Eglu Go With 2m Run For Sale

[Deleg]

I've been interested in keeping chickens for sometime and now, I've managed to get the rest of the family interested as well, so I've been giving a kind of "preliminary goahead".

Unfortunately I never actually expected to make it this far and I've just reliased how clueless I am about the whole thing.

So I thought I'd sign up and ask the experts.

 

1st up, I live in Ashford, Kent. How do I go about checking my local regulations to make sure I'm actually allowed to keep chickens in my garden? I have no intention of buying a rooster.

 

Is my garden suitable? Here's an old photo from last year.

 

 

There is a little more to the garden, but everything behind the picture is paving stones.

I would like to buy a coop with a run attached and move it around the garden but when people are home I *would* like to give them free range.

Is the pond going to be a problem? I don't know if they're good swimmers, but I certainly hope they're not suicidal.

Are the walls high enough to keep them in?

What kind of damage could they do to the garden? I'm not fussed about the grass, less for me to cut, but dear old mum will have a downer if they go for her flowers.

 

Another concern of mine is the local wildlife, i.e cats.

We have 3 ourselves, but they're fairly well trained. We have a parrot that they've learnt to ignore and the most they've managed to bring home at night is an empty packet of whiskers cat food. 1 of them's a miserable old cow who does a pretty good job of keeping other cats out of the garden.

 

How noisy are hens? As I said I don't want a rooster.

We have a semi detached house, we have neighbours to our right and at the back. I'd really hate to go through with all this then have to get rid of them because the neighbours complained.

 

What breed should I aim for?

Because of the size of my garden, should I aim for a bantam?

Silly as it sounds, we're looking more for a pet(s), and we consider the eggs a nice bonus.

 

I have a ton of other questions but I'll leave it at that for now, I appreciate any and all replies

 

I appologise for the layout of this post, was amazingly hard, some kind of writers block.

[Cinnamon]

You have a lovely garden & I can see a great spot for a walk in run,if you could do that?

Just up at the top there,next to the area with the bench on it,against the fence......

or even in front of the greenhouse,against the wall.

 

That way they would be safe from predators,in a dry & enclosed environment,& away from the flowers & pond (they are not good swimmers,getting water logged very quickly,& they love to eat frogs!)

Your lawn would also be safe & stay green & lush.....hens can decimate a lawn in a matter of months

[Olly]

Welcome, your garden looks perfect, but the pond could be a risk. If they are only free-ranging when you're home (and I'd recommend that because of the fox risk) then you can keep an eye on them.

 

Those walls will keep them in ok, but bear in mind they won't keep foxes out. A walk-in run is best in my view, but the Omlet eglu/go/cube with a run is a perfectly good way of doing it - I'd select a permanent spot to keep it though, most people find moving the run around is too much bother after a while. That bit at the back (where there's a green bucket on your photo) looks about the perfect size for an Eglu Classic and run to me! You've even got the log roll in place

 

Chickens are not noisy, per se - a bit of clucking when they've laid an egg, and mine kick up a noise when they see/hear me but they usually get over it. Two or three hens make ideal pets for a suburban garden, and the eggs are a bonus, as you say. There are not usually any laws about keeping hens, but there could be a restriction on your particular property - to be honest, if it's not rented and you've lived there a while, I would guess that even if there is a restrictive covenant, it's unlikely that your neighbours will either know of it or that anyone would try and enforce it. The council will only get involved if you are causing a nuisance of some sort, i.e. noise or environmentally, and that's not likely.

 

Your cats will probably be terrified of the hens, mine are! They should co-exist without any problems.

 

It sounds as if you've thought it through, and don't worry about being 'clueless' as you put it, we all were when we started! Lots of advice on here, trawl through the FAQs or use the search engine and you'll find a lot of discussion on most of the points above. Chickens are great fun, and once you get some you'll wonder why you didn't do it earlier.

