Chickens in back garden!

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dibby33

dibby33

Well-Known Member
Joined
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Messages
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Location
Hobart, Tasmania
Heeeeeeeeeellllllllooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo,
Some of you might remember me. Others will not. I have been too busy to post on here - and don't even mention about being too busy to brew. Costing me a fortune at the bottle shop!

Seems like the kids are getting a bit older and the house is starting to run a little smoother so I have a little (very little!) spare time.

First task. Build chicken coup. This was done with wood left over from my extension, no plans, little measuring and a lot of swearing. Second task, get chickens. This was done yesterday morning, four of them, 1 year old and looking a little baldy around the neck from being pecked by other chickens.

3 eggs so far in 24 hours and I am well chuffed. I have never had chickens before and don't know anything about them. :confused:

I will post some photos of the coup (all 400Kg of it - was meant to be moveable around the garden - but I cannot lift it!) later.

Anybody else got chickens or advice on chickens?
 
Just helped a buddy build a Guinnea hen house, so kind of. I also had a few chickens as a kid, great eggs and tasty meat as well. I will never forget lopping of one of their heads for the first time and it still flying. Oh and there is no way we are moving his hen house either.
dibby33 said:
Heeeeeeeeeellllllllooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo,
Some of you might remember me. Others will not. I have been too busy to post on here - and don't even mention about being too busy to brew. Costing me a fortune at the bottle shop!

Seems like the kids are getting a bit older and the house is starting to run a little smoother so I have a little (very little!) spare time.

First task. Build chicken coup. This was done with wood left over from my extension, no plans, little measuring and a lot of swearing. Second task, get chickens. This was done yesterday morning, four of them, 1 year old and looking a little baldy around the neck from being pecked by other chickens.

3 eggs so far in 24 hours and I am well chuffed. I have never had chickens before and don't know anything about them. :confused:

I will post some photos of the coup (all 400Kg of it - was meant to be moveable around the garden - but I cannot lift it!) later.

Anybody else got chickens or advice on chickens?
Click to expand...
 
It's worth mentioning, you probably don't want your chickens to have a coup :rolleyes:

coup n., pl. coups (kūz).

A sudden appropriation of leadership or power; a takeover: a boardroom coup.
Click to expand...
 
nystevecf said:
Just helped a buddy build a Guinnea hen house, so kind of. I also had a few chickens as a kid, great eggs and tasty meat as well. I will never forget lopping of one of their heads for the first time and it still flying. Oh and there is no way we are moving his hen house either.
Click to expand...

hen house is a little bit heavier than I thought it would be. I made the frame and dragged it down to the bottom of the garden, then added the walls, the internals, the chicken wire, the door.
Now I cannot move it!
 
Here is a shot of it unfinished.

gh.jpg
 
I hear ya, we did it in sections as well. We are doing french doors on the front. The back will flip up and allow access into their nesting area. On the right will be another full length door that flips up for clean out. and the left will be a small door for them to get in and out.
 
just after the eggs just now. I don't want a rooster and as such cannot have fertile eggs. That would be nice though :)
 
You've been away too long! Welcome back- you've been missed.

I can tell you've become domesticated- that building is the perfect size for a brew shed, and you're going to put hens in it! Once you get the chickens settled, go brew. A Scotsman without his brew is just sad. No wonder you're spending so much money on packaged beer!

:D
 
We had two chickens and absolutely loved them. They were great pets. Smart too. Some advice.... Learn to identify the different voicings they make. If you hear them say "BA GOCK!" that means "IT'S A HAWK", or some other predator. Our longest living chicken loved red grapes and being around us. Play close attention to your feed, particularly pellets. We had a 50 pound bag that we stored in the basement and it was contaminated with "Indian Meal Moths". I tell you what, those little bastards are hard to get rid of. We immedeatly got rid of the feed but were still killing them 8 months later.
 
Chickens are great, you'll love having them. I'm up to about 12 now after this springs hatch, which is more than I need honestly. There is something very relaxing about chickens, to me anyway. Oh yeah, and they can be funny as hell!
 
We just got 4 Rhode Island Red chicks that are about 6 weeks old now, wow they grow fast! We were told they were "sexed" to be female as we don't want a chicken farm and prefer not to worry about fertilized eggs, I guess that could be gross if you wait too long to get the eggs.
We built a coop and pen from looking at others online, reading plans and recommendations from people who have them. We built it 3x6 with 6 nests. There is a door for them to get out we can close, a window (chicken wire, sliding plywood) that we can close, both ends fully open out for cleaning, that way we can hose from one side out the other, two doors at the back to get eggs and a door to storage. Using outdoor plywood and including the pen materials came to about $500, only $10 for 4 chicks. I would like to post pictures but not sure how, came out better than we expected, GF even decorated it some. Built to withstand the strong winds we get.
We love having them though, one even comes up to GF and she pets her and even picks her up and puts her on her knee. She also feeds her bugs from her hand; she is the runt of the group but the friendliest.
 
