Single hen

[Takana]

Hi all, my mum has decided she really would like to keep chickens after all And we now have questions, some probably silly but we'd still like to know. I have been reading a bit on keeping them but I'm very much a newb!

 

We (I like how I'm taking over lol) are planning on getting a house and run off ebay (new) that we will assemble ourselves. It shows a divider in the nest box so it has 2 lay areas. We were planning on 3 chickens, what happens if all 3 want to lay at the same time? Or does this not happen? As we are building ourselves we could probably remove the divider.

 

My mum has 3 cats and they like to catch birds Will they pose a threat to the chickens? Judging by the size of the hens we saw at a local farm, I assume the hens will fend for themselves quite easily against a cat. On the other hand, my mum hates the thought of the cats being scared of the chickens (like they were with the psycho bunny she had before!), so can chickens be aggressive to cats?

 

Can they swim? She has a small pond, but it's quite deep.

 

I know we will need to trim the flight feathers to prevent them from flying. But how much height can they jump/flap etc. Could they, for example, jump onto the hen house and then over the fence? Do they 'try' to find ways of escaping (like a rabbit) or are they content with the garden where food is?

 

We'll probably have loads more but thats all I can think of for the moment. If someone could kindly answer them, or point to a place where I can find out myself, I'd be greatfull

 

Claire

[meezers]

Hiya !

Don't worry about the nest box - if you had 10 nest boxes they'd all still want to lay in the same one ! they'll just pile into their favourite and sit on top of each other

My cats are scared of the chooks, won't venture into the garden if the chooks are out as last time they got chased out by an angry mob !

Not sure about the pond as we haven't got one.

Chooks will use a hen house to launch themselves over a fence, but without a launch pad a 5/6 ft fence should contain most hybrid / heavy breeds if they have their wings clipped. All mine are now over a year old and never think about going ove the fence, even though there is a broken section only 4 ft high.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Hi Claire . Your questions aren't silly at all - I'll have a go at answering them .

 

We were planning on 3 chickens, what happens if all 3 want to lay at the same time? Or does this not happen? As we are building ourselves we could probably remove the divider.

I have 3 chickens but only one nestbox. They tend to wait their turn if they happen to need to "go" at the same time - or they'll just snuggle up together.

 

My mum has 3 cats and they like to catch birds Will they pose a threat to the chickens? Judging by the size of the hens we saw at a local farm, I assume the hens will fend for themselves quite easily against a cat. On the other hand, my mum hates the thought of the cats being scared of the chickens (like they were with the psycho bunny she had before!), so can chickens be aggressive to cats?

I don't have cats but I believe they can live together quite happily. I think the hens will probably ignore the cats but you're right, they can fend for themselves.

 

Can they swim? She has a small pond, but it's quite deep.

I think I've read that they can drown so you may need to cover or block access to the pond.

 

I know we will need to trim the flight feathers to prevent them from flying. But how much height can they jump/flap etc. Could they, for example, jump onto the hen house and then over the fence? Do they 'try' to find ways of escaping (like a rabbit) or are they content with the garden where food is?

They can jump/flap quite high and yes, they could jump on a hen house and over a fence. Having said that, I have a 3-4 ft wall with a small bit of trellis on top and mine have never attempted to escape over it. Once they start laying and get older and heavier, escape is probably less likely anyway. You'll just need to watch them to see what they get up to!

 

Hope that helps a bit .