[ineedhelp]

I've recently got into the whole growing my own veg thing and it is going well. However, I have always wanted to have my own chickens to rear. I find the idea of having freshly laid eggs in the morning when I wake up quite appealing. I think my 2 year old daughter would enjoy it as well. The truth is though I do not have a clue where to begin.

Any advice would be most welcome.

The other problem is I live in London, not the most spacious of places and I do not have a farm. I have a medium sized garden and was wondering if it was even ok to rear chickens in it, plus my other concern is the noise that the cock will make every morning and how the nieghbours will react to it (I have this image in my head that they go beserk in the morning is this true).

I do not want to take the step of buying them without making a fully informed decision, so please any experienced chicken handlers write to me.

[joyfull]

First things first why do you want a cockerel? they are not necessary for eggs - their only uses are for fertilising the eggs and being a very early alarm clock. Hens will lay just as well without a cockerel around. There are lots of books around about chicken keeping and before you embark on this venture I would buy one or see if your local library has one - Katie Thear does a good one. In London there are so many foxes so you will need a secure run and coup for one - the coup can be home made, a converted shed, a bought coup or if you want stylish and easy to manage then an eglu from Omelet (you can pick these up with a run of eBay for about £200 - £250 2nd hand). If you buy a run you need to make sure that it has at least 2 square meters of run space for each bird (so don't be fooled by buying one of these cheap imports as the run will not be big enough). Find out if anybody near you has chickens as they can help guide you and let you see their set ups if not again have a look at the omelet web site as they do short introductory courses (no you don't have to buy one of their coups but the person running the course will let you hold their birds show how to clip their wings, advise on feed etc). First and foremost read, read, read. Keeping chickens is wonderful and the eggs are the best you will ever taste so good luck with this venture 

[GrannieAnnie]

Hi Ineedhelp, first of all DON'T PANIC!  

You say you'd like chickens to rear.  As a first timer, it would be easier if you started off with a few Point of Lay hens.  You wouldn't have to worry about keeping chicks under heat lamps and you'd get your eggs quicker!

You wouldn't need a cockerel then.  And cockerels don't just crow in the morning, they can do it morning afternoon evening and even sometimes at night!  

Then later, if you want to raise your own, best to choose an auto sexing breed so when you get more boys than girls you know which ones to cull!

DEFRA recommend at least 1 sq foot of house space per bird, and 1 sq metre of run space per bird, but we like to encourage people to give them as much room as possible.  they will scratch up your lawn and dig up your veg and flowers, so first you need to work out how much room you can let them have, and go from there.

You pipped me at the post Joy!!  

[CattinJ]

Hi there,
I am a novice chicken keeper too -  we've had our 3 girls since August now and I have to say, it's the best thing we've ever done!

Firstly you need to decide what type of chickens you want and how many.  We got our 4 from the Battery Hen Welfare Trust at £3 each, but as they are ex bats its not always been easy and we lost one along the way - but now they are doing well it all seems worth it.  Ex bats are a cheap way of getting hens and you are really doiny something worthwhile by rescuing them. They are good layers - but are often traumatised and come with health problems.

It might be a good idea to start with 3 chickens but have a coop and house that could home more if you want to keep more.  A chicken needs rounghly 1 square meter of outside space per chicken.  When we first got ours we made the mistake of building the coop too small - and had to make it much bigger as it quickly felt cruel to be keeping them somewhere too small!

On a daily basis, you need to get up early to let them out and be home in time to shut them up at night (cold draughts can kill them) - in the winter it means we are out at 6.30am in the dark leting them out before work which isn't always pleasant and is something to be considered if you have work/school runs to do.
They also need to be cleaned out regularly to prevent illness - we de-poop the nest box and hen house every morning, and then do a thorough clean weekly or bi-weekly so they do involve a bit of work.

The initial outlay can be expensive and you will need hen house and a run plus a first aid kit, bedding, food and feeders - but we are now even selling eggs so the girls are paying for themselves (almost!).

Children seem to love them - as do the neighbours, although a cockerel might be  a problem as they are noisy and sometimes aggressive.  Some local authorities need to give permission for hen keeping anyway - so it would be worth checking prior to getting any chickens.  2-3 hens without a cockerel is a great way to start and you dont need a cockerel to get eggs - only for chicks.

