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Author Topic: anyone keep chickens?? help needed  (Read 7701 times)
leethefish
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« on: March 15, 2011, 07:07:03 AM »

anyone keep chickens???   i  impulse bought 3 chickens for the kids yesterday!!!!

i rushed home kicked out all the bikes and junk from the kids playhouse they to old for it anyways !!

now we have a chicken house !!

i done what the man said put a shelf 3 foot up (he said they like that)
questions

1.The shelf do they need a ramp to get to it or will they jump?
2.Can they stay in the garden all day whilst i at work or do i need to build a run for them.
3.if there left in the garden all day will foxes get um we do have a lot of fox in this area or is that just at night?
4.will they/can they eat food scraps left overs ...as well as there chicken feed.
5.is there anything i need to know or should do like now.....lol

thanks in advance....

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« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2011, 07:45:39 AM »

Hey - chickens are actually a lot more fun than people realise: if you handle them and interact with them plenty they get really really tame.

First warning - Be prepared for them to wreck your garden! If you have any form of a decent garden with flowerbeds and plants then get a run for them because they will eat every plant and trash every bed as well as rake your lawn and cover everything in droppings.

If your garden is like a wasteland then no worries! You will rarely see a fox in the day so they should be fine but they need to be inside at night. I would give them some form of ramp or steps to get up to the nesting ledge and you also need to provide them with some form of nesting box (lined with straw) each where they will lay their eggs.

Don't know how old yours are but they dont lay eggs til at least 18 weeks old, sometimes older.

They will eat pretty much anything leftover from your kitchen, including stale bread, leftover roast spuds and cooked veg and even meat - they're not vegetarians! You will also see them all fighting if the find a snail in the garden, they will all try and getit off each other as they love to eat them after smashing the shell on the floor!

Make sure they have a shallow bowl of clean water accessible as well. Their eggs will be a totally different colour to eggs you buy in the shops and much tastier as well. As long as chickens are warm and well fed they will always be happy, they don't need anything more than that.
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Graham C
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« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2011, 09:25:22 AM »

Pretty much that, they're ever so easy to keep and kids love them.  Quite nice seeing them pottering around the garden, even if they do trash it a bit.
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« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2011, 09:35:26 AM »

what I learned about keeping chickens

-if you leave them out at night they die
-when they die they apparently explode, pieces of them (mostly feathers but a few fleshy bits too) will be found scattered all around not only your garden but also the playing fields of the nearby primary school
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« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2011, 09:41:00 AM »

If they misbehave just threaten them with a bottle of peri-peri sauce.
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« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2011, 01:22:14 PM »

what I learned about keeping chickens

-if you leave them out at night they die
-when they die they apparently explode, pieces of them (mostly feathers but a few fleshy bits too) will be found scattered all around not only your garden but also the playing fields of the nearby primary school

LOL although I feel a bit sick.
As I said previously, don't leave them out at night or a fox will kill them and spread them round your garden and the local primary school Smiley
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leethefish
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« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2011, 04:02:26 PM »

thank you very much .....

i came home and let out the chickens and started to do some work in the shed,my eldest came home and said

"dad why is one of the chickens on the fence"....lol is this normal is it going to run away ?? do have to make it higher?? its  a 6 foot fence
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leethefish
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« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2011, 04:06:49 PM »

Hey - chickens are actually a lot more fun than people realise: if you handle them and interact with them plenty they get really really tame.

First warning - Be prepared for them to wreck your garden! If you have any form of a decent garden with flowerbeds and plants then get a run for them because they will eat every plant and trash every bed as well as rake your lawn and cover everything in droppings.

If your garden is like a wasteland then no worries! You will rarely see a fox in the day so they should be fine but they need to be inside at night. I would give them some form of ramp or steps to get up to the nesting ledge and you also need to provide them with some form of nesting box (lined with straw) each where they will lay their eggs.

Don't know how old yours are but they dont lay eggs til at least 18 weeks old, sometimes older.

They will eat pretty much anything leftover from your kitchen, including stale bread, leftover roast spuds and cooked veg and even meat - they're not vegetarians! You will also see them all fighting if the find a snail in the garden, they will all try and getit off each other as they love to eat them after smashing the shell on the floor!

Make sure they have a shallow bowl of clean water accessible as well. Their eggs will be a totally different colour to eggs you buy in the shops and much tastier as well. As long as chickens are warm and well fed they will always be happy, they don't need anything more than that.
they are 10 months old
not layed any eggs yet....
i have made a ledge/shelf and sectioned it off put straw it it is this what you mean??
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« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2011, 04:11:33 PM »

Yeah my mate keeps chickens and his garden is now a shithole of a mudbath now. Also I hope they are hens, otherwise your neighbours are gonna be pissed off with you real fast!
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« Reply #9 on: March 15, 2011, 04:11:57 PM »

my brother in law has chickens. he's carpeted their little house and vacuums it every day. think he may be a bit odd
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« Reply #10 on: March 15, 2011, 04:21:01 PM »

he's odd Gatso!

You can get a spikey thing to put on the fence Lee.  We got some plastic ones from ebay cheap enough.  Ours kept jumping on there and crapping in next doors garden - he wasn't too pleased Cheesy 
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leethefish
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« Reply #11 on: March 15, 2011, 06:33:22 PM »

he's odd Gatso!

You can get a spikey thing to put on the fence Lee.  We got some plastic ones from ebay cheap enough.  Ours kept jumping on there and crapping in next doors garden - he wasn't too pleased Cheesy 
thanks mate will try this

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leethefish
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« Reply #12 on: March 15, 2011, 07:10:54 PM »

went to put the chickens away when it got dark tonight and was really shocked to find them in the shed on the shelf i put up
 ...obviously tired took themselves to bed.
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« Reply #13 on: March 15, 2011, 07:56:17 PM »

Chickens love spaghetti and its great fun feeding them it - if you dangle it a little bit above them they'll jump up for it - could be fun to do with the kids.

Ours jump up onto our windowsill and tap the glass asking for food - they can be pretty amusing, like everyone said, actually pretty cool pets!

As already mentioned above, the eggs are amazing, really really yellow yolks, nothing like shop bought ones at all.

I live in the countryside so its fine if they jump over the wall into the neighbouring field, they always come back too, atleast ours do, guess its like cats, as long as they know where their main source of food is they'll come back for more! Although we have had a little bantam go missing for a few weeks, until we finally found her sitting on a massive pile of eggs under a bush!

Hope they don't wreck your garden too much - only downside, they poo everywhere!
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« Reply #14 on: March 15, 2011, 08:03:05 PM »

Chickens are great to keep. I had 7 bantams before they "exploded" a la gatso.
They were a nervous breed so weren't tame at all but hugely satisfying to watch. There is a lot of info around to help with a little google help. I feel that yours may be grateful for a perch, dowling may do the trick.
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