[milan]

hi everyone

the OH and i are thinking about keeping chickens, we know we can care for them etc but we want to make sure we can give them a good home so are looking at every situation we can think of!

just a couple of questions;

We have space on our lawn for them (as long as we move the coop around) which would mean they could get sunlight and some shade at all times off the year. How often would the coop need moving though to stop the grass totally disappearing?! i would like our garden to remain looking reasonably pretty if poss!

We also have a space between two sheds which is a combination of old slabs and mud/dirt which we could put them in, the only thing is that space would mean while in their run they would get absolutely no sunlight, its in the shade all day all year. woudl they be ok?

(either option we will be letting them out to roam the garden too - in the summer when we get home from work and all year round at weekends)

grateful for your advice on this one - like i said we want to make sure we can provide them with a lovely home :-)

[Vember]

Hi Milan

Welcome to the Hen House

Is it a coop & run combined? It really all depends on the size of it to how often it would need moving.

Hens do enjoy the sun shine and love spreading a wing out and sun bathing, so in my opinion it's a must to have some sun

Letting them roam the garden is better as you won't get the patches that you will from the run/coop.
An area of bare soil is handy for them to sunbathe and boarders are handy for them to have a scrat about in, this will help save the lawn in the long run 


Sarah

[poultrygeist]

Agree with Sarah. In winter, if they have no sun in the week, they will suffer. I think they have a requirement for vit D from sunshine so health could suffer (but not sure on this). But ok if they can get out at some point every day.

Rob

[poultrygeist]

ps. Welcome to the forum btw.

And whereabouts are you ? You can put your location in your profile if you want.

Rob

[milan]

thanks for the reply  

it would be a run and coop combined so that they have inside and outside during the day when we are at work.

when we let them out they would have borders to scrabble in, they might find a corner to root around in but there wont be anywhere with just mud as a dust bath but we can get a box and put sand in it - we do that already for our bunnies :-)

its just we have moved house and we were so pleased with how pretty the garden was compared to what we had (its no work of art or anything but its got a proper patio and pathway, the borders are edged with railway sleepers) it would be kind of sad to watch it go to nothing

we dont actually even really eat that many eggs so this would be purely for the fun aspect of it, i havent a clue what we will do with all the eggs, selling them at the front of the house isnt really an option

[milan]

oh and thanks for more replies while i typed that!

had a feeling they needed the sun - i think it might help them produce eggs but theres nothing that clear out there in the wide world of internet!

profile - erm, i havent actually looked at that bit yet i was just too excited at the thought of chickens! LOL

im surrey, Nr Epsom where the Derby is held

we are thinking the eglu (because its the best way for our chickens to get some sun throughout the year as its so moveable) so how often would we be looking at moving it to let the grass not completely die?!

[noshed]

If you're lucky Aunt Sally will be along soon to give you eglu tips.

[poultrygeist]

Hmmm. Not sure about the grass. I would imagine you'd have to move it at least once a week to let the grass recover.
As noshed said, Aunt Sally has had an eglu for ages so can offer plenty of tips.

I know Epsom in so far as I was born in Teddington, grew up in Hanworth and part of my family originated in Epsom about 200 years ago!

Rob

[Foxy]

Your garden sounds lovely! I agree with Rob and Sarah -sunshine is good for them, they love to bask in the sunshine (yes really chickens do sunbathe and it looks bizarre!!! The first time I saw a chicken sunbathe I thought it had died upside down!!! :blink:) Vit D helps in the egg making process as well.
Aunty has a very pretty set up if I remember, a neat little bark area with decorative edging and bark inside. The hens are let out to roam the garden. If you are not hugely concerned with number of eggs perhaps a bantam, feather footed breed might suit you?
Now I know I am biased, however, bantam faverolles lay a good sized egg and are roughly 2/3rds the size of a medium hybrid. Pekins are gorgeous too. The advantage with chickens with feathered feet is that they dont tend to do sooooo much damage in the borders. 

[milan]

i was wondering about replacing the grass with a bark area that they woudl just permanently be on.....

we were thinking about putting them at the bottom of the garden where the previous owners has a mini trampoline (its not that big a garden honest i dont know how they managed to squeeze it in!) because the grass there never really recovered but once its gone wouldnt the chickens want new grass? or would they be happy with the mud they were left with?

i do think a bark chipping area would be prettier....

wow its such a minefield, you think you have it sorted and then not quite so!

so the bantam you mentioned foxy - that wouldnt give us as many eggs? because i really dont know what we would do with them all other than crush them for the shell to put round our veg patch.... which hopefully the chickens wont ravage!

[Foxy]

Well the bantam faverolles lay reasonably well, gorgeous sweethearts! Mine dont run they "skip"

Pekins lay a smallish egg and come in some very pretty colours,(red porcelaini s my favourite ) they are quite easy to come by too. Have a look at the sticky at the top I am not sure about egg laying but I think around 110 -150 a year??? Someone will correct me I am sure!

[milan]

that sounds like a more sensible amount of eggs, i keep reading about chicks that lay 300 a year and we could just never use that many!

ok now i just need auntie sally by the sounds of it to tell me how often i need to move the eglu to save the grass or to tell me what other options there are

if you read this auntie id love to see a piccie of your setup

 

[BestBreast]

Hi and welcome.

I have a house/coop with run and garden. The house/coop used to be moved weekly and the grass was always bare. I don't know how many hens you are thinking off 3 is a good number and what size is the eglu. I would imagine daily moving would be beneficial but it depends how much space you have to offer and if you can move daily.

[milan]

hiya :-)

we were thinking the eglu and run, when you buy that you can get 2 chickens but foxy posted earlier and suggested pekins (i think it was) which i got the impression were slightly smaller so maybe we would have 3?? it would be 2/3 for now anyway

we could move them daily but that sounds like a lot of effort! i was really hoping for weekly so it could be done at the weekend.

if you put them on bark chippings are they quite happy? would the chippings need replacing etc from a hygeine point of view im assuming they couldnt stay on the same bark chippings forever?

or if they made their bit of grass bare and into a mud haven could they just be left there?

its so hard to balance a pretty garden with pets huh! im quite prepared for a little bit of destruction but i dont want all the flowers, vegetables and grass to dissapear within weeks!

[shiatsusu]

Hi Milan, my 5 girls are all on bark chippings now the grass inside their run has gone and they love them. It's more hygenic with poo etc and they enjoy all the scratching. I let them out in the garden (reasonably large as we're out in the country) and they do love it, but be warned they will decimate borders and any smaller plants/ flowers don't stand a chance- if there's anywhere you don't want them to go you'll need to either fence it or be prepared to forever chase them off! I'm quite sure once friends know you've got chooks you won't find it a problem to get rid of excess eggs- especially once people realise how completely different they are to the shop/ any other variety (delicious!). Good luck, and post some pics when you get your girls