The Poultry Keeper

telster · Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 240 Location: merseyside

hi all i need advice . i have been offered a small plot on a field near me and the guy wants £25 aweek rent , now tis is 60/20 plot could i put layers on this and let them pay for themselves .
reason he needs the land to work 24 hours a day to make it pay , the land is not big enough for anything else.

how much would it cost me to set up ie; house, electric fence etc.
and how big a house , and how many birds .

shear_legend9 · Joined: 13 Aug 2008 Posts: 18

£25 a week for a plot that size is a bit expensive and to make your money might be a bit of trouble, at least at first. You'll have to spend a fair bit to get a house (unless of course you wanted to build one) and think on that the more birds you get the more you have to pay out for food etc.

Also electric fence might not be needed if you clipped their wings (even that might not be necessary depending on the breed of the bird).

At the minute we have a small pen (20m x 20m for £30 per year) with 11 birds on it and selling their eggs at £1 per half dozen we've found it works well enough to pay for their food and anything else we require for the birds.

All depends on what you are selling, how much you are selling it for, budget for spending on the plot and time you have the plot for.

telster · Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 240 Location: merseyside

possibly buid a house , wood and building expertise is on site if you like .
and the eggs will have to pay for themselves , friends family maybe a market stall etc .
i was thinking about 25 birds just to keep up with production.

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7370 Location: isle of lewis

remember if you go down the market stall route you'll need to be an egg packing station ,not for selling from the door though ,somebody got fined for that here last year ,they had been given the wrong advise,it seems a lot of money to be quite honest ,good luck with it Very Happy

NannyP · Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 6:55 pm Post subject:

I too think that £25 per week is very expensive.

I also wonder whether you could have a security issue if you are not living near your birds?

shear_legend9 · Joined: 13 Aug 2008 Posts: 18

I forgot to post this before but my brother just got hold of some land near Swinton, half an acre and he's renting it for about £4 something a week. I don't know what state this or your plot is in but it seems wild that you'd have to pay that amount for a plot that size.

Woodburner · Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 7:24 pm Post subject:

That's £1300 a year. A friend of mine has a (large) field that they let for some hundreds of pounds a year.

You'd be very lucky to average 24 boxes a week off 25 hens, and you'll need 20kg of feed a week. So you need to charge £1.35 a box just to cover feed and rent, and that's assuming 300 eggs per year per hen!
Then there's the cost of the hens themselves and their accomodation, fencing, feeders etc. not to mention the hours of labour, probable losses from disease or predators, cost of medications etc.

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7370 Location: isle of lewis

farmer cap on for a second
if he is also getting single farm payment(sfp) and then rents plots out at that sort of cost ,he is raking it in ,for basicly doing nothing
although it would depend on how much you want it
any chance of an allotment Wink

Stujan · Joined: 05 Jul 2008 Posts: 444 Location: East Sussex

I agree with others, £25 a week is disgraceful a price to ask, I wouldn't be suprised if he has it as "set aside" and wants to con more money for it!
Me and OH have an allotment which is huge in terms of standard allotments, 50 yards long and 35 yards wide and we are ok to keep hens on it too. Why not ask if there are any going in your area ! I would be tempted to find out if he has it registered as "set aside" after all , when he wants it back it will be prime soil what with all the chicken manure on it . Our allotment is £21 per year!!!! and the council cultivated it before we started to work it .

Stujan · Joined: 05 Jul 2008 Posts: 444 Location: East Sussex

PS to my above message, the allotment department said we can keep any number up to 49 hens on the plot. 50 would require registration as a poultry flock with DEFRA.

Hope you suceed whatever you choose to do Smile

shear_legend9 · Joined: 13 Aug 2008 Posts: 18

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7370 Location: isle of lewis

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/vetsurveillance/poultry/index.htm
here you go Wink

telster · Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 240 Location: merseyside

thought it was a bit steep.
it was only a thought , and i am on a list for a plot which is due soon.
the land is on my employers site who is a security dog trainer (where i got my dog from) so security is no problem.
the plot is small conpered to an allotment but prime land and good drainage . i think he wants to make up his rent on the land thats all .
something to think about i suppose

shear_legend9 · Joined: 13 Aug 2008 Posts: 18

Stujan · Joined: 05 Jul 2008 Posts: 444 Location: East Sussex

Ooops! Shear_legend, I spose your going to blame me for emptying your wallet! Laughing

but hey, you are going to be flooded in eggs soon , yeaaaah . The more the merrier!! Very Happy