4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[chocrogers]

Hello - I'm new - with lots of questions! Can anyone help me answer my husband's concerns so I get to keep chickens? He thinks that 1) They will trash the grass if we put the chicken run on the lawn. Is this right or can we move it around and save the lawn that way? 2) They will smell (I only plan on keeping 2 chickens) 3) they will be hard work to look after.

 

I'd also love to chat to someone who lives in North London like us to hear how you manage your chickens.

 

Sorry to be such a demanding first-time poster!

[jlo]

If you look at my post about a sceptical hubby who has changed his tune - you will see that chickens can be quite popular with the chaps!

 

I can honestly say that they don't smell; they are not hard to look after but (and I am sure that others will have more advice as to how to tackle this) my two have completely trashed the section of the garden where we been keeping them.

 

Others on the forum would suggest that you can move around the run or put it on slabs to protect the garden. I have to say that it hasn't happened for me and the wet year that we have had has not helped.

 

Small price to pay though for really delightful pets!

[hennymom]

we have 6 girls who freerange and the grass is fine, and they DO NOT smell and they are only hard work if your animal husbandry leaves a lot to be desired...lol they get themselves up in a morning, get themselves brekkie, have a dustbath, play out, lay eggs, chatter to you and each other and then pootle off to bed again when it goes dark..... and the whole thing repeats the next day all you have to do is feed them correctly, collect eggs, clean droppings board which with a bucket and a trowel is a cinch.. and enjoy!!!

[Steve.]

Chickens don't smell. But farmyard smells aren't hard to comeby. Anyone disagreeing pop round my place! In fairness my run has been flooded/damp/wet since September but I'm getting it fixed soon with a concrete run

 

Chickens are great. We were going to start with 3, ended up with 8. Can't recommend them enough.

[Chickens@61]

due to similar concerns (smell, noise, rats, garden getting wrecked) it took me around 10 years to persuade my husband that we should have some chickens.. having had a large variety of pets (ponies, dogs, cats, hamsters, rabbits, guinea pigs) he now admits that the chickens are by far the easiest to look after.. with the added bonus of lovely fresh eggs!

 

i took us a while to get into our current daily routine, and we opted for a slabbed base permanent run, but i find the chickens to be no trouble at all (and we both work full time and have two children are at school, so it is not as if we have lots of free time to devote to pet keeping!)

 

i think that if you do your research (omlet is great for that!) and prepare yourself prior to taking on some chickens, you will be fine

[Janty]

My hubby took a bit of convincing. He had had chickens when he was younger and he liked the idea in theory but wasn't convinced about us keeping them at our house.

 

On Thursday evening, I came home from a meeting to find Holly, one of our ex-batts in the conservatory roosting on the underside supports of the table. Hubby had been worried about her not being able to climb up the ladder of the cube. He crawled into the run, carried her out and brought her into the conservatory. He even tweaked up the underfloor heating for her.

 

They soon come round with a bit of gentle persuasion.

 

 

regarding the work, it really isn't much even if you work. We started off with one cube and seven girls. We now have 21 girls, two cubes and an eglu.

 

I get up every morning and feed them warm layers mash porridge. They have lots of feeders full of dry layers mash so that they always have food. Each Saturday I get up early and clean them out completely. I then fill up all their containers with food. I check on them each nbight and make sure that their water is topped up when I close them up for the night.

 

It really isn't too bad even when you have several girls. I would try to get three or four though if I were you. That way if the worst does happen and you lose a girl, you will not have to go through the trauma of introductions so soon.

 

Best wishes,

 

Jan

[hennymom]

see.... no problem, we also have a huge water bottle we have attached hoses to for a constant feed of water and two hoppers in the run full of dry feed if they get peckish and we have cctv in the lounge so we can see if they are all ok at night and we can check them if there are any problems, in fact one of girls was egg bound and if we did not have the cctv we would not have known and she could have become very ill, but I watch them so closely that I could tell straight off when one of them was unwell so after a nice warm bath and a dose of olive oil she laid her "stuck egg" and was fine.....

[quickcluck]

I can only say the same! Had mine since July and they are fab! We chose to put our run on a perminant site for ease really, but they are on earth not slabs and we've managed to keep it pretty dry

 

We've had no smell or noise but lots of lovely eggs...

 

We have a relative small garden and have managed fine. We were concerned as they are under my neighbours bedroom window! But so far so good.....

 

I have pics on my blog (below) if thats any help...

 

Or if you've an afternoon to waste come and visit!!

[Jules.]

They won't trash your garden as long as you don't let them

At the moment my girls only free range about an hour each day, to preserve my grass as it's not growing now. The worst mess that they make is pooing on the patio & digging up the earth in my "flower beds" onto the garden path. Easily cleaned with a stiff brush.

Take a look at my Flickr photos for more un-trashed garden photos

 

I have given my girls a good clean out this afternoon, I scrubbed the poo trays, the cube bottom inside & the roosting bars with soapy water it took me less than 1/2 hour & if I do a "quick " clean out when the weather is wet all I do is replace the newspaper in the poo trays & the nest box shredded paper. Easy peasy!

 

As for smells garden lime helps neutralise the ground if they are on a permantent site like mine are, & stalosan f is good for antibacterial cleaning of the run too.

 

i would alos advise to get three hens rather than two.

[badgerbluebadger]

I have had my girls since October and now will never be without chickens!

 

I have a very small garden but the girls have their run in a set place under woodchip and seem very happy to be in their run most of the week as I work full time. Weekends are great as they free range - but my lawn is not ripped up! You will however love to watch them as they play out!

 

The girls do like to play in the flower beds which is fine in the winter - but I will be putting up netting in the summer to stop them eating my veggies.

