Keeping Hens in back garden

Ding Dong

I've just moved into a new house in Wicklow with a good sized garden and would love to keep a couple of hens. Unfortunatley with the wildlife and neighbours, free range isnt an option, so I would love some advice on small housing, options of how to feed the hens while away for a few days (if possible) and where to actually go to get a few bantams / hens. Firstly, Im looking for housing similar to the attached. Do you know where or who produces something like this?
Any help would be great!

Sigma Force

Check out this site it has a poultry forum on it http://www.practicalpoultry.co.uk/

If you are looking for hens there is a girl on the petsireland board looking to rehome poultry because they are moving, I belive she has some hens as well. She can offer advice on how to care for them too and I'm not sure but might even have a hen house if you could travel to collect (in Tipperary). Look under the homes needed misc. section of petsireland and you'll find the post.
Or you can go to a poultry market and see if there are any poor oul battery hens there that need a good home. They sometimes look a state but they still lay and can be brought back to good health with a bit of space and proper feeding.

Also check out this guy.http://www.forshamcottagearks.com/MainMenuPages/WorldwideDistributors.htm

Grow Green Products
Manor Kilbride, Blessington, Co Wicklow, Eire.
Contact: Paddy Macaulay
Phone: 00353 0404 49893
Fax: 00353 0404 40766

Email: growgreensolutions@eircom.net
Website: www.growgreensolutions.com

Hope this helps.

An alternative house would be a small check with an attached run.

Ding Dong

Wow! Thanks for the great reply!!:D

artieanna

We reared hens for years and their eggs are beaut....However if you have only a small area to keep them you should know that the run and hut will have to be cleaned out fairly regularly and if near the house will be stinky.

We sourced our point of lay pullets (ready to lay)from adverts in a local newspaper, and a van from a particular poultry farm would have a number of stop points for people to buy hens, ducks, geese. This maybe available also in your area.

To feed them they get growers mash until they begin to lay and then they are switched to layers pellets or layers mash (if you don't want to force the hens to lay use less of this feed and you can mix it with maize or boiled potato skins.

There possibly is a method of feeding that will allow you to go away, however I am not familiar with it.....

Ding Dong

Thanks for that! One other thing tho’ guys that Im a bit worried about…Rats. I have seen a few forums where they really concerned me about the potential problem. How have you guys managed? Was it ever a problem for you?

Sigma Force

Rats wise all you can do is keep the area around the hens as clean as possible. Keep their feed in the hen house and use a strong aviary wire for the run itself 1/4 inch holes at the most. Mice can squeeze through 1/2 inch holes and I guess younger rats might as well.
Not sure what else you can do just be vigilent you would probably see signs of them around before hand. Moving the run about the garden so as not to wear out the grass as well.

There's also another type of housing called the omlet that can house a couple of hens I think it's pricey but probably no more pricey than the Forsham ones.

Here's the link loads of info on the site as well http://www.omlet.co.uk/homepage/homepage.php

artieanna

we never had a problem with rats and why? We only gave the hens the amount of food they would eat (no extra bit for later etc) and gathered the eggs every morning.

Rats will not hang around if there is no food!!!

arctictree

We keep hens in the garden and do sometimes have problems with Rats.

Just make sure all food is in bins and try not to leave their food out. You may
have to do this when you go away but make sure it is temporary.

Did you get your hens yet?

A

Ding Dong

Hi,

We havent got the hens yet. will be getting an ark and run from the place in Ashford as above. To be honest, thats the next question, were to get hens. Mite be interested in bamtams but not sure yet. Did the rats remain an 'outside' problem and how did u know they were about?

FlutterinBantam

Ding Dong wrote:

I've just moved into a new house in Wicklow with a good sized garden and would love to keep a couple of hens. Unfortunatley with the wildlife and neighbours, free range isnt an option, so I would love some advice on small housing, options of how to feed the hens while away for a few days (if possible) and where to actually go to get a few bantams / hens. Firstly, Im looking for housing similar to the attached. Do you know where or who produces something like this?
Any help would be great!

:eek: :eek: A few!!!!

Sigma Force

Why so shocked at wanting a few hens?

