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Keeping chickens (for eggs)
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17-04-2010 12:06pm#1
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I used to go mental sometimes with the cock-a-doodle-do at 7:30 in the morning. Was funny sometimes when I be drunk and leaving a little roar out the window at yer man screaming his beak off. Kinda miss the little shyte now.Kotek Besar wrote: »No, certainly not getting a rooster. No need, as far as I'm aware. The hens will still lay eggs without a rooster (I think - still learning!). I wouldn't want the cock-a-doodle-doing and I'm sure the neighbours wouldn't either!
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I'm in Viewmount and I've got 4 hens and wouldn't be without them. There is no comparison between the freshness, texture and colour of your own hens eggs and the majority of shop bought eggs. We don't have a rooster, I wouldn't inflict that on our neighbours or ourselves.
We've got Rhode Island Reds crossed with Light Suxxex and they can each produce up to 330 eggs in their first year, a bit less in subsequent years, they moult after about a year laying and may stop laying for about 6 to 8 weeks then when their feathers grow back they should start laying again. We bought them when they were near point of lay and had them 6 weeks before they started laying. They're great entertainment too;)
You're allowed keep poultry in urban areas, in fact Trevor Sargeant endorsed this while he was still Minister and notified all councils about this. I checked all of this out before getting my feathered ladies, with the council and Dept. of Agriculture.
The only paperwork that you must do even if it's only for one bird is download a form to register your flock with the Dept. of Agriculture, this is just in case there's an outbreak of bird flu or something like that and the Dept can contact registered bird owners. It's free and they don't come visiting.
My husband built a hen house within a shed and made a run out the back of it. As we weren't using our garden during the winter we let them out into the lawn but now that we're sowing seeds and planting vegetables he built a portable one out in the lawn area that can be moved around so they have access to grass.
They're very cheap to keep, a bag of layers pellets costs around €12 and lasts about 10 weeks for 4 hens, a bale of bedding straw lasts about 2 months and costs about €5 - €6. I mainly put it in their nesting boxes and a small sprinkling of it in the body of the hen house, I line the hen house and nest boxes with cardboard and newspaper. A bag of grit costs €2.50 and is essential for them to grind their food and for forming the egg shells, I'm still using the first bag that I got back in mid-September when we got the hens.
A drinker costs €4.40 and a feeder about €5. We got our hens from Keogh's Poultry just past New Ross and they were €8 each. We're getting 4 eggs a day so give some to neighbours and to the mindees to bring home.
They love scraps of food, things like potato skins, leftover veg, fruit, melon, sweetcorn, pears, apples etc. No meat or salty and processed foods. Avoid bread unless it's wet.
I clean out the hen house about once a week to 10 days. For small birds they produce plenty of sh1te but do at least 50% of it at night. I just clean out the paper, straw and sh1te and put it in a compost bin so will have great compost later in the year.
I did poultry husbandry as a subject in college back in the early 80's including incubating, rearing, killing, post mortums and cooking chickens, turkeys, geese as well as hens. My classmates and myself were known as cock chokers.;) We just used our hands and manually killed them, we didn't use an axe or knife. It's all in the technique
but we had to use a broom handle for turkeys.
I have been considering getting a couple of chicks to rear for the table but my children and mindees would not fancy me killing something we reared.
We have 3 cats as well but they keep out from the hens, a couple of pecks and flapping of wings sorted that.
If there's anything you want to know just ask and I'll see if I can help. I fully recommend getting them.0 -
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Personally I'd prefer the wooden one over the eglu but that's personal choice especially when that's a very good price for the wooden one.
If you get the wooden one I'd strongly recommend getting a run with it to protect them from dogs, cats and foxes. Even if you're around and let them roam in the garden the run is still handy if you have to pop out. There are plenty of foxes roaming around the city at night and I'm not talking about what you'd see outside Ruby's
. One night before we got the hens I opened the door to let a cat out into my back garden and there was a fox on the deck. My neighbour's have seen plenty of them at night.
Once you get hens you'll be surprised at how easy they are to look after. They don't like the dark and as soon as it's dusk they'll head straight for their coop, you just need to lock them in to keep them safe. They're supposed to sleep on their perch and crap while they sleep but 1 or 2 of ours likes to sleep in a nest box.
Keeping hens is the fastest growing hobby in the country at the moment so demand for hens is very high.
You're welcome to visit and see my set up.0 -
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If you go away for a few days, can you feed them before you go and leave them there? If so, how long can they stay 'home alone'?
I don't fancy seatbelting Henrietta into the back seat and taking her to the mother in laws.
One of my friends knows a woman just outside Waterford city who takes her 3 hens with her and the children when she visits her home place in Galway.:D
Personally I'd prefer to get my neighbour to pop in and let them out of the hen house into the run and just to top up their water and feed and just lock them in again at night especially if the weather is bad.
If it's mild weather then if the hen house door is open they can go in and out of the hen house into the run at their leisure so I might chance it overnight. They get through a fair amount of water on warm and hot days.
I've a few neighbours who would do it, collecting free eggs is a great incentive. 0 -
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