Urban Chickens

[Jason]

I live in town, but would really like to keep a couple of chickens. Does anyone out there keep chickens in their back garden? What sort of problems do you have (e.g. noise, neighbours, local foxes, smell) - and how much looking after do they take?

Please understand that I really am coming at this from zero knowledge, and so all advice is welcome!

Thanks,
J

[Andy Hamilton]

I have never kept chickens myself but I was sent this article

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/chickens.htm

It is a fella called mikes account on his first chickens, Tracey is in the process of writing another chicken article for the main site too.

There are a few chicken keepers that come to this site so I hope you will get a bit more help off them too

[Wombat]

G'DAy Jason,

I have kept chickens in my suburban backyard for over 20 years. The do not require a huge amount of looking after and as far as noise goes are pretty good.................unless you keep a rooster! you do not need a rooster to get eggs.

I feed them commercial pellets and some "wild Bird" seed mix. I sometimes grow some sunflowers and they love the seeds. they eat kitchen scraps as well and I give them grass clippings and hay to dig through. Foxes are not an issue in our area.

My latest foray has been into making a chook tractor, which is a small moveable house that I park over the veggie patches so that htey can dig them over and fertilise them. The has been pretty much of a success and one of these days i will write an article for Andy on it.

You do need to make sure that they get plenty of cool water, as they go off the lay pretty quickly ( and then die!) if the water runs out.

If you were raised (as I was) on a diet of cartoons, you will be shocked to learn that they only lay one egg every 25 hous, and so miss a day every so often.

I have 4 Rhode Island Reds (red - funny about that) and 2 Australorps ( black), they are dual purpose breeds (eggs and meat) but have much more chance of dieing of old age around here.

chooks are great fun, they look good on the lawn, produce eggs and high quality manure, dig up the garden (whether you want them to or not!) so I reckon that they excellent for anyone looking at becoming self sufficientish.

Have alook here for some good stuff on chooks
http://home.comcast.net/~kkskinner/chickens.html


Nev

[Ralph]

Hi Jason I to am looking to start having chickens and live in a town. I have found this great website hope it helps.

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

[Chickenlady]

Hi Jason
I have kept a few (no more than 4) in my garden for the last 3 years. As has been said they are pretty straightforward creatures and the eggs are so good. A book I found useful was katie Thear's Starting with Chickens.

We had a visit from a fox a couple of times when we first got them - fortunately I woke up both times as it was summer and the window was open and I heard some frantic clucking and chased him off. Now I have a dog, and think this may be the reason I have had no further problems. I know lots of people locally who have lost their chickens to foxes, but this can be avoided if you make sure you shut them up securely at dusk.


Do it - you won't regret it!

[PlayingWithFire]

We kept chickens - had no problems - and it was only when they are broody that they make any noise.
Ate all scraps plus a bit of feed ... well worth it for the quality of the eggs!!!
My sister keeps hens but with a cockeral - don't do that - your neighbours will short him or you!!!
Never had problems with foxes if we shut them in at dusk.

Good personalities too - made killing them very hard!

All was fine - go for it!!!

[Magpie]

I, too, would like some chooks in the backyard, and was thinking of having a movable A-frame ark for them. I was wondering if you can provide all their needs in this sort of set-ip, though, such as dust-baths etc. Also. would they rip up the grass much in one of these? We have had free-range chooks before, and I have seen the moonscapes they can create!

[shiney]

After spending time with Tracey's Chooks in France, I have toyed with the idea. Her hens are the biggest, fattest happiest chickens in the world ~ even the rescued ones bloomed into wonderful birds.

The only trouble is, I live on a housing estate, with a smallish garden. How much space do they need? Anyone else live in close proximity to other houses with a coupla chooks?

[Chickenlady]

Mine have an ark approximately 3 by 4 feet, plus we have attached a run around about the same size. Doesn't take up that much room and I think we provide for all their needs. We give them fresh greens from the allotment plus apple cores and other scraps on to of their regular food and they seem quite contented.

I have seen the before and after pix of Tracey's hens and when we move to a bigger place at the end of the month plan to get some rescued battery hens.

[shiney]

Thanks for that reply ChickenLady. I could find space for some then!

I dream of having a large garden to have all my veggies etc in, but I think it is possible to have some in a small area.

I am on the hunt for an allotment and will be calling my council tomorrow to see if anything is coming up in the near future.

[Kfish]

My family has been keeping suburban chickens for about 15 years.

For a permanent pen, you'll need to allow one square metre (or square yard) per chicken. A moveable ark can be smaller than this as the chickens are getting fresh ground every few days.

Make sure that they have access to direct sunlight (a pen permanently in total shade can cause paralysis - possibly a Vitamin D deficiency).

Major urban predators to worry about are cats and dogs (and foxes in the UK, I'm in Brisbane, Australia and haven't had issues with them). To keep them out and the chickens in, the roof will need to be fixed to the walls of the run at intervals of 1 foot maximum, and the bottom of the fence will need to be fixed to the ground at similar intervals. I use tent pegs to fix the fence to the ground between fence posts. Since my pen has chicken wire walls and roof, I have "sewn" the roof to the top of the fence with strong wire.

If you are renting, checking with your landlord is a good idea. Keep in mind that most landlords mean cats or dogs when they say "no pets".

Don't keep roosters on less than 2.5 acres. Your neighbours will not like it (neither will you, at 4 am). There are Council regulations to this effect in Brisbane, as well as a maximum number of hens, so checking with your local authority is also a good idea.

This may sound like a lot of preparation, but it's less work than chasing your chickens up and down the street and out of the neighbours' gardens! Most chickens are a lot smarter than you'd like to think. They make lovely pets, can be tamed if they're handled frequently and gently, and are generally liked or tolerated by neighbours. It's well worth it, even when they're not laying.

Hope this helps.

[Wombat]

G'Day Kfish,

Thanks for that and welcome to the site.

Nev

[Jason]

Thanks to everyone for the replies.

I've had to put the whole chicken idea on hold because if work - but it's only postponed - I will have chickens one day!

[2steps]

I've been toying with the idea of having chickens for about 2 years. This thread has made me even more sure I want some now we have the space since moving last summer :) Don't know if I'd be able to kill them though

someone told me there were very noisy, which I didn't think was true and also that they smell alot. Do you find they smell? I have a fairly large garden though they would be in a pen at first as I'm not sure how my dog will react to them - he's been great with our bunny but hates other dogs and cats so I don't want to take a chance.

[Wombat]

G'DAy 2 Steps,

They are not noisy but let you know when they lay an egg! Apart from roosters - yes they are noisy! They can get a bit smelly in wet weather, so either keep your chooks in a moveable tractor and use them to fertilise your veggie patch (prevents worm build-up too!) or throw in straw in wet weather, this gives the chooks something to scratch through and provided carbon to hlem the poo compost down more efficiently. If you google composting and look up carbon to nitrogen ratios, this will help you understand what I am on about!

Nev