Advice on keeping hens in the garden please?

EGirl

Totally new to Boards, so Hi! I'm considering keeping 2 or 3 hens in my small back garden. I've sourced an ark, feed and wanted a little advice on vets in south Dublin who will treat chickens..any experience here? Also, does anyone know what vaccinations they should have? Last question is about my cat, who uses the area under our evergreens as a toilet. The hens will love this area as it's dry and has plenty of dry matter on the ground to scratch around in, but I'm a bit concerned about the cat's urine & faeces, which are concentrated in the area. Will this be a hazard for the health of my hens?
I'm so excited about this but really want to anticipate problems before I go ahead...help?

Whispered

Hi,

Thats fantastic! Such unusual pets for Dublin! I have very little idea about hens, my Mam used to keep some but she's down the country. Only thing is they could (and do) attract rats. I know you have a cat but if they are in a coop (?) that the rats can get into and the cat cant then they will be attacked. Also they may become playthings for your cat? I know my two would knock great sport out of them. As for the area which your cats uses, chickens are pretty messy themselves as far as I remember, but you could always fence if off for your cat and create another area for the hens? Let me know how you get on. They're so cute, I remember them following my mam around the garden

EGirl

Hi Helena
My big tomcat is a bit of a chicken himself, so I reckon he'll give them a wide berth. Might have to fence off some of the area under the trees. As for rats, God! I'm buying a movable ark which includes a house in which they'll be locked at night and I'll fox/rat-proof it. Wish me luck!:)

Demonique

Be careful about cats too, our bantam was chased out of the backgarden onto the street by a cat and killed outside our neighbours' driveway

JMURPHY3

Hey there,
My granny has chickens at home, I am from Wexford.....never have seen her getting them vaccinated tho and they are quite healthy.Be careful if you have any plants or shrubs you have in your garden, you might want to fence the hens in a pen, and if you want eggs, you will need to get a cock, which could be very noisy in the mornings.
if the hens are flying out of the pen, then you can clip the top of their wings.I dont think cats would pose a threat to your chickens.Please pm me if u wish, if u want any further information and best of luck :p:p

arctictree

JMURPHY3 wrote: »

...and if you want eggs, you will need to get a cock, which could be very noisy in the mornings.

Dont mean to be 'cocky' !! (pardon the pun) but I've kept hens for years and, no, you dont need a cock to get eggs. Without a cock, the hens will continue laying, its just the eggs will be infertile ie the same as the ones you get in a shop.

OP - PM me if you need any advice. Currently we have 8 hens and 2 cocks all living happily together free range in the garden!

A

Nerin

hugh fearnley whitingstall had a good episode on one the seasons of river cottage.
he used to lock them into a high rise house (it was on a stilt)

Bainne2

DSPCA have loads of hens needing new homes:)

doctor evil

There are a good websites/forums about hen keeping. Research the husbandry so you know how to treat mites and forget to give them grit. If you have life stock you are going to at some stage have dead stock. In case you have a sick or injured bird you may want to know how to wring its neck. Its better if someone shows you, you can buy gadgets that will help you do this swiftly.

Good luck with your hens!.

doctor evil

Whoops, I mean don`t forget to give them grit.

Strokesfan

I love the idea of keeping chickens in urban envirnments.

Check out these cool hen houses made by omlet.us


They also give loads of advice on keeping chickens, chicken health etc...

http://www.omlet.us/guide/guide.php?view=Chickens&cat=Chicken%20Care

Demonique

The Omlet is from a US site and its also $495. Cultivate in Temple Bar used to stock them but stopped because no one was buying them due to them being over €500

Demonique

I've just found Omlet's UK page:

http://www.omlet.co.uk/homepage/homepage.php

An Omlet without Chickens is £400 including delivery to Ireland which at current exchange rates is €560

arctictree

Demonique wrote: »

An Omlet without Chickens is £400 including delivery to Ireland which at current exchange rates is €560

Very expensive. I use a dog kennel connected to a home made run made with lengths of timber and chicken wire.

myjugsarehuge

They love greens as well as grass, left over vegetables, apple cores, peelings (boiled), cooked pasta, rice & sweetcorn they are plain greedy really. I make sure mine get their proper pellets in the morning and then scraps in the afternoon. I also put hay down for them to scrat about in, gives them something to do. I've currently got 11 hens, 2 young cockerels, 3 ducks, 1 drake & 4 ducklings, this is a video I put on Youtube of the ducklings http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=kQoFPVyZ-kE I have a few videos on there of the hens & ducks, I won't put all the links here, but check them out if you get time.

Hens are usually fairly healthy creatures, I don't have mine vaccinated I'm afraid but only ever had one sick one, she went dizzy and kept falling over but the vet cured her. Watch out for foxes, even in urban areas they can be a problem and make sure the food is kept in a container to avoid attracting rats.

Its a great idea getting rescue hens but the older they are the less frequently they tend to lay. If this doesn't matter to you then I would say have rescue ones and give them a good home. We had 5 battery hens and one is still with us, the cheekiest hen going. Light Sussex are a nice breed, docile and good layers. I have a Maran and I swear she never lays an egg !