 

I clean their droppings tray once a week and every two weeks I wash down their roasting bars and nest box. No bad smell as I give the garlic power in their feed.

 

With two girls you don't have to keep feeding them each day as the grub holds lots of food - I just make sure they have water and treats now and again. To be honest they are the best animals I have ever had and the eggs taste soooooooooooo much better than shop brought eggs!

 

Perhaps take your husband to a hen party?

 

I have two rather than three as they have to stay in their run 5 days a week and I want them to have as much space as possible. If ones dies the I will get another one even with three chocks there will be one point where one is on her own. If you have time to let them out everyday however I would get three.

 

sorry to go on but you will love them!

[Redwing]

Chickens don't really smell but if the run gets damp you will get a vague farmyard whiff if you are up close (and by close I mean close enough to open the door) I would recommend that you keep your run partially covered to help keep it dryer.

 

I use woodchip and Aubiose (soft horse bedding) on the run floor, the aubiose soaks up the poo (us chicken owners talk a lot about poo so you will need to get used to that!)

 

Feeding garlic powder helps the poo smell less

 

You dont HAVE to let your chickens out in the rest of your garden as long as your run is big enough, its nice to see them pecking around but is not essential providing they have enough space and things to do in their run. I have had mine about two months and have only let them out once and only in a very restricted area (netted off)

 

Eglus are a doddle to keep clean too

 

My Oh was all to start with but he is won over and I don't think it will be long before we have some more chickens

 

Good luck with your quest, try the 'visit an Eglu Owner' section of the forum to see if someone is local or try a chicken course - thats how my OH came on board with the idea

[Guest]

Not in North London, but at least 'north of the river' and have had my eglu since July. I did tell my neighbours that I was getting chickens, and they were all very excited. We are typical London semis in my street, and my eglu and run are on concrete in the crook of the L shape of the house. I can see them (and they can see me) from the kitchen window, and it means that they are close to my non-attached neighbour's house too. They are not noisy and not smelly and because I can see them and they are not hidden away up the top of the garden (and I don't have to cross the grass to get to them) it encourages me to get out and clean their poo tray every day - although you don't have to do that. My grass at this time of year is NOT a good advertisement to show to your hubby - but if you had a walk-in run (which to be honest I would probably go for now as it is a pain trying to grovel in to clean the run floor when it is so low, or alternatively unscrew to clean properly) they could stay in there most of the time in the winter. Over the summer I hosed off the decking and blasted poo on the lawn each evening.

They are not much work, and the rewards of keeping them are lavish. They make really great pets are funny and the neighbours love a present of eggs every now and then. I found myself making the 'freudian slip' of saying 'children' instead of 'chickens' when talking to a colleague the other day! That is how much chilckens get to you. MY husband was not awfully keen, it has to be said, but is out there letting them out and finding them treats on the mark-down shelf at the supermarket - he even loves it when they jump on his knee to look for treats!

[chocrogers]

Thank you everyone who's replied! I was overwhelmed to get so many helpful answers and the pictures were really interesting too. Sounds like there are a few converted husbands out there which is encouraging!

 

I definitely need to do some more research - had no idea until now that you could visit an eglu owner or do a course, so I'm going to look into that. I'm sure the husband will be grateful for my efforts one day.

 

Thanks so much again everyone!

[blackgold]

My husband said NO. we have 10 border collies....... Today he moved a greenhouse to another part of the garden so my 3 ex battery hens can have their eglu closer to the house. he has even started to give them little treats....They have only been with us for a week but are getting into his heart already.......

[Olly]

Agree with everything said on here, Redwing's post in particular has good advice about the aubiose and the garlic powder, but really they don't smell provided you clean them.

 

I'm at work all day and this time of year they've gone to bed when I get in - so I spend literally five minutes each morning topping up the feed/water, delivering treats and collecting eggs, and generally checking they are all looking ok. This weekend I did a fairly basic clean - 1/2 an hour maximum, in the summer I'll hose the whole thing out but in this weather a quick scrub of the trays, bars and nesting-box is enough.

 

You get delicious eggs, they will taste better than any eggs you've had before! You get fantastic compost, and you get hours of entertainment.

 

I'm lucky enough to have a long garden, and the few hours free-ranging they get at weekends isn't enough to do any damage - but you can avoid them trashing the grass by keeping the Eglu/Cube on a permanent site and restricting where they go, especially when it's wet. It's up to you how much freedom you give them, but it's absolutely possible to have a garden and chickens as well.

[Guest]

Well.......I have a tiny garden and have my eglu on slabs as it is so much easier to clean, but I have left a small patch for them to dig in and I replace the earth in this when I clean out the run.

 

They love to dig, so I have saved an area for them and relocate them to this patch when they get on my beds! They do the grass good really - I now have no moss and hardly any weeds. They do scratch it up but as long as you limit their access I find it's ok!

 

They are lovely, great characters and they really make rewarding pets - i'd have them even if I got no eggs from them! They quickly get to know you and tug on your heart strings!!

 

Why not take you hubby to visit and Eglu owner to see how it all works? One cuddle of a hen and he will be smitten!

 

Louise

[chickenanne]

I have 4, nad have had them for 18n mnths or so now. They do completely trash where the run is. I have them on hemcore (a type of horse bedding) which is easy to clean and looks fine; keeping them on grass is a virtual impossibility for us, as our garden is heavy, thick, wet clay.... nice. So a permanent run is a better option. Personally I think moving the run every couple of days to a new patch of grass will only work if you have LOTS of space, and a good grass-growing climate. Otherwiser by late winter you'll only be able to move the run to another wet muddy patch...

They don't smell.

They are really easy to look after.

How about getting a book, either library, second hand, etc, and researching from that?