you do but if you can get a reliable chicken sitter get some on your own plot its fun and entertaining

[ManicMum]

My thought about "shared ownership" is that it would be incredidibly complex to set up and administer!!

However, if you have allotment mates, see if anyone would look after your girls in exchange for the eggs while you are away.....much more rewarding than babysitting rabbits or hamsters!

We are caravanners and so far, we have used the stay-at-home teenager, but at least 2 neighbours have said they'll pop in when we go away, as has a friend down the road (we've looked after hers several times), or a teenager friend would come in, and - best of all - a girl of 18 says she'd LOVE to house-, dog- and chicken-sit if we wanted to go abroad!!
Treat for her, to be away from home but not too far, and an ideal soltution for us!

So there are loads of possibilities - you can combine the 2 obsessive hobies of chicken keeping and shed-dragging!!

[hamstergbert]

....best of all - a girl of 18 says she'd LOVE to house-, dog- and chicken-sit if we wanted to go abroad!!
Treat for her, to be away from home but not too far, and an ideal soltution for us...

We'll watch for the wild party invitation on facebook etc!

[evie2]

With so many people wanting allotments (I realise you have 1 or 2 empty each year) can you rent a plot solely for chicken keeping?