We have an area at the top of the garden fenced in with a large shed with concrete blocks as steps. The ducks sleep in the nest boxes on the floor and hens all roost together on the perches.

The river cottage website has a good forum where you can ask questions. Feel free to message me if I can help at all. Have fun with them if you decide to go ahead.

Spireman

EGirl wrote: »

Totally new to Boards, so Hi! I'm considering keeping 2 or 3 hens in my small back garden. I've sourced an ark, feed and wanted a little advice on vets in south Dublin who will treat chickens..any experience here? Also, does anyone know what vaccinations they should have? Last question is about my cat, who uses the area under our evergreens as a toilet. The hens will love this area as it's dry and has plenty of dry matter on the ground to scratch around in, but I'm a bit concerned about the cat's urine & faeces, which are concentrated in the area. Will this be a hazard for the health of my hens?
I'm so excited about this but really want to anticipate problems before I go ahead...help?

Hi Egirl.

I'm thinking of doing the exact same thing!!! 2 or 3 hens and also in South County Dublin. Any tips on coop or where to source chickens?

Demonique

The DSPCA sometimes have chickens for rehoming

arctictree

Spireman wrote: »

Hi Egirl.

I'm thinking of doing the exact same thing!!! 2 or 3 hens and also in South County Dublin. Any tips on coop or where to source chickens?

Lots of advice on : http://forums.thepoultrykeeper.co.uk/

Some of the members are in Dublin...

A

EGirl

Hi lads,

Update as I forgot to come back & report. Got the hens in November, all well and they are great fun. If anyone wants any advice I'm happy to help if I can. Would really recommend them as pets.

rovergirl

We are about to get a couple of chickens in - anyone know where is the best/cheapest source of pellets in the SW Dublin area
Thanks

Spireman

Hi Rover girl,

Nearest place I know is Colemans in Sandyford Village. Also the Scalp Service Station on the Enniskerry road. Hope thats of some help!

cantwbr1

Hi,
Have been thinking about getting suburban hens for a while and wonder how (new) people have been getting on with theirs. Would welcome information regarding experience with rats and neighbours.

Sigma Force

Battery farms have clear outs and the hens although some in a sorry state, are still very good layers and with a bit of proper care, fresh air and good food and space they will thrive. No harm getting the vet to give each one a health check but that's all part of having any animal.

I personally don't trust any well behaved cat or dog around any birds..that's just me.

The Sweeper

Personally, I would never purchase a battery hen to rehome, because you simply encourage the battery farmers. They abuse those chickens for a year and then get even MORE money out of them because they can sell them at some ridiculously cheap price to someone who thinks they're rescuing the chicken? No way.

Additionally battery hens at first have no idea how to be 'real chickens' - they don't know how to scratch about, or dust bathe, they have difficulty copping on to where their water is and their food is - and I can't describe how sad it is to see three of them, in a big chicken coop, all crawl into the one nest box to sleep for the first week.

Also, the professional backyard chicken coops really are a rip off. Secure a large dog kennel up on white-painted cavity blocks and put an established chicken run around it - because when it's freezing cold and blowing a gale and lashing rain, you don't want to have to go out and move your Eggloo around the garden.

If you can, I'd recommend you buy young pullets around 16 weeks old - by that stage, someone else has done the work of raising them through chick-hood until they're sufficiently feathered to stand the elements, but they're not laying yet.

They won't start laying until around 20 - 28 weeks, and the first few eggs will be what I can only describe as prototypes - often the shell is too soft, or not properly formed.

You can buy layer pellets for chickens, especially designed to have the required balance of protein for chickens who are laying. They're not particularly organic or environmentally friendly, usually containing the sort of reconstituted animal by-products that necessitate big print with "DO NOT FEED TO SHEEP/COWS" on the bags.

Chickens need protein to produce eggs, calcium for strong shells, greens for nice yellow egg yolks, grits to help them digest their food, and a good supply of clean water.

They can also live for quite some time - five to seven years if well cared for - and they won't be egg-productive for their entire lifespan, so make sure you've thought this through (seven years of moving an eggloo around your back garden? And it containing two chooks who may not even be laying any more?)

When feeding your chickens scraps, don't feed them more than they can get rid of in about 15 minutes. Don't go scattering grain or pellets around the grass in your garden while letting them free range - they'll happily free range without encouragement.

Chickens are lovely to keep, but you HAVE to keep them clean, with a supply of fresh water and not too much food. Overfed chickens will go off the lay - so will chickens who get a fright, and if you introduce new chickens into an existing small flock they'll often all go off the lay for a week or two.

Chickens generally need 14 hours of daylight to lay eggs - so they will stop laying over winter (but if you're lucky with a young flock, that egg-free period may hardly be noticeable because one or two will keep laying for longer).

(Incidentally, you may think "a dog kennel on blocks - how ugly" but most of the chicken-keepers I know never stop at just two chickens - you might as well start out with an established area for two of them with room for a couple more!)

