[D.Bates]

Hi all

As a child I remember keeping chickens and remember about the way they were kept. I am now thinking about keeping chickens many years later, maybe 4 to 6 of them in my back garden. I initially thought that I could keep them in a permanent run/coop approx 10 metres x 3 metres of easily accessable garden area and allowing them to free roam whilst I am busy in the garden. However on doing a small amount of homework it appears that this is not the done thing these days with the recent avian flu problems. There seems to be a lot of information about this from a lot of sources all saying different things and I have to admit that it is a little offputting. I want to be doing things correctly right from the start and dont like the idea of keeping any birds I have cooped up all day long. Can anyone offer any sensible advise on this subject from their own experiences? Just how badly does this avian flu affect the back yard poultry keeper.

Many Thanks.

[richyrich7]

Hi and welcome to the forums    I see you have done your homework and all I can do is tell you that mine have a covered run that they spend most of the time in but if I'm in the garden or the back of the house they are out in the garden, until there is a confirmed local outbreak of avian flu then this is how they will stay, then they will be confined to run and shed only.
We have plenty of very knowledgeable folk on here so see what others say.
Hope this helps.

[Aunt Sally]

Back yard hens are at very little risk from Avian Influenza.  Mine free range around my garden when I'm at home.  I would confine them to their covered run only if I was in an AI control zone.

[GrannieAnnie]

And Aunty is further east than a lot of us, so if any wild birds were flying over, they would poop on her garden first!!!!

Seriously though, it has yet to be proven that these outbreaks are anything to do with wild birds, and I for one don't think it is.  It's the BM's of this world who create these problems for us, carting both dead and live poultry across continents!

Our chooks are outside all day, although their food and in the case of the chicks, their water is inside, and their run is too big to cover up anyway, but if by some chance we did have an outbreak of bird flu, then we would set up a temporary coop in the polytunnel and keep them in there.

My daughter's MIL is the same, she was always worying about it and its prevented her from keeping chooks, hopefully I've belayed her fears a bit, and hopefully she's going to have a dozen of our chicks after Christmas!!

[chickychick]

I started keeping chickens in august with a similar idea to yours 4 to 6 birds and a permanent run and let em out when I am about.

It has worked well for us, I also made a sort of playpen out of old fireguards and netting that I can move about the garden to give them fresh grass when I am not actually in the garden, its not fox proof just keeps them where I want them.

I am really pleased I got the chickens they are great fun, lots of eggs and in fact now that I am selling my excess they are paying for themselves and we get really yummy healthy eggs too.

As far as the bird flu is concerned it would not cramp our style too much to have to keep them in their playpen and move em about, I would just make it bigger to let them have a wider range etc.

My advice is to go for it unless you are right on top of the bird flu area otherwise you could wait for ever and miss out

[Bodger]

The main thing with keeping chickens is that its got to be fun. My advice would be to plan well and make things as easy as possible for yourselves so that things don't become a bind.

[richyrich7]

The main thing with keeping chickens is that its got to be fun. My advice would be to plan well and make things as easy as possible for yourselves so that things don't become a bind.

Good advice Bodg they can become so much fun that mucking out, feeding etc don't seem a chore at all. Mine are there to lay eggs and provide meat when they are finished, but I still enjoy them some of the things they do...  :roll:    I've hung up a cabbage in the run for them to peck at and now they won't come out of the coop.  :roll:

[Selkie]

rich, my hens are like that -- things hanging up scare the bejeebers out of them

[richyrich7]

Nut's ain't they, these new ones of mine are a lot stranger than my warrens they would have savaged it before I'd finish tying it up !

[muntjac]

read the best of the books can give ,then take  half of everything said with a pinch of salt and a smattering of salt on the other .. .experiance of others will give you the best advice  

[D.Bates]

Hi all

Thanks for the advise. Going to Stoneleigh Park tommorrow to take a look around poultry show.

D.Bates