two brown hens

ellejay

Hi

I'm thinking of getting two hens for our very small back garden.

I'm thinking of letting them wander around the garden all day and put them in their coop in the evening.

I have a few questions please if anyone could answer or give me their experience.

1)When do they poo?
Do they poo as they go along or is it specific times or what?

2) What do you do with the poo?

3) When do you feed them?
Do you leave food out all day for them to peck at, or how does it work? I'm worried about attracting rats so I was hoping I could take the feed in at night.

4) I have flowers in the garden, would they eat the flowers?

5) How badly would they scratch up the grass? Do they eat grass?

6) Will the wild birds be put off by them or attracted to them?

7) Is the lice transferrable to people or other pets, how do you treat them for lice?

Nekarsulm

1 They poop freely and without embarrassment.
2 You can scoop it up and use it as fertilizer.
3 Feed when you let them out in the morning. Leave it available during the day. Put in a rodent proof cannister at night.
4 Probably peck the flowers.
5 Love to scratch, look for bugs. Will eat some grit. This is normal.
6 Wild birds will eat their food if they can.
7 You can get a powder to kill lice (IF they need it)

ellejay

Thanks for reply Nekarsulm

DBB

If your garden is very small, you can probably say goodbye to any lawn you have... They eat grass and do a lot of scratching, turning a small area to mud pretty quickly. They poop a lot... Did I read somewhere it's about 25-50 poops per bird per day?
Some owners opt for turning the hen area over to deep litter like mulch or sand rather than grass (mud)... Be careful of pine mulch, I have a bird or two that are allergic to it

aonb

How big is your "very small back garden"?
Hens will wreck havoc on it if its tiny... yes, they eat grass - and scratch it up! They poo everywhere, especially on your patio outside your back door :cool:

Its probably not a good idea to have only 2 hens - its 'traditional' to have 3 min - then if one dies (and hens are fragile creatures, they die) you wont be left with one lonely hen (they are flock creatures)

Make sure you get POINT OF LAY hens, and from a reputable source - this is really important - you need 1. to make sure that they are hens (not cockerals) and 2. that they are ABOUT to lay, not finished or in the middle of their laying 'career'!

Wild birds will FLOCK to your hens food :mad: You need to get some sort of hopper, that you can raise off the ground, and has a rain hood so that it doesnt get wet. Crows etc will eat any bit of food you put out for them unless they are in a covered run, so you need a hopper (something like this:
https://www.maceoinltd.com/poultry-equipment/poultry-chicken-feeders/outdoor-poultry-feeders/6-kg-outdoor-blenheim-poultry-feeder/

You also need to make sure that you have a fox-proof/safe house for them to roost in at night, and let them out in the a.m.

Lice usually arent an issue with hens (we wont discuss their other issues yet!!)

Think seriously about taking on hens OP - if your garden is that tiny, for 2 (hopefully 3) hens, its an expensive outlay - coop, run, equipment, feed - your garden could get ruined if they are free ranging. You have to close them into their house at night and let them out in the a.m. - every single day. Someone has to take care of them when you go on holiday. But having said all that, its a great interest/hobby. They are wonderful little creatures - I love my hens - the eggs are a lovely bonus. They are very friendly and will "help" with the gardening, and if you are a softie will be pecking at the backdoor looking for treats

ellejay

Thanks so much for the detailed info.

I was hoping you'd say they won't scratch up the garden that bad, but the reality is quite the opposite!
The garden is approx 420 feet by 16 feet.
Do you think I could section off some space for them? Or would they need the full garden given it's so small.

Interesting to know I'd need three birds rather than two.

Letting them in and out every day wouldn't be a problem.

Do you just leave the poo where it is or scoop / dig it up every so often.

Nekarsulm

Do you mean 20 foot by 16?
420 foot long, you could keep a couple of sheep as well.......

tsuzmir

Perhaps instead of getting point of lay chicks you could get some of ex battery hens. Look up littlehill animal sanctuary, they rehome 1000's of exbatts every year. I've mine for few years now and they have happy retirement in my back garden. While they were in poor state when I got hem, they quickly get to full strength and health, lay well and are amazing pets.

ellejay

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Do you mean 20 foot by 16?
420 foot long, you could keep a couple of sheep as well.......

sorry for typo, 42 feet long!
wish it was 420!!

ellejay

tsuzmir wrote: »

Perhaps instead of getting point of lay chicks you could get some of ex battery hens. Look up littlehill animal sanctuary, they rehome 1000's of exbatts every year. I've mine for few years now and they have happy retirement in my back garden. While they were in poor state when I got hem, they quickly get to full strength and health, lay well and are amazing pets.

thanks i will consider that for sure
actually i like the idea of giving them a better life.

aonb

You could certainly section off a little bit for them at the end of the garden. If you can afford the space. They will have it scratched to bare earth very quickly. It will turn to mud if its not sheltered, so plan carefully. You could be very clever and make it a nice tiny space, by putting in some bare/dead tree branches (that they could roost/climb on), hanging hoppers etc, - if its a tiny space, you would need to consider boredom :cool: Also, rescuing ex-batts is a wonderful option. Take into consideration though, that if you are doing it for eggs, they may or may not be great layers.

ellejay

aonb wrote: »

You could certainly section off a little bit for them at the end of the garden. If you can afford the space. They will have it scratched to bare earth very quickly. It will turn to mud if its not sheltered, so plan carefully. You could be very clever and make it a nice tiny space, by putting in some bare/dead tree branches (that they could roost/climb on), hanging hoppers etc, - if its a tiny space, you would need to consider boredom :cool: Also, rescuing ex-batts is a wonderful option. Take into consideration though, that if you are doing it for eggs, they may or may not be great layers.

When you say they they like to roost, climb on, how high up should that be?
There's a tree at the end of the garden, I could fence them in that area.

So, shed at the end of the garden, takes up less than half the width.
The other side of the shed has a tree and a bush.
The space would fit another garden shed, comfortably.
Would that be enough space for them? Probably not actually.

aonb

so what size would the space with the tree, beside the shed be?
A hen will climb to roost in a small tree - you just need to make sure that it cant take flight over your fence from the tree/branches! If you were very clever, and put a few perches on the tree trunk, and maybe a two-story effect around their coop, you could maximize a small space. Look online for suggestions for clever use of space for hen runs - check some of these out for example:

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/small-chicken-coops/

Include a tire filled with sand for dust-baths, hang your feed/water hoppers to maximise space. Put the coop up on stilts, so they have the space underneath the coop. If you let them out for a couple of hours into the rest of the garden to 'free range' you can get away with a comparitively small run! If you rescue ex-batts, they will be in 7th heaven with ANY space! One of the big advantages of a small run, is that you can put a net over the top like a roof, you keep wild birds out of their run (eating their feed & spreading pests) (Oh and if its under a tree, remember to include some shelter from rain for them and their feed hoppers - even if its under their coop)

ellejay

Thanks Aonb

That's all very interesting.
I never thought of raising their house.

I'll put some more thought into where to place them.