my mother has suggested she'd like to keep a few chickens in the back garden

[Iluvspikey]

How easy/hard would this be? She used to help her grandmother with hen when she was small. There's plenty of room in the garden they could have a shed to themselves and plenty of space to run around, and the waste could go between hers and her neighbours compost heaps. Any tips, pointers, or things to beware of, all comments gratefully received.

[woofgang]

My mate used to keep chickens, here are the things she didn't know when she started.
First thing is to make sure that she is allowed to. My house (and the neighbours) is covenanted to stop residents keeping pigs pigeons or poultry.
Second thing is that if she keeps pigeons, she will keep rats and mice and is she prepared to deal with this?
Third thing is she will need secure housing for the birds to protect them from cats and foxes and this may be a problem in the daytime too. Is she prepared to lose them or have a secure run for them?

[woofgang]

PS I would love to keep chickens.....

[sherrardk]

My friend kept chickens but she has got rid of them all now. I think it was a combination of cleaning up after them and the fact that they kept getting various chicken ailments (didn't aske for details at the time as I am really squeamish!).

[crisgal]

the shed would need cleaning regularly and you won't believe how much they poo! We kept two for just over a year and i would never have them again - my garden is totally ruined! I'd never have them again.
(But i really miss the eggs)

[0lly]

My father kept chickens when I was young, free range, he bought them as day old chicks and put them in an incubator and bought a cockerel to keep them happy, I think it is good for egg production? My overriding memory is going to feed them with some grain in my hand like a small child might do when what should happen but the great big horrible rooster came up behind me and bit me on the bum!

That's my only experience with chickens. We moved house soon after and we didn't have any more.

[Bluestone]

My parents have chickens. I would love some, but don't really have enough space.
Anyway, the only major thing I can think of is to make sure there's nowhere for them to escape. Make sure fences are high and there's nothing they can jump on to get over, or they'll be gone!
Secondly, foxes will try anything and everything to get at them. I think 6ft is the required height for a fence, and make sure they're dug deep into the ground or Mr Fox will dig a hole underneath it.
My sister has just lost two. She woke up in the morning to find two gone, and a mass of feathers :-(

[RATTER15]

We are currently building a flock of chickens We are new to this as well, we now have 25, they are very easy to look after, we love them all, great characters. I would highly recommend it. Get your hens here and do some hens a favour.

http://www.bhwt.org.uk/

Here are some of our rescue hens being spoiled with their daily cooked veggies:

[Bluestone]

The only problem with battery hens, Ratter, is that they're not very good layers. Well, to start of with, anyhow.
Lovely thing to do though :-)

[RATTER15]

Battery farming was outlawed in January but I know what you mean, we are getting about 6-7 eggs a day from our 9 rescue hens and have done since the day we got them, I have spoken to many people about rescue hens, some go quiet on the laying side for only a few day due to the trauma of capture and moving. We have just taken on another 7 rescues but they are still not laying well due to their condition and we are keeping them subdued in a low light area until recovery.

[ummmm]

How easy are they to look after? Cleaning, mites etc?

[Barmaid]

I've got 3. They are really cute. Only problem is they are destroying the garden so next year, they are going to be fenced into a smaller area.

No major problems with them escaping (they've got out a couple of times), but I clip their wings so they can't make it up to the top of the fence.

Can be a bit of problem with flies in the summer - although we tend to suck the poo up with the lawnmower.

You need to watch for red-mite and other diseases.

they need freshwater every day. You can buy layer pellets and corn from most decent sized pet shops or farm shops.

[erin-x]

My mum would love chickens but our garden is too small. If we did get them I would have to call one Billina! :)

[RATTER15]

These rescue hens are usually 18 months old when the rescue trust take them, they are past their peak of egg performance but still lay very regularly and will continue to do so for a few years at least.

[Barmaid]

All I do is clean the hen house out (twice a week at this time of year because they spend longer in there). Once a month I give it a good wash with poultryshield to prevent mites. If I get a mite infection, I do it weekly.

[Bluestone]

I'm not sure about the cleaning side of things, my Dad deals with that, but I don't think it's a major job. My Mum just goes down there in the morning and sorts out their water and collects the eggs. They have 11, so get loads each day!
I'm not sure what the feed is that my Dad gives them, but they're always eating lettuce as well.

Good idea about clipping the wings - I'll pass that on as they have one hen who's always getting out and they don't know how.

[Bluestone]

Oh my god, Ratter. Just seen that you have 25!! Wow! :-)

[RATTER15]

They are very easy to clean out as long as it is done regularly, we only clean our out every 3 weeks as they stay very clean due to the size of their coop. you can get a powder to treat the hens every few months, it takes about 30 seconds to do a hen. they do drink an awful lot of water, buy proper water and feed dispensers to avoid wastage and fouling and to help stop vermin feeding from their feeders.

[Bluestone]

It's the foxes that worry me. I'd hate the kids to have to deal with a dead pet. Saying that, I think they take the hens away, don't they? I mean rather than just leave what they don't want hanging around? Sorry to turn the conversation so morbid...

[Kiki-frog]

They will completely trash your mum's garden if not kept in a securely fenced off space, and as others have said, the fence needs to be high enough and sunk into the earth deep enough so that Mr Fox can get under, over or through. And he will try!

It's true that hens are generally happier with a cockerel around, and they do lay better. I guess they just like having a man about the house! But cockerels do have an annoying habit of crowing in the very early morning.

Another thing to bear in mind is the breed of chicken. Your mum will need to do some serious research into this. It's best to avoid the breeds that were originally bred to produce fighting cocks as they can be really nasty and aggressive and do not take kindly to having their eggs collected.

But on the plus side, completely fresh eggs taste wonderful. The hens will probably lay too many for her to use hereself so friends and neighbours are bound to benefit as well. Also chickens have individual personalities and some are really clever and actually make good company.

We kept chickens when I was growing up and I really miss them. They are hard work, but definitely worth it if your mum is prepared to put in the effot.

[RATTER15]

As you can see by our vid we keep ours enclosed with a fence or yes they will trash the garden, we keep ours on wood shaving in the coop and in the run when it gets muddy we put down wood chips which they love to scratch through for goodies.I also stress that we actually have two coops for the 25 chickens, only one seen in the vid though.