FlutterinBantam

Hens!!! its the Bantams I'm worried about.;)

luckat

I got darling silkies from a woman in Wexford through the Buy & Sell a few years ago. (Silkies are sweet lovely girls, but the devil to go broody on you.)

The normal thing to start with is a 'breeding trio' - two hens and a cock. Don't let people pawn you off with spare cocks, and don't buy chicks too young to see their sex, because you're only going to end up trying to find homes for spare cocks when they start to fight.

I ended up with an adorable mixture of silkies, araucanas and cochins. Both silkies and araucanas lay pale blue eggs - very saleable - and the cochins, who are big girls, lay lovely long graceful creamy eggs with a faint apricot tinge - also saleable. But the cochins, like most big hens, don't live very long.

Make sure you get to know your local fancy, because they'll help you immeasurably with knowledge. For instance, one of my araucanas, a little golden beauty with a lovely hat, died of being crop-bound. I should have recognised what was happening, because she was growing weaker, but because her crop was full I thought she was fine.

When I finally realised and fed her warm water and olive oil and massaged the crop, it was too late, and she died in my arms.

If I'd been talking to other hen-keepers, someone would have recognised the symptoms - as I would myself in someone else's hens - and suggested crop-bind to me. Alas.

r3nu4l

Hen rearing is the fastest growing hobby in the UK Have a look at the Omlet website for info on chicken breeds, coops and faqs. Of the four chicken rearers I know personally 3 are using the eglu and one a more traditional coop.

Either way the site makes very good reading I'm thinking of investing in chickens myself as we purchased a house in December and have lots of room in the garden.

magnumlady

Good luck with the hens. We had 2 hens and 2 ducks for a time. The hens were no problem, they do need cleaning out regularly and it doesn't smell very pleasant. We had no more problems with rats then we do normally.

luckat

By the way, wear a mask when you're cleaning out the run. Not good stuff to breathe into your lungs.

Wood shavings (*never* sawdust, which can get into the nares and smother hens) are good for bedding; you'll get it in.... drat, what's the name of the place - big feed store in Baltinglass, which also does organic pellets. If you're feeding the organic pellets, cook them into a mash, which is easier to remove and less attractive to pests.

For treats, hens love sunflower seeds, broccoli and the innards of peppers, and any scraps. Don't give them chocolate, and *never* give them anything mouldy. They particularly love cooked rasher rinds, but salt isn't great for them, so this needs to be an occasional treat.

arctictree

Ding Dong wrote:

Hi,

We havent got the hens yet. will be getting an ark and run from the place in Ashford as above. To be honest, thats the next question, were to get hens. Mite be interested in bamtams but not sure yet. Did the rats remain an 'outside' problem and how did u know they were about?

There's a guy who sells hens outside the gates of Ashford glanbia from a van on Mondays (I think). He always puts a small ad in the wicklow people when he's going to be there so keep an eye out for that. His hens are very healthy. We had 4 for 9 months until the fox got them. Had circa 3 eggs per day for all that time. Be wary about getting hens from an egg farm. Even if they are free range, they can have diseases that you want to keep away from your small holding as you will not be using medication etc

Yes, rats remained an outside problem. You know you have them when you leave out food and it goes really quick overnight. Also, they build holes all around the pen, you fill them in and next day the holes are there again. Just do not leave food out or make it very difficult for them to get at it and they will go away.

Hens are great fun to have and everyone has something different built for them! I have a standard 8x6 garden shed converted. It has roosts, nesting boxes and a fenced off area for feed storage etc! I got some pure breed chicks a while back (Light Sussex) and am brooding them now.

A

NextSteps

Do the hens do much damage to the garden and lawn? Would the flower/vegetable beds need to be fenced off from them?

magnumlady

Well we only had 2 hens, they did scratch at the grass a fair bit so that was messy, but they didn't really go near the flower beds.

arctictree

UB wrote:

Do the hens do much damage to the garden and lawn? Would the flower/vegetable beds need to be fenced off from them?

Yes!! They love to scratch around in bare earth/wood chippings. So keep them out of the flower beds! Fence it off if you can - or fence the hens in.

On the other hand, we purposely pen the hens into the veggie garden when it needs to be dug up and rotavated. They do a great job turning over the soil and eating all the bugs! A prime example of working with nature!