I found buying a couple of books was really helpful.  Ones I can recommend are : Henkeeping by Jane Eastoe, Starting with Chickens by Katie Thear - and a really humerous book to keep it all in perspective is Hen and the art of Chicken Maintenance by Martin Gurdon.

I hope this helps.

[carolbriar]

Grannie Annie I hope you meant 1square foot of house space and not 1 square metre otherwise I would need to increase mine dramatically!  
I have only had my hens since November and I wouldn't be without them.  They have caused a lot of worrying, lots of laughs and now lovely eggs.  When I first got my hens and I read all the problems on the hen house forum I worried in case mine had this or that but thankfully have now stopped that and am enjoying them.  They do need your attention every day and rely on you for their wellbeing.  I have had to take two of my hens to the vets in the past but am lucky I have a vet who has ex batts and is interested in treating them and has even phoned to see how they have got on.
I love my girls and wouldn't be without them - I spend many hours watching them and laughing at their antics and going to collect their eggs - I even know which hen has laid which egg!  (I have 5 but only 4 are laying).  Mine lay anytime between 7am and 3.30pm!  This forum is fantastic for information and everyone is very helpful if you have a problem. I went to the library and read up as much as I could before I started.  If you do go ahead, good luck and enjoy!

[ineedhelp]

Thank you everyone for the good advice................ I stand corrected now, I thought you needed a cockerel for the hens to be able to lay eggs - you learn something new everyday. I will most certainly read up on everything at my local library and will look into doing a short course. x

[Bonniebean]

Please don't forget to check the covenants on your house as well as checking with your EHO. Most are not a problem but you can get the odd one who is!
Good luck -it's great fun!

[GrannieAnnie]

Grannie Annie I hope you meant 1square foot of house space and not 1 square metre otherwise I would need to increase mine dramatically!  

OOOOPS!   Sorry Carol, my brain was way ahead of my fingers again!  

If you think of it Ineedhelp, all us ladies produce eggs, we only need the fellas to fertilise them!!  

[ineedhelp]

Ha ha............. I never thought of it that way GrannieAnnie. Well, I've contacted my local council to find out if I need permission to have chickens and I have to call them back on Monday. Fingers crossed they say yes - although I can't imagine why they would say no. I can't wait. My daughter will be so happy to have chickens running around in the garden. 

[GrannieAnnie]

Fingers crossed there are no covenants or anything on your property.  there is a chap in our village who bought a house last year.  The old man he bought off had built a bungalow down the bottom of the garden, so Anthony only gets a tiny garden with space to park his car.  The garage belongs to the old man. 

The old man said that whoever buys the house isn't allowed to keep any pets or other livestock, but he died a little while back, so Anthony is now keen to get his chickens as the instructions died with the old man!!!

[ineedhelp]

Well besides the council opposing ..... there aren't any other problems to deal with. I have been looking at chicken coops on the internet and as beautfifully built as some of them are I cannot believe how expensive they are. I have read that some people have built their own.......... but I don't think I would even know where to start. 

However, my birthday is coming up in a months time so I'm sure I coulod drop a few hints to my nearest and dearest and hopefully they'll get me one as a present. Although the idea of making my own one is nice.
 

[GrannieAnnie]

I think you'd be surprised if you made your own.  A couple of the girls on here have done it themselves for the first time and were really pleased with the results.

also small sheds are good too, just cut a pophole in the side, with a slidey drop down door, nest box and perch inside, the girls will love it and it will give them plenty of room to be inside if it rains.  3 of my houses are old sheds, but then I do have my Brian who does most of the work on re-building them.

[ineedhelp]

i never thought of using the shed.... a few alterations and i'd be good to go.......... and it would be cheaper too...... love it.

[GrannieAnnie]

You got a spare shed?  Ideal!  and if its big enough, you could section a bit off to store their feed and stuff in.  Make it rat proof too.  Keep an eye on round the door edges and we've even had rats run up the side of the shed and in the ventilation at the eaves.

Ventilation is important too as with too little, you can get condensation inside your roof which drips down onto your bedding (we use shavings!) and helps make it damp.

Have a read of this section too, it's got some good info on it!

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=4748.0

[Aunt Sally]

Has anyone mentioned poo. 

I'm always being moaned at for treading it into the house