Don't forget, Chickens love Spent Grain!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFirGaqLHPE]YouTube - Chickens Love Spent Grain[/ame]
 
dibby33 said:
Got more eggs today - it is like looking for gold :)
Click to expand...

When we had chickens we'd get alot of eggs and we figured we'd hard boil them so they be used up faster. Problem is fresh eggs dont hardboil too well. Speaks volumes about store bought eggs.
 
Papinquack said:
When we had chickens we'd get alot of eggs and we figured we'd hard boil them so they be used up faster. Problem is fresh eggs dont hardboil too well. Speaks volumes about store bought eggs.
Click to expand...

The reason they don't hard boil well, is that they are fresh. As eggs age, they let air into the egg. That airspace in an older egg is what makes the boil and peel easier. The easier a hardboiled egg peels, the older it is. Backyard chickens, in their egg recipe section, has a different method of boiling that makes them peel much easier.
 
I have not tried to boil one yet. scrambled is lovely. my kids go and find them and bring them straight into the house for cooking.

The stupid chickens are sleeping. 1 on the perch and the other three on the ground. I was dreaming about them last night, working out a system to allow them to move around the garden in pipes to allow them to dig up weeds and stuff. Some kind of connecting pipes and a main arena.

pictures to follow....
 
dibby33 said:
I was dreaming about them last night, working out a system to allow them to move around the garden in pipes to allow them to dig up weeds and stuff. Some kind of connecting pipes and a main arena.
Click to expand...

you want whats called a chicken tractor, basically you make a run out of chicken wire thats shaded at one end with water for the chickens, make it just wide enough to fit between the rows of your garden and make it about 2 feet long per chicken

takes the chickens about an hour to totally clear the ground under the tractor, so you just go out to the garden every couple of hours and pull the tractor forward and let them do their thing

we had back yard chickens when I was growing up - my father sells chickens and eggs for a living so we don't bother keepig chickens anymore since we get chicken meat and eggs for free anyway kids and I have been planning on getting some little bantys for pets, but we're a long way from getting them - still working on their house

take a look at that back yard chickens website that was posted, I'm sure there are chicken tractor plans on there

and really, I wasn't kidding about putting a mirror in the henhouse - birds love to look at them selves in a mirror, don't ask me why but they do. check it out if you buy a bird cage for pet birds, they come with mirrors for the same reason - birds like them

stripper poles optional - lol
 
Eggs need to age 2 weeks before you can boil them and easily remove them from the shell.

You can also use a steamer to hard boil them and poke a hole in one end this makes fresh eggs a bit easier to peel.

We have had 12 chickens at a time for the past 3-4 years now. I will never go back to store eggs.

Beware of Raccoons in the winter they can climb any fence you put up. Our local chicken killer was going over an 8' chain link fence faster than I could climb it.
 
Joker said:
Eggs need to age 2 weeks before you can boil them and easily remove them from the shell.

You can also use a steamer to hard boil them and poke a hole in one end this makes fresh eggs a bit easier to peel.

We have had 12 chickens at a time for the past 3-4 years now. I will never go back to store eggs.

Beware of Raccoons in the winter they can climb any fence you put up. Our local chicken killer was going over an 8' chain link fence faster than I could climb it.
Click to expand...

We plan on locking them up in the coop every night and only letting them out when we are home. Will that work? I know we won't be able to watch them ALL the time though.
 
That is the best way. We started putting a trap in the door to our coop and caught a huge raccoon one night. Usually only happens in the winter though, the raccoons seem content with worms through the summer or other food sources only resorting to my chickens when the ground is frozen.
 
Joker said:
That is the best way. We started putting a trap in the door to our coop and caught a huge raccoon one night. Usually only happens in the winter though, the raccoons seem content with worms through the summer or other food sources only resorting to my chickens when the ground is frozen.
Click to expand...

As long as they hunt at night we should be ok since by the time the sun is starting to set they are already in the coop we just need to lock them in.
 
Mine are completely enclosed in chicken wire. Raccoons are not a problem but I will look out for them ;)

Mirror is going up 2mrw, i have one leaning against the wall here in the cellar which will be good. The eggs did not make it into the fridge this morning again, the kidlets came down to the coop and carried one egg each back in each hand. These were turned (with the kids cracking them! ....one is 2 and the other 5 years old) into scrambled egg. One of the eggs was still warm - doesn't get much fresher than that!
 
Folks on Backyardchickens say that Raccoons can get through chicken wire. The chicken wire should be buried in the ground also.