A

NextSteps

How high can they jump? My flower beds will be raised by about 3', do you think they could flap their way up that far?

And has anyone seen those funky-looking Eglus for sale in Dublin?

arctictree

UB wrote:

How high can they jump? My flower beds will be raised by about 3', do you think they could flap their way up that far?

If they wanted to they could ie if they are hungry and they see food up there, they will jump. Once you observe them for a while, you will see how to stop this happening. For example you could put a 1 foot high length of netting around the flower bed at the 3' level. They will then have nowhere to land when they jump and hence wont attempt it....(you have to think like a chicken!)

A

artieanna

I like that "you have to think like a chicken" :rolleyes: mmmmm

Netting flowerbeds is a good idea...I noticed that hens love newly dug ground (as in just sown seeds, bulbs) they'll root out all the bulbs and dig holes. They love rolling in ashes or loose soil (I think this is to kill any bugs or fleas).

You'd be shocked how high they can jump as they have extra lift with their wings;)

luckat

Reminds me of a story an oul guy in Killybegs told me, about one particularly fierce hen they had. It had wandered into the cottage one day when he was a kid, and it saw a mouse on the rafters 12 feet up, and just rose up with a whizz and *pounced* and gobbled up the mouse, then flew down again.

He had another story - I'm not quite sure what the context was, but it was the same hen, and I think it was bullying a dog, and it got on the dog's back and the last they saw of it (on that occasion) was as the dog, with hen aboard, went racing down along yon falling brae...

arctictree

A fox took one of our hens yesterday afternoon. I keep telling them - 'Do not wander off into the woods'. But do they listen?.....

NextSteps

arctictree wrote:

A fox took one of our hens yesterday afternoon. I keep telling them - 'Do not wander off into the woods'. But do they listen?.....

Hens - there's no talking to them. Featherbrains.

artieanna

luckat wrote:

Reminds me of a story an oul guy in Killybegs told me, about one particularly fierce hen they had. It had wandered into the cottage one day when he was a kid, and it saw a mouse on the rafters 12 feet up, and just rose up with a whizz and *pounced* and gobbled up the mouse, then flew down again.

He had another story - I'm not quite sure what the context was, but it was the same hen, and I think it was bullying a dog, and it got on the dog's back and the last they saw of it (on that occasion) was as the dog, with hen aboard, went racing down along yon falling brae...

Tall tales I'd say......I like the "went racing down along yon falling brae" very musical and tir na og like;)

ExMeath

UB wrote:

Do the hens do much damage to the garden and lawn? Would the flower/vegetable beds need to be fenced off from them?

I'm a bit late answering this!

We're not far from Oxford. We bought an eglu some 4 years ago with a Miss Pepperpot and a Ginger Nut Ranger. Unfortunately the ginger nut ranger died earlier this year so we got two 'rescue' (ex-battery farm) hens to keep the pepperpot company.

I have to say that backgarden chooks are a great experience but they do make a mess of the garden! Ours aren't allowed in the veg patch because we don't have secure fencing up there but there are very few slugs in the rest of the garden. I now put bulbs and herbaceous plants in pots with chicken wire over the top - this stops the hens digging out the bulbs and shredding the flowers. For some unknown reason, summer before last, the hens shredded every red tulip I planted in the ground... :mad:

The rest of the garden consists solely of shrubs and grasses which don't bother hens and everything else is in pots which they're not too bothered with. They've wrecked our lawn and herb garden but the fun we have with them is worth it... I plant the small yellow cherry tomatoes especially for the hens - they love them, they reach up and pick their own. Most of the fruit and veg we grow in the recreational part of the garden is pecked up to the height of the hens' reach - clip their wings and they'll not fly too high. Our grapes go down a treat :rolleyes:

When we lived in Ireland we had hens in a wooden house and I must say that the eglu is much easier to clean and looks cheerful. It's lightweight, warm in winter and cool in summer. Against that you have to weigh the cost of the eglu and the delivery costs from the UK to Eire. Also, although I'm happy for the hens to be in the run for the odd day when we're not at home, we're thinking of making a bigger run for them for when we're away and the neighbours are caring for them. Three hens in one eglu is at the absolute limit for 'free ranging'.