Chickens

I have chickens and the one thing needed is a fox proof run considering you are in a rural location...the best way to keep the little hens safe is to run electric wire around their enclosure.

Hens are very easy to keep, all they desire is fresh water, pellets and some grass...they love to roam and have dust baths..

I keep mine in a garden shed adapted for them...have 3 roosts and a couple of plastic drums as nest boxes...I use shavings or straw as bedding..

A securely fenced in hen run, with a secure house.
The house should have perches, and nest boxes
DONT get two hens - if one dies you will be left with a lonely single hen. Always good to go with a decent number - eg 6 hens, which will give you enough eggs for your family and for friends if surplus - if you have the space
Important to be able to ENCLOSE them safely (ie netting that is dug into the ground) for when you close them into their coop at night, and also for when you are away from home.
Feeders can be made DIY or get some actual hen feeders - at very least two to prevent bullying - preferably with 'hats' on to keep the grain dry
Water drinkers - again you can use old dishes or whatever, or buy specific water drinkers. Make sure they are easy to wash/keep clean. They need to be topped up or kept full every day.
Find a local supplier/farmers coop or whatever for LAYERS PELLETS or LAYERS MASH - these are complete food for hens. After that anything you give them (scraps from the kitchen etc) is just icing on the cake.
Put some quality Apple Cider VInegar on the list, to add a little to their water
Some straw or bedding for their nest boxes
Purple spray (Gentian) in your Hen First Aid kit - you will be very glad when there is a need for it - also some hibiscrub or sudocrem
Cleaning materials you will find out about as you go along - their coop if a small
one will need to be cleaned very regularly
Make an compost bin area for the dirty straw/whatever bedding
Collect eggs every morning, to prevent issues
Decide if you are going to let them free range around your property. They will be far happier, but the issues of fox or neighbours (your?) dogs etc will need to be considered
Make the BIGGEST run you can manage - if they are not freeranging, this is critical - but even if they are going to free range its good to consider keeping them in the run until they have laid their eggs (to save you hunting for the stash of eggs hidden elsewhere on your acre!)
Get your hens from a REPUTABLE source - its critical that you do this or you could be fobbed off with anything - including cockerals! Point of Lay is what you want - good time of year to be getting them now too
Good luck - keeping hens can be addictive, the quality of the eggs is far superior to anything in shops (or maybe we hen keepers tell ourselves that, to keep us sane!) - hens can be very tame and great fun too

angelic123 wrote: »

hi, we are also thinking of getting chickens and were considering 2. are they very dirty i.e. how much do they soil in comparison to any other animal and if you have a small dog , will the dog be a threat to the hens or should they be ok?

DONT get 2 hens - if one dies you will be left with one hen, and hens are flock creatures - go for 3 absolute minimum. They poo :cool: If they freerange they will poo on your patio/outside your back door. If you have a decent sized garden, and only 3 hens, you wont notice their poo particularly (except on the patio/back door!) If the dog is the aggressive type, he could easily kill them. You can train a small dog to let the hens be, but you will have to monitor that situation until you are confident the hens are safe while you dog is there.

godtabh wrote: »

Any recommendations of fencing? Lots out there.

Depends on what you can afford, and how big you want it to be.
Ive got approx 6" posts, with chicken wire type wire all around. Its dug into the ground all the way around the run too. Ive got paving slabs all the way around the run (to prevent digging) Ive got a 'roof' of strong plastic netting on top (mostly to keep out wild birds - but also to deter others)
Ive got several cats and dogs, so have not had an issue with foxes, and dont think there are any mink or pine martins etc in this area. Electric Fencing is certainly worth considering if you have any animals that will try to get into your hens.

If I had the option when building our set up, I would have gone for those metal fence panels with posts that click together - dont know what they're called

aonb wrote: »

Get your hens from a REPUTABLE source - its critical that you do this or you could be fobbed off with anything - including cockerals! Point of Lay is what you want - good time of year to be getting them

How do you know a reputable source for hens? I plan on picking up 10 or 12 next month once my hen area is finished.

ABitofsense wrote: »

How do you know a reputable source for hens? I plan on picking up 10 or 12 next month once my hen area is finished.

No harm in asking locally.

ABitofsense wrote: »

Thanks I'll ask around. Just when i saw the reputable source, i was worried on some of the done-deal adds. I don't want to be starting with trouble as they will be for the kids

When I said reputable source OP, I meant from someone who KNOWS what they are doing. I know someone who bought 6 pretty point of lay hens from a local teenager, who advertised them for sale. Turns out FIVE of them were cockerels!
I also know a few people who bought pullets that were NOT healthy, and brought all sorts of trouble into their flocks.

So basically, buy from someone who looks like they know what they are doing - who has a 'nice' set up (if you are picking up the pullets) - a clean set up - nice bright birds, preferably free ranging. Tricky when you are buying your first hens, but have a look at their eyes, their nares, their legs. Their combs and wattles wont be very big if they're young, but alert and perky and clean looking! Find out if they're sexed, and if you get cockerels, can you bring them back :rolleyes:

Had Hens for years, never fenced them in during the day, in the countryside we have never had foxes come after them in day time hours.
A good hen house that can be secured when they can come in for the night is all you need.
Bit of training required at the start - like herding silly cattle haha.
But once routine is in they are pretty easy to work with.
Make sure the hen house has a few perch levels - helps sort the pecking order out.


As for who to buy from - most local marts will have people who call and sell (Ours always has anyway) - get a few pullets (pre lay) and give them a few weeks to get going.

One thing to watch is that they don't start trying to lay in the ditch somewhere - you'll here them laying so you should be able to notice it.

Demonique wrote: »

If you allow them to free range they may come into your house. The last two we had used to come in the back door any chance they could. One died and I remember the remaining hen coming in the back door to get at the dog's dry food, used to hear her pecking from two rooms over

If they came into the house they got a free flying lesson around our house.
They literally sh1t everywhere haha.

Ours have always been true free range and the sheepdogs keep an eye on them.

They tend not to go far these days - just luck that the older ones we introduced the current crop to were very settled and stuck to our areas.


Hens are great in how dim they are - if you always lead them left when they exit the hen house they will never bother going right. Bit of early training makes them easy to work with.