Backyard Chickens, stories and information about keeping egg laying hens in your garden

right back from me hols
what do hens eat?
anything really- they arent fussy eaters.
dry food - we buy poultry corn, and layers pellets this varies in price from nearly £10 a bag at pets at home, to £5.50 at an agricultural shop ,
they have to have sand or grit to help with the digestive system.
calcium-is needed for strong shells and bones
clean fresh water daily
greens are given in the afternoon to stop bordom- from lettuce to grass, grapes , bread , porriage , rice ,
garden weeds , mealworms , snails, worms ,any insect that they can find,
a hen needs to take in 130g of compound feed a day,
but your garden hen needs to have a balanced diet.

remember you are eating their eggs, so good quaily food for your hens not just rotten veg.
my son enjoyed finding garden worms for the hens when we first had them, and then he thought that the eggs laid would have the worms in them so went off eating the eggs. but hes back enjoys them now.

i have only briefly mentioned their feeding requirments .
if you are thinking of buying hens for your back garden please consider buying or lending books from the library .
Starting with Chickens -A beginners Guide by Katie Thear is one i would recommend.
there are a good section of poultry magazines too .

PROS AND CONS
pros-
there are no restrictions on keeping a small domestic flock of poulty.
there is no requirements to register or test a small flock.
you do not need planning permission for a small moveable house.
chickens are relatively cheap to buy,
a vast range of hen houses are available,
hens are generally quiet- they tell you they have just laid an egg but thats it,
you dont need a cockerel for the hens to lay eggs.
fresh eggs for the family.
surplus eggs can be sold or swapped for other food items (allotments).
hens are interesting and make good pets.
they have an important educational role if children are to look after them.
their scratching activities can be used to prepare a garden bed.
they scratch up weeds.
their droppings make good source of fertility for the soil.
they are good garden pest clearers.
they are a joy to watch and help you relax.

cons
there may by restrictions on keeping poultry on your site- check your deeds.
unless restricted, they will distroy your flowers and veg beds.
hybrid birds are cheap but pure breeds can be expensive.
neighbours may complain if they make noise, smell or attract rats.
they are vulnerable to foxes, dogs and crows.
although they can be left in a secure unit, with food and water for a couple of days,
longer absences require a helper to go in and feed them.
poultry feeds and general supplies may not be available.
at some point the birds may need to be put down.
some people cant abide feathers or feathery creatures.
there may be a problem with bullying- hen pecked.
you could catch Newcastle disease from them ,but this is rare

NEITHER PRO OR CON

birds can live up to 12years of age.
do you clip their primary feathers or not.

reference from Starting with chickens - Katie Thear

more backyard hen stuff.
the hens love the sun and will lie in a dust bath or sandbath, they also need shade from the sun, my hens will sit under a chair, or sit close to the fence.

always have plenty oif fresh water around the enclosesure as sometimes they are very lazy and will not walk to the water drink container and will over heat.
the main things to look out for in June is that the hens do not have mites crawling over their body, inspecting them every other night is fine and if you do spot anything mite kill powder is avaible at pet shops,
also verm-x for poultry this controls internal parasites. you can give this to your backyard hen with out having to worry about if you should eat the eggs. there is no withdrawal period.

check their claws/feet - for mud balls (ill try to get a photo of this)
upgrade the hens house if need be, renewing anything thats lets water into the houseing area.
continue to feed the hens on layer pallets and corn, plus any other left overs you have, hens are not very fussy at all.
if snails and slugs are eating your summer flowers or veg, collect them and give your hens a snail treat .making sure you havent put any snail pellets down. this could harm your hen.

the girls will take themselves off to bed at about 9.30ish pm
if the sun is out the hens are out. in winter they will be in their cope at 3pm.you learn to know what time sunset is.

i still think hens are a brilliant pet for any household,

yesterday i purchased 2 goose eggs from the WI stand in Leek, I showed my son the goose egg saying "have you seen the size of this egg" He thought it was from our hens ,i didnt say they weren't.
and im not going to say they are from a goose,
let him think we have a clever hen.