As soon as I can find the time, I'm going to build a coop. I'm planning on getting four chickens and two guinea fowl. They say guineas make good watchdogs for predators.
 
bsruther said:
Folks on Backyardchickens say that Raccoons can get through chicken wire. The chicken wire should be buried in the ground also.

As soon as I can find the time, I'm going to build a coop. I'm planning on getting four chickens and two guinea fowl. They say guineas make good watchdogs for predators.
Click to expand...

I buried my chix wire about 8 inches in the dirt before I was predator "proof'.

Keep in mind, predator proof is a subjective term. Coons can be very persistent, so can possums.
 
Good to see ya back, Dibby. I'd wondered what happened to you. Thought maybe you'd gotten swallowed up in a cave in in your brewcellar.

I have 50 chickens and 40 turkeys. I've been raising birds for meat for years now. Every spring I get my chicks and late summer we have a family harvest day and put them all in the freezer. Not much help with your egg birds, I know, but if you ever want to get some roasters I can help you with some advice.
 
I had 26 chickens when I moved. I have 3 now. You cannot possible imagine how crafty wild animals can be. I lost 23 to what I think was a weasel during the dead of winter. At the end of the winter, I found out where it was getting in. The chickens are in the barn with a small door into a 12x24 fenced coup, buried fence 2 feet. The barn is pole based and this animal dug under the corner pole of the barn, tunneled 12 feet along the baseboard of the barn and popped up, killed my chickens. I now have concrete pavers along that side of the barn and have monitored the base of the barn to ensure this won't happen again. Now, I'm just jealous that the barn "room" would be the ultimate brew house. And I lost my favorite chicken "Thumper". Damn chicken would bow down and thump its feet everytime you visited.

Pouring a homebrew to Thumper right now........I'm out. :drunk:
 
Living in Tasmania there are not many predators. I don't live in the bush either so they are pretty safe. My dog however fecking hates birds in the back garden (but walks past them outside without even a lead on). he had a shot at them through the fence on day three but got a bucket full of water (including bucket) thrown at him. He is now taught!

3 more eggs today. I thought that they were meant to stop laying in the winter :) Going to make some tunnels and a moveable cage this weekend to "tractor" the garden.

...that and get the mirror in. ...in fact I will do that now!
 
bsruther said:
As soon as I can find the time, I'm going to build a coop. I'm planning on getting four chickens and two guinea fowl. They say guineas make good watchdogs for predators.
Click to expand...

Guineas do make good watch dogs and also they are pretty to look at and they keep the creppy crawlies in check. You'll never see a tick, centipede, scorpion or anything like that again.

If you get Guineas, you need to keep em contained for about a week before you start letting them out. Once they nest down you can just turn em loose and they will always come back to where they nest at night, but if you don't keep them contained they will find their own place to nest and they'll go there every night instead - you'll lose them if you don't pen em up for about a week first.

The good thing about Gunieas though is that you don't have to do a lot to shelter them. I mean you don't have to build an extravagent coop for them or anything like that. Get a few used pallets for a floor, lay a tree branch on there for them to roost on, and build a lean too or a-frame over them and they're happy. If you can find an old mirror at a garage sale or something they're in heaven. When I kept guineas they nested in a tree house about 5 feet off the ground made out of scrap lumber and a piece of tin roofing bent into a triangle for walls and roof.

You don't have to feed them a lot either. In the summer time they will get so fat on insects that they won't even be interested in scratch.
 
oh yeah - and as for your chicken wire, don't bury it straight down or an animal will dig under it

bend the chicken wire like a L and just dig down an inch or two, basically just enough to cover it so you can mow and not catch wire, then have about 7-8 inches of wire at the bottom of the L thats burried underground, but its burried horizontal an inch or two under the surface, that way a digger digs an inch hits wire and can't go any further - otherwise a digger will go under it
 
jgln said:
We plan on locking them up in the coop every night and only letting them out when we are home. Will that work? I know we won't be able to watch them ALL the time though.
Click to expand...

We have 4 chickens and a chicken coop like fort knox ...

I love the eggs, but my wife likes the "free range" idea, so we are at odds abt confining the chickens. The sight of 4 chickens on the front porch makes me cringe a bit. Be careful where you walk.

Had a rooster, but he has thankfully found a new home.
 
kappclark said:
We have 4 chickens and a chicken coop like fort knox ... .
Click to expand...

Yep, me too. At night the chickens go into the hen house and the feeder goes into a galvanized trash can with a tight lid. This protects the feed from vermin and the chickens from everything.

The chickens have a 16'x20' run that is 100% enclosed. The bottom 3 feet on all sides is 1/2" hardware cloth, so no predators can stick their paws in and grab one. One corner has boards on both sides forming a safe zone so the chicks can run there and be safe from any predator.

They are happy when I come in with a bag of spent grain. I usually can get a few weeks out of a batch so it gives me another excuse to brew again. :cross:
 

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