[squidsin]

Your garden is about three times the size of mine and I've got three pekin bantams. You've easily got enough room for full-size chooks, but that also depends on what coop/run you plan on getting for them. I've got an Eglu Classic and standard run, and I free range my three girls for a couple of hours every day. That's fine for bantams but I think the run would feel crowded if my chooks were any bigger. They WILL go for your mum's plants/flowers! Pekins have feathery legs and can't cause as much damage as other non-feathery-legged breeds - that's true of any feathery legged breed. I've also made a fence out of chicken wire and wooden poles which keeps them out of my borders, but which is easy to remove if people come round and I want to show off my garden. My girls are only noisy when they egg-announce or when one of the neighbouring cats comes into the garden. I was worried about the noise-factor before getting them but they've been fine. They're quite capable of standing up for themselves against cats - mine keeps chasing them and is disappointed about the lack of reaction she gets! You need to check the deeds of your house as some have a clause expressly banning the keeping of livestock, but AFAIK you don't need to check directly with the council (although I did) before getting chooks. They'd only have a problem if you had cockerels, according to the lovely man from Ealing Council that I spoke to. I also asked my neighbours out of courtesy if they'd mind a bit of clucking (and also asked if they'd mind feeding them in return for eggs when we go away!). Hope that helps!

[Lizzie50]

Hi, what a lovely garden - we do not have a big garden but have managed to put in a house and an 8 foot run. We have had 4 chickens (Silkies) for one week now so obviously not experts at all but I can say they are not noisy and the dog, family and neighbours love them.

We did speak to the neighbours before we purchased the chicks as I just thought this was polite and respectful ~ the promise of free eggs seemed to work!

My dog (Labrador) has loved nothing more than lying watching the chicks all week and helps me clean everything at night by hoovering up any leftovers.

We have extended the area for them to have some free range time so e.g. this weekend we let them out into a much larger area of the garden but it was still fenced off (we used some barrier fencing to do this) - they loved exploring.

I have flowers and a veggie patch in the garden and plan to use some sort of netting to block this out from greedy chickens (ideas welcome please!)

I have used ideas from the forum e.g. I use citronella oil and eucalyptus oil to keep away flies, I use Stalosan F as a disinfectant and have just ordered bokashi bran.

 

Good luck in getting the chickens. The forum is very helpful for all us new chicken owners.

[Tutti Frutti]

Lovely garden! I'd fence the girls off so they can't easily get to the lawn, flowers or pond. They killed my lawn in under 2 months - it's not the eating but the scratching that did it - the other side of the decking in this photo used to be grass It was disgusting in the snow

 

 

Here it is again, re-turfed and now with plastic netting around it to keep the monkeys off The girls free range down the shrub borders on both sides, with logs, rocks and a chair to clamber and perch on:

 

 

So... back to your garden. Is there somewhere near to your house for an Eglu and run (you don't want to trudge up the garden in the snow and you get to enjoy watching the girls)? Also, it'll be away from your neighbour's house (so not by the greenhouse), which is handy as chicken poop - not the chooks - can be smelly if you don't keep on top of it (not literally! ).

 

There's a lot you can do to minimise the smell. I use Aubiose horse bedding on the floor of my roofed run and "poo pick" daily - just wear rubber gloves, put it in a bucket then straight into the composter. I had woodchip before (not bark, can get mouldy) but it turned slimy (the run didn't have a roof so the rain got in ) and stank and also wouldn't compost! I sprinkle a powdered disinfectant called Stalosan F onto the floor (and composter when it gets a bit ripe ). I put garlic powder and bokashi bran into the girls' feed to reduce the smell.

 

Also, flies I have fly traps and also spray citronella oil on the flooring and put a drop into the eglus' poo trays. But come the hot days and I still see the bluebottles around On a hot day, you won't want to risk flies or smell right by your neighbour's door

 

Hope I haven't put you off!!! Just want you to see there are easy solutions Go for it, you'll love them!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your decision - you won't regret it .

 

Your garden is gorgeous . I wouldn't let any chickens loose in it - they'd ruin that beautiful grass and the flowers in no time . I agree with the above, you've got a few great spots for an eglu or cube. You could always use some sort of netting when they're freeranging to keep them off the plants and out of the pond.

[Tutti Frutti]

...everything behind the picture is paving stones... We have a semi detached house, we have neighbours to our right and at the back. I'd really hate to go through with all this then have to get rid of them because the neighbours complained.

