pet chicken

aaron777

hi all.
looking at getting pet chicken. anyone knows about any regulations i should be aware of? i live in d13 - would there be any law that wouldn't let me keep 'farm animal' as pet in my house/garden?
thanks
mark

Wolfsberg

You can do what you like mate! There are no such laws here about keeping chickens in suburban homes.
The one thing I will say though if you are thinking the chicken can be in the house is that they do very frequent, large enough, watery poos. That do also smell (but not like normal poop). The poos also contain lots of nastys such as high levels of nitrogen that would do serious damage if it got into even a small cut on a human's foot. The whole thing of the duck and chicken on Friends would be a disaster in real life.
A couple of chickens in your back garden would be cool though!...Provided they are secure from cats, dogs, foxes... and even rats!
Good Luck!

aaron777

was thinking of getting 2 chicken and to keep them in the garden. do you reckon neighbours will have something to say about it?

vibe666

when i was very young we had a lot of animals (chickens, ducks, pheasents, peacocks, barn owls, ferrets and dogs & cats) but we had plenty of land to go with it. I had a cockerel that used to sit on my shoulder when I walked around the garden and came to the back of the house every morning and knock on the door for his bowl of cornflakes (seriously).

they can be very friendly animals if raised as such from chicks, but once they reach maturity you're pretty much stuck with the chicken you have, so if you're looking to make proper pets out of them, get them as chicks rather than adults and be sure to handle them daily to get them used to you or you'll pretty much just have a pen with 2 chickens in it, rather than a couple of nice domesticated pets.

maybe you could get a chicken flap in your door.

Sigma Force

Not in your house, they are really poopy and it's not hygenic.
A pair of hens will keep each other company in the garden, they will need a secure house and run. The neighbours probably not even notice unless you don't clean up regularly. Keeping them very clean by cleaning them out daily will prevent any strong smells.

Some helpful links.

General info. on hen care and an alternative housing.
http://www.omlet.co.uk/products_services/products_services.php

This is an excellent cleaner to get rid of stubborn poop, cheaper to by the largest bottle. This site is for pet parrots etc. but there are hygenie products on there that are suitable for hens. You can prob. get them at your vets or farm shop as well.
http://www.24parrot.com/Product-Poop-Off-Brush-and-Wipes-P6245/

There are a few people who rescue battery hens and they rehome them, they still lay eggs and with a bit of tlc will do well.
If interested perhaps post on the homes offered section on petsireland and irishanimals.ie

Hope that helps.

vibe666

lol @ 'omlet', i love it!

not sure what rabbits have to do with eggs though (on the site), unless they're chocolate ones.

westwicklow

Did the cockrel recognise his picture on the box of cornflakes? LOL LOL

sadie06

Just looking into this myself at the moment. If you fancy building your own coop their are lots of plans on ebay. We have bought the plans for this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/CHICKEN-TRACTOR-PLANS-COOP-Poultry-Ark-Homesteading-DIY_W0QQitemZ160327501534QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item160327501534&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A570%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50#ebayphotohosting

There is also a chicken keeping course on here on the 9th of May: http://sonairte.org/index.php/Course_list_for_May

Wolfsberg

$13 for a plan for a chicken coop?! They definately saw you coming Sadie! :rolleyes:

luckat

My neighbours got kind of freaked out during the bird flu scare; eventually I gave up keeping chooks and didn't replace them as they died off.

sadie06

Wolfsberg wrote: »

$13 for a plan for a chicken coop?! They definately saw you coming Sadie! :rolleyes:

Do you reckon?

There was one guy on there charging $35 for plans. It was a fairly fancy coop but still...madness.

Wolfsberg

sadie06 wrote: »

Do you reckon?

There was one guy on there charging $35 for plans. It was a fairly fancy coop but still...madness.

That's way too organised for my liking!... A few bits of 2 be wan and some wire, a bish here, a bosh there, a trip to Temple Street and there's your chicken coop!

Interceptor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzPGg3VzHkE

Here are my chickens coming into the kitchen for a look around. Notice how long it takes for them to start digging in the plants...

We have five chickens in a run I made from a packing crate and some pallets. Five eggs a day and great company for the dogs (they are all out together in the back garden).

'cptr

vibe666

Interceptor wrote: »

and great company for the dogs (they are all out together in the back garden).

we had 2 german shepherds who were fine with all our animals normally, but one day they broke out of their pen and ate (most of) my pet cockerel.

not such good company for those dogs.

wiblick

There's all sorts of ways to do the chicken thing, you can go mad with products and fancy housing or you can go DIY. The only thing that will affect their egg laying ability is their feed (they need quite a bit of protein to produce eggs), access to grit and the cleanliness of their nesting area - they won't lay if they get ill.

There are no laws against having chickens in your back garden but you do need to register with the department of agriculture and if there is an outbreak of avian flu you would need to roof in any run they might be in.

http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/animalhealthwelfare/disease/avianinfluenzabirdflu/poultryindustry/appform.doc

Get 3 instead of 2 chickens, not a lot of difference in the space required and if one dies you won't have a lonely chicken, they don't do great on their own.

Where are you thinking of getting your hens?

I'll actually be teaching hen keeping courses from August onwards and there are a few courses around the country. If you want any more information on breeders and other suppliers send me an email at

petandpot AT yahoo.co.uk

Aoife

vibe666

that's clucking brilliant.

Villain

Pullet's are in short supply so obviously the chickens have become popular, www.buyachickencoop.com sells coops in my area, nice and compact you can move them around the garden but your grass will grow like mad

sruthan

I live in Booterstown and keep 4 hens and one rooster. I have great neighbours and so far none of them have complained about the rooster. At night I lock them up in a hen house and during the day they roam around the garden. Make sure your garden is very secure as foxes can kill the chickens very easily. My cats and dog have no problem with the chickens but it was well over a year before I let the dog near them.
Get 2 or three hens if you are getting them and they do love sunflower seeds as a treat.

wiblick

Just thought you might like to know about this Irish forum, set up by someone in Dublin who is giving classes. It can be difficult finding suppliers etc. in Ireland so this should be very helpful.
http://keepingchickens.myfreeforum.org/