Peewee_lane

Hi guys, we just finished building our coop, we can now take on 5 hens and today is my day off to research all the bits and bobs. I am delighted to see the very post I needed started!

We are in Leinster, and my biggest question is, what type of Hen is an all year round laying hen?

I am going through all the previous posts and links now but I dont want to call someone up and not know what type I should be looking for?

rovergirl

Hi - we got ours last Tuesday, so we are very new. Got them from a really nice guy near Edenderry, they are just point of lay birds, and his suggestion was to go for them as the breeds would be more work if we weren't particularly interested in specialities. All seems well so far, they are out and about and eventually we might get some eggs. Good luck

The Sweeper

There are no all year around laying chickens, though egg farmers achieve a year-round result by using artificial light inside chicken sheds to achieve 14 hours of daylight every day. A good yield from a chicken is around four eggs a week during its productive years - or 250 eggs a year.

You want disease-resistant chickens, with a high egg yield, low broodiness (so they don't sit on the eggs, refusing to lay any more, and getting cranky if you try to take them) and a friendly, docile temperament.

Rhode Island Reds are the 'beginner's backyard chicken' - good layers, hardy, disease resistant, forgiving of an inexperienced owner's potential mistakes, and they'll keep laying through it. For instance, if you don't get your food mix right for your chickens, Reds will keep on eating and laying reasonable quality eggs, where other breeds would go right off the lay.

We currently have two Rhode Islands, a Light Sussex and a couple of Leghorns, along with a few mongrels that could have any number of 'wee brown chook' breeds in their heritage.

If I was starting my own flock again, where I live, I'd go for two Australorps (black bird, red comb, good layer) and two Barred Plymouth Rocks (sort of black/silver, looks like it has a fine horizontal pinstripe, good layer, good farmyard bird).

Sigma Force

Paying for a battery hen no more encourages it than buying most items in the supermarket that contain chicken meat or chicken based products. It's something like a Euro you pay there are people also that take a large number out at a time and try and find homes for them. In the end you might pay a euro or two to the battery farm but after that you never have to buy a supermarket egg again (esp. if you are clever with the use of your eggs and the times when eggs are low you have frozen your egg based ingredients.
Some battery hens may be lost at first due to the life they led so it is a good idea to find a rescue that has had hens for a while looking for a home and know their stuff.

I don't agree that they don't make good hens, there are lots of people with ex battery chickens and they are just fine. If someone is willing to put the time and care in.
I have transported battery hens to their new homes where they were to be free range and it is totally worth it. Layed a number of eggs on the way too.

Sure they do need time and effort and care but I don't think people should be discouraged from giving one a home if they want to.

The Sweeper

Well we're going to have to agree to disagree on that one, because the price and ethos in Ireland is obviously different - in Victoria in Oz, battery hens are sold from cages at markets for $8-12 each and they're in miserable condition.

They're often missing large amounts of feathers and are underweight. They need to be quarantined before they join a normal flock because they can bring disease in with them that will hurt your existing hens. I also find they can have ongoing health problems because they've been so intensively farmed. Their immune systems are low, and they're prone to lice and worms.

By buying them, you take the trouble of getting rid of them away from the battery farmers, you also pay money for them so the battery farmers get even more out of the chicken - you're essentially rewarding them for abusing their animals.

...and the permaculture idea of keeping organically reared backyard chickens for their eggs goes hand in hand with actually not buying non-free-range chicken meat or chicken products from the supermarkets, so yes, I agree, don't buy battery hens and don't buy their products either.

luckat

I bought some lovely silkies from Buy & Sell - woman down in Wexford. They were actually a silkie-auracana cross, and laid beautiful blue eggs, and were sweet-natured, pretty, and bantams (better for backyard hens).

But they did arrive with leg mites, which I had to treat.

Kitchen Garden magazine has a good hen column every month.

Yes, you're going to have to deal with the cat poo problem. Not good for your hens. And you don't want to be eating eggs produced by something that might have pecked up cat poo.

Year-round laying - give over, these girls are not laying machines! They need a rest like us all!

Hens will normally lay when they have 16 hours of daylight, though I've normally found that they'll lay well into autumn. The problem is usually too many eggs rather than too few - you can always preserve them for winter using waterglass, though eggs preserved this way taste better in baking (pancakes!) than as fried or boiled or scrambled eggs.

johnno900

Hi Folks,
This topic has been of interest to me also in the last while. I'm currently touring the states at the end of a year long world tour (expensive but worth it) with my fiancee.

I have alway had an interest in farming to a degree and since I have not any land decided to read up a bit on things. The bookshops here in the states are loaded with books on all these topics.

1. You can farm by Joel Salatin
2. Chickens in your backyard

I found these books great reading for those long Greyhound trips!

The first one mentions alot about a pastured broiler and pastured laying hen operation which is moved around in grass paddocks after the cows to sanitize the pastures from larvae and slugs etc as well as spreading out the cow pats and gaining nutrition the natural way.

The second book goes into details for a person running chickens in a city environment.

Bottom line, there's lot's of great books out there so spend some time on Amazon.com or something like that!
Good luck!