One of my friends with HUGE gardens has created a lovely hen coop / run thing that he keeps 10 chickens in. I have toyed with the idea of keeping some chucks in my more modest garden but my wife and I have, until now, shelved the idea. Things have changed now that my friend has found a place that looks after battery hens after they have been disposed of by the big nasty egg factories. This place tries to place them with homes that will look after the poor beasties. :cry:
I am much more keen to do it now that I can give the poor wee things a better life. However, I still have two queries about it.
The first, I have two boys, 5 and 2 1/2. As long as we wash the boys hands after they have been in the garden, will they be safe from disease etc?
The other is not quite so important. My garden, although more modest, is 27.5 metres (90 feet) long by 4.5 metres (15 feet) wide and almost entirely grassed. I am going to build a coop and a caged area that is about 2 metres by 3 metres.
If I was to get some, I would like to let them run about the garden as much as possible. However my boys and myself are mad on cricket and play on the garden all year round. Will the chucks devastate my grass?
I have done a bit of research and found out they like to have a dustbath. Will the chicken run be enough for a dustbath so they won't tear up the grass?
I appreciate they are a living thing and won't neccesarily have a dust bath in a location that would be most convenient for me! :roll:
Oh, one more thing (sorry for the rambling) how many chucks will a coop and a run in a 2 metre by 3 metre enclosure be good for? My friend has his 10 in quite a large area, maybe 5 metres by 3 metres?
Again sorry for rambling on...
Barnaby :?