Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[Minty_76]

Hi all

 

Mys sister in-law is thinking of keeping some chickens on her new allotment. I'm not sure as I would be concerned about them if they were somewhere i couldn't see them/check on them etc. Anyone got any views or advice?

[Redwing]

I guess the no 1 consideration is security, allotments can attract local troublemakers sadly

 

they'd still need daily attention and even twice daily in frosty weather just like garden hens

 

The pop hole would need to be shut at night if the run wasnt fox proof, this could be a real tie - all of the runs in my field are wired underneath and have wire roofs so I dont need to shut anything in, this can easily be done by getting a coop with built in run and placing it on a wire base or maybe with some reliable electric fencing

 

Small hole wire would be the best to have as some allotment owners are very against chickens so the last thing your sister in law wants is to be accused of causing a rat problem, if the holes are too small for rats to get in to and the run is wired underneath then no one can claim the chickens are causing a problem

 

lastly I'd personally advise against having a very expensive coop or desirable pure breed chickens on an allotment

[Space Chick]

We are allowed to keep chickens at our allotment site, but "Ooops, word censored!"ody does as we have a dreadful fox problem.

 

Redwing's points are all excellent.... I'd like to add about chicken escapees.... Chickens can decimate plants very quickly, so I'd be worried about the chickens having an "all you can eat buffet" at a neighbouring plot.

 

I believe that Stehaggan has chickens at his allotment in a walk in run, this may be a better option for security, both for the hens and your fellow allotment holders.

[keyhole kate]

I wouldn't consider keeping chickens at my allotment because of security I just know they would get pinched and I wouldn't be happy to have them in anything other than an eglu or cube and they would definately get pinched besides seeing them out in the garden for me is part of the attraction of keeping them

[ohcarolina]

I've recently been allocated an allotment but it needs work to clear it. My back garden backs onto the allotments & I have access so was thing of putting my ex-batt girls on there in their mark 1 Eglu to prepare the ground for me. They've made such a mess of the garden in such a short space of time I think it'd be clear in no time.

 

I'm not sure what to do now

[sjp]

I'm Chairman of a self managed site in Sandwell (Sandwell allow chickens to be kepted on allotments) at the moment we don't have chickens on site what We tell new members is that we prefere that they don't keep chickens on site as We have both a fox and rat/mice colonies on site the rats are only just under control and that as took me best part of 3 years and wll over £200 to get in order we also have the odd brake in from time to time plus I wouldn't trust a couple of members

personally I don't want them on site as it'd fall on me to sort any problems out chickens are best kept at home or somewere secure

[majuka]

I would agree with what everyone else has said; it would be the issue of security that would really concern me, both from animal predators and human. My dental hygienest always asks about my girls as her sister keeps chickens at her allotment and one by one they were taken, she doesn't think by an animal, it always happened on the same day and there was nothing to indicate where an animal had got in and out, there was no feathers or blood. I think someone was stealing them but I don't think she had anywhere else to keep them. I'm not sure if she found somewhere else, or found the culprit - this was happening at the time of my last dentist appointment so I'm not sure what happened in the end.

[counturchickens]

We have an allotment but keep our girls at home as we are too far away to go every day. A friend does keep hens on his plot, but lives nearer and goes every day, but he did lose 3 girls earlier this year to a fox or dog. There was a report locally recently where someone broke into an allotment and killed the hens so I wouldn't personally unless I had fantastic security.

[surfer_chicken]

I would talk to the other people on the allotment and get their opinions. There are some hens on an allotment near me which I like to visit and I often see the other allotment owners bringing over their weeds/outer cabbage leaves etc. over for the chickens. They're kept in a wooden shed with a run attached (so it'd be pretty impossible to steal it ) and all 6 hens are hybrids, so not overly attractive to chicken thieves and cheap and easy to replace (although obviously not much of a pro if they were going to be pets).

[Minty_76]

Appreciate all your thoughts.

 

I will have a chat with her I think as to be honest I'm not sure she appreciates the whole how to look after chickens thing. I wouldn't personally have my hens on an allotment where I couldn't see them or look after them all the time. I researched for 6 months before I took the plunge and I'm not sure whether she has done her homework!