People who do not keep hens with laugh at this statement

Each hen has their own little character, you get to learn how they react to things and to people including the ex battery hens

The bluebell hens are more relaxed , the ex battery hen Charity is very nosy, very friendly always first to see what’s the afternoon green treat. Always wanting to see whats on the other side of the fence.

Charity has laid an egg every day since we purchased her nearly two years ago now. She is a lot smaller than the bluebells – this is so the egg factory can have many hens in one cage as possible.

When we brought the 3 ex battery hens home they were very nervous of the normal surrounds that a farm hen would think normal. They didn’t really know how to walk, how to perch, how to scratch at the ground -they stood in one place and just looked nervously around, sparsely feathered, pale and thin but the girls we had were in a much better state than some ex battery hens, all 3 had had their beaks clipped - this was to stop the hens pecking each other while in the crowed cage.

Over the days and weeks the ex battery hens Faith, Hope and Charity enjoyed the new surroundings ,

They became a big part of our animal family, also we enjoyed the eggs they produced.

Hope was my favourite brown hen- she would jump onto the coop as we walked into the fenced area- she would try to sit on my shoulder , and she would sit on your foot as you walked, always happy to help with any digging- going very close to the spade and fork as it entered the soil – she was looking for worms and insects .

Hope had to be taken to the vets to be put down. We had her for a pet for 10months ,

Faith again very inquisitive about everything, always the last one to go into the coop, we had her just over a year- she died of natural causes. It was a shock to see her dead in the coop- as there were no signs that she was ill.

Charity- this morning didn’t want to come out of the coop with the other 3 girls. After a couple of hours i went to see her to check her- she was still in the coop on a perch,- so signs are there that she isn’t well. She very sleepy and not walking around like usual- so again there’s signs that she not herself.

She may be having an off day , but if i separate her from the other 3 hens and she become well again the bluebells may hen peck her to death – as they are a tight knit flock.

I will be watching her closely today –im hoping its not as bad as i think but ex battery hens do not last long- they wear themselves out by producing eggs.

Dereth, how much would you charge for a box of 6 eggs? I'm just wondering out of curiosity.

i would guess at 20p an egg, so for 6 eggs £1.20.
but i dont mind if the payment is a lettuce or two for the hens or even a small tub of mealworms.

i have a couple of bags of chicken poo too for free - very good for the garden.

My hens helped to tidy the garden up yesterday afternoon, it was a pre autumn clean up of flowers that had passed their best, and i wanted to move a couple of ferns that had become to big for the area.

The hens are used to staying in a large enclosed area for their safety, so on opening up the gate they were very inquizative but reluctant to step out into the opened up garden.

First out was the exbattery hen Charity- she was quick to find a patch of soil that had worns, slugs and other garden insects- scratching away the top soil she found more, she repeated this natural hen "dance" and this encouraged 2 more hens to investigate the flower/veg beds.

Willow the top hen walked out of the penned area and then walked right back in- no amount of encoragement gave her the thought of finding juicy worms, i even picked her up and placed her on the garden - to which she just ran to her preferred sun spot in the penned area.

The other 3 hens were having a brilliant time- every time i moved to a different part of the garden they would run to me ,waiting for me to put the spade into the soil and for me to bring up the worms then they took over that spot, Charity was very close to having her head chopped off at one point.

I didn't feel that i could leave them out in the garden, there are a large number of crows in this area and I have been told that Crows do attack hens , they had had a good 2hours so the best way to get them back into their coop are was to shake the mealworm tub - at this all 3 picked their heads up looked at me and ran to the gateway , I threw a handfull of the mealworms , and that was that. All safe and sound .
We should have some really nice eggs today .

over the last couple of weeks Charity my exbattery hen has been henpecked quite abit, so to try to protect her from the others i have asked a person whose a brilliant knitter to knit a chux-tux.

many web sites that resuce hens from battery egg producing farms recommend these to help the feather to regrow, = they just protect the hen alittle,

the chux tux is a little woolen jumper that the hen wears over the body, but allowing the wings to be shown. hopely Charity ill be proud of her new garment, and the others will stop being naughty.