Chickens

Having chickens has been one of my dreams for a long time.  When I half mentioned it to my wife as an idea to consider for the new house, I never thought she'd take to it so much.  So much so, the chickens have now become the wife's.

My idea was to get chickens at some point in the future.  My wife's idea was to get them as soon as winter ended.  In the end, we said hello to two new family members in March.  Apart from a couple of occasions, we have had two eggs everyday, which is good because we soon get through them.  If we're not eating them, the wife is baking with them.

Before we could let the chickens move in, however, we needed to get ready for them.  This included reading up a lot and picking the brains of chicken owners, as well as building them a home and buying supplies.

We looked at many different coops and runs for the chickens, not really knowing which would be best.  In the end we found one we liked and sounded the best.  It got delivered flat pack and set us back just over £100.

Once I got it all put together, with help from my 8 year old boy, we saw exactly what we were dealing with.  The built in run and coop is lovely, sturdy and looks great...but we felt they needed more room.  The problem is, we want to have free range chickens, but with some restrictions.  For example, we don't want them roaming everywhere and eating veg.  Also, our neighbours on either side have dogs.  Chickens and dogs don't go.  The dogs on one side had a tendancy to jump over or come under the fence.  The other problem, is foxes.  We live in the country, with fields feet from our door.  We know there are foxes around, and have been told that they have been in the gardens before.  Because of this, protection was needed.

So, before we went ahead and got the chickens, a few things needed doing.  First of all, I took the simple step of blocking up all spaces at the bottom of the fencing.  We spoke to our neighbours about dogs jumping over and suggested some additions to the top of the fencing, which is a shared boundary.  They were really understanding and said as it was they're dogs, they would sort it.  The next weekend, wood and chicken wire went up on top of the full length of fencing.  The final thing I did, was to make a run.  Originally my idea had been to make a run that fitted on to the existing run and coop, but this wouldn't have worked well, as gaining entry wouldn't have been easy, plus we heard about the foxes capabilities, so opted for a large run all round the small coop and run so foxes would have two sets of wire to get through at night.

Few the next two weekends, I built an 8 foot square wooden frame and door, then covered it in chicken wire.  This means the chickens have quite a bit of space, but we know they are safe and not doing any damage.  Inside this run, we have their small run and built in coop, which has much thicker, fox proof wire.

As soon as our runs were ready, our farmer friend brought us our two chickens.  They have become favourites with my family and neighbours, all checking on them to see how they are doing.

My wife is in charge of them and goes down with our twins after dropping of my other son at school in a morning.  She cleans them out and changes any straw if needed, and feeds and waters them.  We read up a lot about their care, about how to check for mites, for example.  So when we found mites last week, we knew straight away what to do.  After about a week of treating them with an organic powder and spray, we seem to have got rid of them.

On an evening, I tend to go down and give them a treat and check they have food and water in the small run, before locking them in to it.  A bit later when it is dusk I go back down, and find they have gone to roost by themselves, and so lock them in the coop for the night.

In a morning on my way out to work, I go down and open the door to let them into the small run, then my wife goes down a little later and does her routine, before letting them into the large run for the day.

We love having chickens.  They seem to be happy, as they supply plenty of eggs.  We've even had a couple of double yolk eggs, or 'double oakers' as my son calls them.  We will be sad when anything happens to them, but no doubt we'll get some more, and think they will be a fixture in our garden for many years to come!!!!!