Poorly chicken

[foghornphillips]

Hello all!

 

Am after (lots of!) advice please....

 

We are thinking (actually can't think about much else at the mo!) of getting a with 3 but here are my worries..

 

They will be in the run most of the time - we'll let them roam the garden when we're about but that won't be every day and probably only for an hour or so at a go. Will they have enough room to do chicken things? Can't really stretch to the extension as well at the mo!

 

The plan is to learn the art of looking after chickens with the initial 3 and the get a couple of rescued battery hens (at which point we would get the run extension). Is it fair to add rescue hens in to an established community?

 

We live in a vistorian terrace - am I going to upset the neighbours? Was thinking of warning them of our plans but don't know what to say in terms of how they may be affected!

 

And the biggie in terms of decision - we have young children (5 and 2) by adding chickens to the mix will they be okay (not sure if I mean tiddlers or chickens with this question!)?

 

All advice greatly received!!

 

Thanks x

 

PS - very new to this forum thing - so if I've put this in the wrong place or anything... Sorry!!

[the-real-tinkerbell]

hi

im very new to all this aswell

i have a wooden coop at the mo but im collecting my cube on tuesday im so looking forward to it lol

 

i cant answer most of your questions as mine will be going in to a WIR

 

but as for the kids i have 3 children age 3, 5 and 11 and they love the birds (bewarned they may end up with silly names ) they cant wait to get out in the morning to let them out and look for eggs

,if we dont get 3 eggs the kids fight over whos having a fresh one and whos having a manky shop one as the kids have taken to calling them lol can i just point out the eggs i buy are free range from the farm down the road lol .the kids have been out in the garden all day ive just been up to shut the birds away and found 3 garden chairs in a row in front of the coop .

my 11 yr old has asked if he can have a eglu for his birthday with 2 hens lol

 

so i guess my point is the kids will love them and before to long the hens will love the kids once they realise these little people bring treats

[chick wiggle]

Hi Foghornhilips and welcome to the forum

I think Tinkerbelle has ansewerd your question about children wonderfully!

The cube run would be fine for 3 chickens, and the cube is fantastically easy to clean too.

As for the neighbours, ours dont mind the odd loud 'egg anouncement' and they do benefit from occasional fresh eggs, that seems to keep them happy.

Dont worry about introducing new chickens to old yet, although there are some wonderful tips and advice on here so when the time comes ask again. The main thing is to introduce them slowly which means you would need some form of seperate housing for the newbies for a while.

 

Get your chickens and be prepared for the addiction to take hold

Your children will love them!

[foghornphillips]

Thanks both - if I wasn't sure before I def am now! Tinkerbell - particularly love the thought of the chairs lined up!

 

Advice is really helpful - and I see your point about worrying about adding more in later chick wiggle. Think I just wanted to check that we didn't need to get all that we might get at the same time - but will come back asking questions again later!

 

One more question though.... the girls will be living on a disused veg patch which I am about to get the hubby to clear - but what should we put on the floor? Have been planning on bark chips cause that was what someone had told me to do - but looking at comments on here it seems that its not great to say the least!

 

Am thinking that I may just go ahead and order today.... think the credit card is feeling a bit under used with all the shops being closed yesterday

 

Thanks again for help - is all greatly received xx

[Egluntyne]

I'd go for woodchip rather than bark. I have the bottom of my WIR slabbed, to prevent critters tunnelling in.

 

Might be something you would consider?

 

I top the slabs with Aubiose.

[foghornphillips]

Okay so that sounds like a good idea. Paving slabs will be easy to clean I guess as well?

 

So do you put the auboise (if I've spelt it right??) under the entire run presumably? How often does that need to be changed?

 

Am also starting to panic as when I told my parents we were going to get chickens my dad said they would smell and make lots of noise! Am hoping that the smell thing relates back to his family having chickens when he was a kid - and as he is approaching 62 modern materials might be better at preventing this problem? Hope so as my girls would have to be not far from the kitchen door!

[atsw]

Aubiose on top of slabs works a treat. It absorbs all fluid and makes chook poo simply disappear! No poo = no nasty smell . I use one bale in my 15' x 6' run every three months. Aubiose is horse bedding, there are lots of other similar products, just do a Google lookup for all the variations. Most on here agree that Aubiose is one of the better choices of the lot. I pay approx £9 for a bale.

 

As to whether they make lots of noise, well that's down to individual chickens. Some do, most don't. Chickens like to make a bit of a show just after laying, but it's usually only for 5 mins or so. Some, of course, make a lot more racket for no apparent reason at all - you won't know till you get them, but generally they are fine.

 

Andrew

[Ain't Nobody Here]

If you look at my signature you'll see how close to the house my WIR is . As long as you keep it dry and clean it out periodically, it won't smell at all . Chickens themselves don't smell at all (in fact, they smell lovely in my opinion )

[Tutti Frutti]

Don't worry, it's only the poo that smells Keep on top of it by "poo-picking" the Aubiose (rake it up or wear rubber gloves and pick it by hand - it'll be like white-chocolate flaked truffles ) and then compost it and you'll be fine. My girls aren't that noisy now, although it was WW3 when I introduced the barnies to the established pair Sometimes they announce an egg or are spooked by something (eg squirrels) or, weirdly and this has only started a couple of weeks ago, sense a storm coming . It's cockerels that tend to be loud!

[chickyhazel]

We don't have any particular bedding in our run, ours just have mud, but we but paving slabs around the edge of both runs for security. We "turn over" the soil every so often to keep the smell of poo down, and feed them garlic if the poo gets really smelly.

[foghornphillips]

Thanks for the reassurance guys

 

Really want to get the chickens now - and don't want to be put off for any reason. Its a lot of money to pull out and get the if we're not sure! Neither me nor the hubby have ever wanted pets before - but have some strange love of chickens! Think they will be great for the kids too. We're already arguing about names and we havn't even ordered them yet (I wanted 'Bantam' and 'Robin' but appears to be lost on my 5 year old who keeps correcting me and saying 'No mummy... its Batman!)!!

 

Also, has occoured to me since the earlier conversation that as my Dad actually has no sense of smell I must ask him why he thinks chickens smell

[the-real-tinkerbell]

bantam and robin is fantastic ,i made the mistake of letting my kids name mine and we have : nugget ,kiev,chips and gravy lol

[Falkor]

It looks like all your questions have been answered but if you want to be super sure and want to really fall in love with some chooks there is a sticky of Omleteers that are happy for you to visit them and thier chooks for a little "taster"

[Janty]

You also have a ready made name for the cube...The Bantmobile!

 

[Tutti Frutti]

The Bantmobile!

 

[foghornphillips]

Sorry (and this may be down to having had a glass of wine!) but don't know which made me laugh more... the chickens named after edible chicken products or the bantamobile! Love it!!