 

Just re-read your post and... on the slabs and to the left sounds perfect for a permanent run You have a ready built base and it's away from the neighbours

 

Lots of us on here started with the Eglu run but moving it can become laborious, even awful/impossible in the winter so, like many others, I took the plunge and spent about £200 building a permanent, fixed walk in run... but that £200 includes the cost to lay a slabbed base

[Deleg]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

I did run out to try to take a picture of the paving slabs in my garden but the battery died on me.

The guy who lived here before us wasn't obviosuly an accomplished builder and the slabs are *exactly* flat, so I don't know how well a coop/run would do there.

Unfortunately as well, that area up near the green house is...well I don't know the proper term, but it's like cemented pebbles, so again it's not flat. So at the moment I'm still a bit unsure of where to put it. I would like to try it out on the grass maybe, but I'm still open to suggestions

 

At the moment I do quite like the look of Pekin Bantams, from what I've been reading they sound like good pets/starter birds, but again, if any1 has a better suggestion, please let me know.

I was thinking of getting maybe 3-4 hens.

[Tutti Frutti]

Aww they're so cute! Smallish eggs but the benefit of small poos too (and also cuts the chance of a smell/fly problem )

[Christian]

I would recommend Pekins too. My neighbour has them and her lawn is pristine

 

I laid paving slabs in a corner of the garden (badly). So don't worry about them not being perfectly even. The tiny gaps allow rain to get through and make it easier to hose down when you do a thorough clean out.

 

Good luck and welcome to the forum

[Deleg]

Ordered myself some books and since I've had the day off work, I thought I'd call the council, which went as well as to be expected, no straight answer and now I'm waiting on someone to call me back.

[txswanie]

My chooks have killed off all the grass from their area. (took 6 weeks..4 chickens) I now buy 5 pieces of turf every 2 weeks so that they have something to scratch about in. You wont have those lovely plants for long, use netting to keep them out of there.

I was terrified before I got my girls, silly really, they are pretty easy. They are all so lovely and I cannot see me being without chickens from now on. The free range eggs are of course fantastic.

Omlet has chicken keeping courses which may help.

Good luck.

Colette.

[miss_spent]

Hi there!

 

I am new too, we have had our 2 girls a week now. They are totally part of our life and give us a hobby and a sort of focus without the ties of a baby!!!

 

We got all of our bits from Omlet - 2 chickens (one Gingernut Ranger and one Miss Pepperpot) and an Eglu Go with run. They came and showed me how to hold them and told me what to do. We have then just picked up bits in the last week from the forum and trial and error. I like the Eglu because I know they are safe at night and nothing can get in to them.

 

They are destroying our lawn, but to be honest there wasn't much to worry about to start with (but yours looks gorgeous!). One of my weaker roses got trampled on yesterday, but the garden has never been so well dug over and weeded!

 

My main worry before they came was holding them and getting them back in after free ranging. We have been fine on both fronts. We take them out the back of the Eglu once they have gone to bed at night and hold them and work on taming them. It is already working and they will let us stroke them in the run and eat out of our hands.

 

They are also not noisy. Occasionaly Bok Boking but really not more than that. Mine don't shout to be let out in the morning either. I don't think it

 

Really pleased for you that you are going to take the plunge. Keep us posted on what you do/get.

[Lizzie50]

We got our 4 chickens on 22nd May and I am already totally obsessed by them! My husband says he wishes he had bought them years ago as he now has total control of tv remote since all I do is sit in garden with the chicks. He also says that when I am talking to them his ears are getting a rest

 

I have let mine out every morning for a little while whilst I have breakfast and poo pick (although not at the same time) and I let them out when I go home after work. A little corn has had them running to me to help me put them back into run although last night I nearly fell flat on my face trying to do it

 

I have been handling them quite a lot and they do not appear flustered at all. I have Silkies and the grass appears fine (at the moment). I have found I am cleaning their house every morning as there is lots and lots of poo and I do not want smells or flies. I think I might put a little bit of bunting doused in citronella around the coop

 

I work in a stressful job and must say sitting with the chickens has been so relaxing. Good Luck