Keeping Chickens

fritzelly

Had a read of this thread
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055231261

...and have been thinking of getting chickens for a while as eat eggs pretty much everyday

I have a reasonable sized back garden, about 25' by 15', with plenty of soilish areas, borders and veg boxes etc

Would this be suitable for keeping chickens?
How many chicks would be normal to have in a clutch?
What are the current laws regarding keeping chickens in the city centre (Dublin just off Camden St)
What are the best breeds, where to buy them?

Do they eat slugs/snails? Inundated with them in the garden - semi serious question!

Is there anything else I should be considering as the last time we had chickens in the garden I was like 8 years old.

taytobreath

ill give u my take on keeping hens.
I owned 3 of them for about 5 years, then i woke up one morninig and they were out in my garden missing their heads, something killed them during the night and i dont know what. Dogs couldnt get in because its a closed in garden. Anyway....#

I let mine roam free and if you plan on having a nice garden u can forget about it, they dig holes everywhere to find tasty bugs i guess. They will crap everywhere too so if u go out in your garden u will bring it into your house, i had to change carpets because of it.
Too answer your questions...

Would this be suitable for keeping chickens?
I would say no problem, but you say u have veg boxes, well if u get hens you will need to secure veg boxes or they'll get into it and destroy them.

How many chicks would be normal to have in a clutch?
I think 2-3 is enough, certainly no more. You will need one nest for the 2-3 of them to lay eggs in and they will need a proper secure shelter, i used my garden shed and i put a 4x4 timber across it about 3 ft off the ground for them to roost on at night times because as soon as its getting dark they go inside to roost. By the way I wouldnt get chicks, I would get hens that are already laying.

What are the current laws regarding keeping chickens in the city centre (Dublin just off Camden St)
as far as im aware you need to register them, but im not sure.

What are the best breeds, where to buy them?
I had sussex hens but rhode islands are just as good if not better

Do they eat slugs/snails? Inundated with them in the garden
No, mine never did. but theyll eat everything else, nothing is spared they would eat themelves if they were hungry enough. Oh and they can eat their own eggs u need to watch that

u should be aware that they molt once or twice a year and when they do there are feathers everywhere, they look miserable when they do this as they have bald patches all over their bodies. this will stop them laying eggs for up to 8 weeks.
u should get hens that are under a year old and you will get eggs from them every day for the whole year but after the year is out that will taper back and u might get an egg off each of them every day in the summer but u may get nothing off them for the winter, but there are ways to trick them into laying eggs in the winter by using a light in ure shed so they think the evenings are still long.

After 2 years my hens were only laying about 4 times a week and there were periods where they didn't lay for weeks on end due to them molting or because of winter. So u need to be aware of what you are gonna do with hens that aren't laying and getting old, i.e. culling. I couldn't kill mine they were family pets my kids just wouldn't allow it. we have them buried out the back garden (minus their heads) with little crosses over their graves.

You need to keep an eye on the hen that will want to hatch the eggs, I had a hen that always wanted to hatch the eggs by sitting on them 24/7, this is called a broody hen and this behavior if not broken will stop the broody hen from laying foor weeks, the sooner u break the hen from this the better. u need to keep that hen away from the eggs at all cost.

Oh and they attract rats and mice, get a cat with the hens.

If you are serious about getting hens get a good hen book, it will all be in there!

Thats all I can think of.
The novelty of having hens wears off after a few months but they are no problem to keep if u dont mind standing in their crap all them time

fritzelly

Thanks for all that, lots to consider

taytobreath wrote: »

Oh and they attract rats and mice, get a cat with the hens.

Wouldn't the cat attack them? We have some cats living 2 doors down but they know better than to come in to the garden

taytobreath

ive 4 cats , they never bothered my hens, they will chase them but i think they are too big and tough to kill them

kathleen37

Our hens attack our cats so I wouldn't be concerned about that.

Another thing to consider - we have 2 hens that are 19 and still going strong...

DBB

kathleen37 wrote: »

Another thing to consider - we have 2 hens that are 19 and still going strong...

Wow! Fantastic!
What breed/cross are they?

Sam Kade

fritzelly wrote: »

Had a read of this thread
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055231261

...and have been thinking of getting chickens for a while as eat eggs pretty much everyday

I have a reasonable sized back garden, about 25' by 15', with plenty of soilish areas, borders and veg boxes etc

Would this be suitable for keeping chickens?
How many chicks would be normal to have in a clutch?
What are the current laws regarding keeping chickens in the city centre (Dublin just off Camden St)
What are the best breeds, where to buy them?

Do they eat slugs/snails? Inundated with them in the garden - semi serious question!

Is there anything else I should be considering as the last time we had chickens in the garden I was like 8 years old.

If your buying hens buy pullets on the point of laying, might take a few weeks before they lay but you know that you'll have eggs. Lots of chancers selling old hens that are finishing up laying.

kathleen37

DBB wrote: »

Wow! Fantastic!
What breed/cross are they?

Having had a quick google, I'd say there were Sebright. We only have the two left - we had 7 that lived till over 15. We used to have lots of white Silkies too, but they all only lasted till they were about 10. Always surprised with the banties, as I would have thought as they were so small, they wouldn't have been so long lived?

Just wondering if I have any pics of them, if I do, I'll post.

(Our Rouen ducks lasted into their 20's, too. The drakes anyhoo)

*edit*

Think they may be Dutch (or a mix!) as they have very small combs, which is apparently a trait of Dutch.)

DBB

I think it's generally expected that smaller versions of a species are inclined to live longer (think terriers, Shetland ponies), but regardless... You're doing something right getting the hens and ducks to such ripe old ages!

taytobreath

kathleen37 wrote: »

Our hens attack our cats so I wouldn't be concerned about that.

Another thing to consider - we have 2 hens that are 19 and still going strong...

haha my hens would chase my cats around too, it was funny watching how they interacted with each other.