[rcf100]

Hi folks, I've stumbled across this forum and looks like the ideal place to get my questions answered.  My questions I'm sure will have been asked before and answered in many a book, but I'm trying to determine whether I have the appropriate set up for some chickens before I get all excited.

I have loads of questions, but I'll start with just a few.  My big main question though is this:

I want to keep chickens in my back garden.  I have a small area of grass and I have 2 small children.  I don't want to give over all my grass to the chickens as my girls need to play in safety and clean areas too.

Is it possible to give the end of the garden to the chickens, fence it off and fox/rodent proof it, without moving the run.  I'm under the impression that they need the run moved so that they don't get infections from living on top of their own poop.  I don't have the garden to do this, so I was wondering if I could instead put down some wood chippings, change them perdioically and this would have the same effect?

I intend to let them out into the garden for a few hours on the days I'm in the house (work 3 days a week).  If I do this, will they make a mess?  Is it OK to leave them in their run 24 7 with no grass?

If the answer is I can keep chickens in this way I intend to give them an area of garden approx 10x6 ft for their run and coop and house 3 girls.  I would like their eggs.  I would love rescue battery girls, but not sure if that's appropriate in my location

[themagicaltoad1]

Hi rcf, welcome to the site. sounds like you have enough space to comfortably keep 3 hens. You don't need a movable run, a fixed one will be fine but any grass in it will not be there for long so will need something like bark chippings on top of the mud. If you can give them a raised coop it will increase the area they have to move around in. Foxes are excellent climbers and diggers, and you will need to use weldmesh not chicken wire. Something to bear in mind if it's a fixed run is how easy will it be for you to access it, especially if you have put a roof on it?
They will love free ranging in the garden but if you have only a small grassed area they will reduce it to bare soil pretty quickly, and they do poop quite a bit. There are other things you can do to keep them happy in their run.
Are you buying a pre-made run or designing your own?

[GrannieAnnie]

If you want a reliable source of eggs, steer clear of ex battery hens.  Some of them can lay for another year, maybe more, but most will run out of eggs within a few months.  They can also come with health or other problems and can die shortly after the rescue.

It's very stressful for the hens being rescued.  If only they realised what was happening to them, they'd hang on longer I'm sure.

So I would say as a first timer, your best bet would be to get 3 young point of lay hens, and as the area you have in mind isn't huge, perhaps 3 pretty little bantams, which require slightly less space and their eggs are just as nice, albeit a little smaller than a normal sized egg.

The other thing to consider, to help spacewise, is to have the coop raised off the ground about 18 inches to 2ft, which gives them extra space which is sheltered, they can use it for dustbathing, and some people hang the feeder under there to keep the food dry.

Good luck with it, you and your children will love watching the hens and eating their eggs!

Oh yes, and sorry, Welcome from me too!!!!!   

[Tony H]

Hi and welcome  im afraid chucks need very little time to destroy a garden you will find that an hour is plenty of time to destroy your flower beds and make a mess of your grass  but if you dont mind a bit of mess then yea great they will love it 

[Craig69]

Hi & welcome.

When I first got my girls their run was on paving slabs & gravel.
They had plenty of room in their run & grew grass in large trays which I gave to them.
Once a tray was finished it was replaced a couple days later.
I also used an old plastic dog bed filled with soil & sand which gave them somewhere else to scratch about & bath in.

You & your children will enjoy them

Good luck

[daniel23]

Hi rcf, welcome to the site. sounds like you have enough space to comfortably keep 3 hens. You don't need a movable run, a fixed one will be fine but any grass in it will not be there for long so will need something like bark chippings on top of the mud. If you can give them a raised coop it will increase the area they have to move around in. Foxes are excellent climbers and diggers, and you will need to use weldmesh not chicken wire. Something to bear in mind if it's a fixed run is how easy will it be for you to access it, especially if you have put a roof on it?
They will love free ranging in the garden but if you have only a small grassed area they will reduce it to bare soil pretty quickly, and they do poop quite a bit. There are other things you can do to keep them happy in their run.
Are you buying a pre-made run or designing your own?

This sounds quite similar to how I've got mine, it works really well.

[CoopersCoop]

Hi rcf!

I like you was in your position not long ago. It does seem like there is so much to consider when you first begin the process of chicken keeping!

I like you was concerned about space for chickens to begin with, but I was assured that chickens would be ok with the size run I have. I have a moveable house/run that was originally on grass, but after a day the grass was no more! I let my chickens have a run around the garden for a few hours a day sometimes more, however if you are precious about your garden, I would avoid this. Like what themagicaltoad1 said, chickens will soon make short work of any borders you have. You can set up a little playpen for them which will give them some more space to run around in and avoids them trashing the whole of your garden.

When buying my first chooks, I decided to have two hybrids and one fancy wyandotte. Hybrids are brilliant for a beginner as they are quite hardy ladies, lay really well, and are cheap to feed. Patsy my Wyandotte is beautiful, but not the best layer. However what she lack in laying eggs she makes up for in personality! They all get on really well together.

You will love watching the chickens, they are so much fun to keep.
Good Luck!

[rcf100]

Thanks so much for your replies...so I can start getting excited now can't I? 

OK, so in answer/comment to some of your points.  I will be building the run.  I already have my garden fenced with 6ft high fencing, and as this is the bottom, this will be the 3 sides of their run.  I will then only have to make a 4th side and fox proof the lot.

So point of lay I think is prob best, I actually went to a local petting zoo/wildlife reserve/rescue centre today and they had 5 day old chicks and a number for a local breeder.  This is a well respected centre in the area, so I imagine the breeder will have a good background for them to be showing their phone number in the petting area.  The girls loved the chicks, and my eldest (2 year old) can be a bit nervous, but she wasn't so I was thinking this may be the best idea so she sees them grow up rather than getting 3 large pecky hens.

