Chickens are incredibly easy to keep, but they do require near daily work, by near daily I mean if you go away for a day they will be ok with enough food and water, but in general you need to check on them every day.
We keep between 4 and 6 hens depending on what breeds we have at the time, production hens will swamp you in eggs all year whereas older breeds can be a bit sporadic, and give up totally for 5 months a year up here. Ours free range over winter and in autumn but are confined to their 300m2 run in summer as the veg garden will NOT survive a chicken invasion. Free ranging does mean that we lose one or two on occasion, in my mind it is better to live as a free chicken and end up as somethings (mink GRRR) dinner than to live a safe boring existence in a coop.
As to food, we buy concentrated chicken feed and mix it with local grain. They get garden scraps but more for egg colour and their enjoyment than actual nutrition, the inputs (feed, straw and the chickens themselves) comes out at 1/2 the price of buying caged eggs at the shop here. of course the fencing for the run was fairly expensive but that is paid off now (they live in part of the barn no no cost there) None of our chickens have ever required medication of any type. the only added item we have used is a foul smelling oil made I believe from antlers and hooves which works wonders to stop them bullying.
Free ranging does mean that we lose one or two on occasion, in my mind it is better to live as a free chicken and end up as somethings (mink GRRR) dinner than to live a safe boring existence in a coop.
How very Charles Causley "best eat frugal and free in a far distant tree than down all the wrong diet in jail"
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Thanks everyone, you have all come up with some valid points and we will consider your experiences and suggestions at some length before making any decisions. We are lucky enough to have a big garden and fields, so space isn't a problem although the hens would be restrained for their own safety - there is a cat which hopefully won't be too interested in their activities. We don't have foxes here but there are some ferral polecats/ferrets although of course we would house the hens at night. My parents kept hens, a cock bird too, and rats were a problem at times although their hen pen wasn't particularly rat proof, so I have learnt from that to be more vigilant.
I will ask around regarding hen keeping courses, I can't say I have ever heard to them here, although I do know of people who keep them.
If we decided to go ahead with this I will post some pictures. Thanks again.
Your local agricultural college is a good place to start re courses .... despite having grown up on a farm and having been a Young Farmers Club member, when we took on our smallholding I did courses at the local agricultural college in goat keeping and dairying, cheese making, shepherding, lambing and castration and poultry keeping. Ma and Pa kept me up to scratch with pig keeping and bringing on store cattle for beef.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
IMHO the average sized allotment is pretty small to keep chickens. Even a couple of them will have it scratched up in no time. When it rains , it'll be like a bog .
Ferrets or polecats will have them in an instant GD. The only thing that keeps predators out is electric fencing. It's worth considering.
I think you have to see chickens as being a quite time consuming hobby [and perhaps a way of rescuing ones which have had an unhappy commercial life] rather than the romantic notion of having fresh eggs and chooks running around, and they certainly need a bit more thought about their care than many 'pets'. I wish you luck with them though - hope you get a few and they're safe and happy, and you get enjoyment from them
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thanks for all your comments, both the positive and negative are of interest, we have to weigh up the pros and cons before we go any further with this idea. We have the room, that isn't a problem, do we want the added effort involved. I will keep you posted.
What you need is a reliable* deputy or two who will be willing to take over should you want to go away, or be incapacitated in any way ... then the responsibility isn't quite so onerous.
If I were younger and had a bigger garden there'd be no stopping me ... I'd have hens again like a shot ... even now OH keeps having to remind me to be sensible
*reliable is important ... have you been following The Archers ... poor Jill lost hers to the fox 'cos her grandson neglected his promise to shut them up for her ...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
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“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The only thing that keeps predators out is electric fencing. It's worth considering.
I think you have to see chickens as being a quite time consuming hobby [and perhaps a way of rescuing ones which have had an unhappy commercial life] rather than the romantic notion of having fresh eggs and chooks running around, and they certainly need a bit more thought about their care than many 'pets'. I wish you luck with them though - hope you get a few and they're safe and happy, and you get enjoyment from them
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.