The Poultry Keeper

NannyP · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:20 pm Post subject:

Oh no, that's terrible news.... Crying or Very sad

So sorry for you both....and please, don't keep yourself "busy" to avoid the pain you need to feel to grieve. I cannot imagine what you must both be going through.... Sad

I hope that you are getting all the support you need to come to terms with your loss.

Chickens take up very little time once you have aclimatised to keeping them. They need cleaning out every so often (they poo, poo, poo) and need to be kept topped up with water and food.

Low spec housing is best....convert something if you can. If you really are only going to keep 2, then a converted rabbit hutch, or guinea pig cage will be fine for sleeping in. Placed inside a large, secure run, with a shady area.

Gilly C · Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 2596 Location: South Cumbria

so so sorry to hear your sad news, my condolences to you both and may Nathan RIP.
They take up as much time as you want them to, minimum I would say nor more than 30 mins morning and night and a bit longer when needing a full muck out I have a dropping tray which makes the floor of the hut stay clean longer you can buy sheds from most DIY places for about £100 and convert I bought an ex display childrens wendy house for about £80 you can put it up on breezeblocks so no bending down and leaves shelter underneath, I would look at all the info on poultry houses on the net then choose your favourite to copy Very Happy

I started keeping ex battery hens more than 30 years ago have had hens ever since can't beat fresh laid eggs we have also moved house 4 times in that time taking the hens with us we now live in the sticks and have to have a fox proof run so we have a wire cube to make the run as we are on a limestone pavement and cannot dig wire into the ground at our last house the run was made from larch lap fencing on 3 sides and wire on the 4th with fruit net for the top it really depends on where you are and your budget hth

Pekinout · Joined: 29 Apr 2008 Posts: 1155 Location: Cornwall

I am so so sorry to hear of your loss, I hope you and your wife can come to terms with it in time and move on. Nathan was very special and always will be.

Chicken keeping is a good idea, low maintenance as everyone has said, and very rewarding. Some breeds are exceptionally tame and love cuddles and don't need as much room as others (pekins are excellent).

crazypianolady · Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 755 Location: Nottinghamshire

My condolences to you and your wife. The pain will eventually ease.

Thinking about a coop, how about asking on your local freecycle for a shed/hutch or similar? It's amazing what people have in their gardens not being used.

Kitsune · Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 1402 Location: Manchester

I have kept chickens for a while and they can as gilly said take up as much or little time as you want - if you're hectically busy for a week then they will survive quite well with just food and water levels checked, topped up if needed, eggs collected and let out of the coop in the morning and locked in at night (even that's not a necessity if you have a fox proof run)

At the end of that week you would need to have a good few hours to clean the drinker, move/clean the run, clean out the coop, check the hens over etc.

Clean dry food, clean water and shelter is just about all the absolute necessities for day to day chicken life.

Aussie · Joined: 30 Nov 2007 Posts: 27

First of all let me say that I am very sorry to hear your bad news. Pehaps keeping some chickens wouldn't be a bad idea.
Honestly, my ten chickens (actually 9 hens and one turned out to be a rooster, Dancing

) aren't much work at all. I just feed and water them every day and sometimes there is no need to do that, as there is still enough in there. That and collecting the eggs takes me all of 10 minutes. You can be a good keeper and clean out the house once a week, or you can be a slacker like me and do it when it starts to smell bad. Embarassed

The cleaning out takes me about 1/2 hour. Scraping out and bagging all the droppings. Taking out the yuck in the laying boxes and putting fresh straw down.
In terms of the enclosure, that depends on what you want. Some people use movable cages that you can drag over the garden. I myself have a house that is about 3m x 2m and an enclosure around that that is 10m x 3m.
Hope this helps and happy chicken keeping!

CP · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:51 am Post subject:

So very sorry for your loss. Crying or Very sad

As the others have said, keeping chickens can be as hands-on as you like really & depends on which way you want to keep them.
The main choice will be either to go for a moveable coop & run or a static one. Once you've decided that then you will need to make a choice regarding what sort of coop you want. Wink

EGirl · Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 1238 Location: Dublin, Ireland

I don't know how to express how sad I was to read your post. You are both in my thoughts and prayers.

With the chickens, start small and see how you go, I'm sure you will enjoy them and pottering around in the garden is very theraputic and relaxing.

ex

JaxMax · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 78 Location: Dublin

So very sorry to hear of your loss.

I'm very new to chicken keeping myself and am now the proud owner of 4 x 10 week old chicks. had them 2 weeks now. The most time they take up is when we go outside to sit and talk to them or give them treats! It's very quick in the morning, I have an automatic door opener which is a god-send so I don't need to dash down at 6am to let them out, it also closes automatically (runs off a timer) at night when they have put themselves to bed so no hassle there either.

Food and water takes just a few minutes to refresh in the morning, and I remove the poos from the house every day which takes less than 5 minutes. A proper clean would probably take about 15 minutes.

They're no trouble at all, and great fun to watch and hand feed. Mine are too young to lay just yet, so I can't wait for the day when they will start rewarding me with eggs.

I bought a cheap hen house from ebay and extended it upwards to give a little more head height. I've built a fixed run as I have a small garden and no room to keep moving it, with woodchip (and at the moment a couple of rolls of turf as a treat !) inside and I just rake over it every couple of days. So far I've had no problems with smell.

Good luck with your chicken keeping and don't forget to ask for help here, everyone is so friendly and helpful.

Jackie

Old Man of the 80's · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 308 Location: Wittering, UK

So very sorry at your news. I'm not sure what else to say except sorry.

With regards the chicken issue, where abouts do you live. I'm sure if you're close to another forum member they would be more than happy to show you about their birds. I certainly would.

If it helps your cause any more I've got 3 chickens and 5 ducks in the back garden (only a small one), along with the 2 dogs and 2 rabbits (soon to become many, many more). The all run free in the garden and get on well together, don't make too much mess and hardly any time to look after.

If you're ever likely to be around Peterborough, I'm 200yds off the A1.

Dusty · Joined: 07 Jan 2008 Posts: 919 Location: St. Asaph

So sorry to hear about Nathan.

Chicken will be a stress release for you.

Keep in touch, you'll get lots of help here and hopefully your wife will benefit from having the girls.