I will be buying my coop but I had read somewhere else about raising it and after your advice I'll def do that.  It's nice to know that they won't need let out from this size, because although I have no borders, my youngest is only 15 months and not that stead on her feet so don't want her hands in bird muck.

Can you recommend a good company for houses on the internet?

I can protect the bottom of the fence on 2 sides easily, from the outside and put a skirt, the 3rd and longest side though is on a thick hedge.  I will have to protect from the inside, so will I have to dig down, if so I have a large boulder in one corner, what would you recommend to do around that as it will be a weak point.  Can the fox climb the hedge to get over the fence?

I have 4 cats and a lg dog, will these be an issue with the chickens?

[rcf100]

Oh and vaccine/salmonella/anything else health wise with 2 young kids?  What to do, what to know?

[bantam novice]

For what it's worth these are my top ten tips in no particular order of priority

1)    Use a reputable breeder and check out the conditions first.  How healthy do the chickens look?  Get point of lay hens and at least three.  Hens are flock creatures and do not do well on their own.

2)    Allow plenty of space.  You need a minimum of 2 sq metres per bird and that does not include feeders drinkers and coop etc.

3)    Be prepared to want to increase your flock.  Chicken keeping can be addictive!

4)    Fox proof your area - use weld mesh rather than chicken wire (foxes can chew through chicken wire) and possibly electric net fencing. 

5)   Little visitors!  Use Flubenvet for internal parasites and Frontline kitten strength for external parasites.

6)    Redmite.  These little ***ers lurk in the cracks and crevices of wooden coops and drop down onto the hens at night to drink their blood.  Use a cleaner like Poultry Shield, a disinfectant like Ficam W or Stalosan F.  Make a slurry of diatomaceous earth powder mixed with poultry shield or detergent and water and paint into the cracks and crevices, not forgetting the perch ends. 

7)    Feeding - use layers pellets and give a small treat at about tea time such as mixed corn.    If you have dark green veg leaves they are very good.  Make sure you hens have some access to greens.  Have grit and crushed oyster shell in separate containers available at all times.  Have a good drinker with fresh water daily available.  Food and drink should be kept outside the coop in the enclosure.  The food should be under some kind of shelter so it does not get wet and remove it to somewhere rat-proof at night.

   Bullying - There is always a certain amount of jostling for position until the pecking order is established.  This doesn't usually draw blood but it is a good idea to have Purple Spray (yes it is called that though it is actually gentian violet) ready in case there are any raw red patches or blood.  The spray disguises the colour so that hens don't peck at it.

9)    Identify a local chicken friendly vet.  Not all vets are, and some will even refuse to treat chickens.  Keep the contact ready just in case.

10)   Get a comfortable seat or bench to sit on so you can watch your hens.  You will find that they can become addictive!

[rcf100]

Wow that is extensive, stuff I hadn't even thought of.  Vet is not an issue, our local one is not only domestic but farm vet too, and as I live in the darkest depths of Cumbria, I'd worry about any vet that wouldn't treat poultry!

[themagicaltoad1]

Day old chicks are very cute but a lot of work, you can't put them straight out into a coop, they need to be kept under a heat lamp for several weeks. You would be better going for POL pullets, (point of lay) they will be young enough to get used to you quickly and on the verge of producing eggs. It's very tempting to buy the first ones you see, so leave your money at home when you go out looking until you're sure you know what you want.
You might want to consider bantams, they are just smaller versions of full size hens if you're worried about space. Some breeds are more prone to going broody, Silkies for instance. They look very cute with their silly hair cuts but will spend more time sitting in the coop hatching non existent eggs, than actually laying any! (Just realised I'm repeating what Grannie Annie said)
Foxes will easily climb your 6ft fences and will probably find a way through your hedge, they will also dig under the fence. You could put some slabs down around the perimeter. Check out farm shops for coops, also garden centres & ebay there are plenty of places selling them, but avoid any with felt roofing as red mite love this stuff. It all sounds a bit daunting at first but it really is worth it.
Don't worry about vaccinations and salmonella, only people with a lot of chickens have to vaccinate and there's no more risk of salmonella than shop bought eggs.
Your cats and dog will soon learn to respect the hens, though the hens will probably be a bit alarmed the first few times your dog goes near their run, they will get used to each other.

[rcf100]

Yeah I suppose chicks aren't the best idea with cats, so point of lay is better.  A lot of people have said about bantums due to the space.  Does this mean I'm only just offering enough space, I can give them more by bringing the 4th wall further into the garden, but I had to name a dimension for my question to make any sense.  The only reason I ask is because I bake a lot, so would like normal size eggs.

Farm shops - of course, I'll ask at our local farm shop tomorrow, need to go and get some more dog food from there anyway and I like to give to local business.

So - would it be wise to put a wire roof on the run and fix it to the fencing in order to eliminate foxy's chances over the fence?

Re - salmonella.  I'm not concerned about the eggs having it as the girls get cooked eggs, I mean from petting the chickens themselves?

[themagicaltoad1]

A roof on the run would really be necessary, and if you could make part of the roof covered it will give protection from the rain because they will stand out in the rain rather than go in to a nice cosy coop!
So long as you worm them regularly and keep an eye out for nasties like lice your children will not be at risk from the hens. my daughter often sits watching tv with a chicken on her lap :blink:

[themagicaltoad1]

A roof on the run would really be necessary, and if you could make part of the roof covered it will give protection from the rain because they will stand out in the rain rather than go in to a nice cosy coop!
So long as you worm them regularly and keep an eye out for nasties like lice your children will not be at risk from the hens. my daughter often sits watching tv with a chicken on her lap :blink:

That's worm the chickens not the children, and don't forget to hand wash.