Keeping chickens

[Dutto]

Anyone got a recommendation for drinkers? I'm looking at plastic but perhaps galvanised is much better?

I had a stream running through the garden so water wasn't a problem, however, it's easy enough to make your own drinker as per this video ...



The thought of spending money is alien to me (who ever invented the phrase "They pay him chicken feed." has never kept chickens!) so I suggest that you search Youtube for "DIY drinkers for chickens" and you will get dozens of ideas.

Enjoy!

 

[Hagrid]

We’d love hens. Our garden is just about big enough but we have a local and reauently visiting fox to our street. So it’s a no go at the moment.

My parents have just got 6. They asked my daughter (nearly two) to name one. She thought long and hard and then said “poo poo”
So they have a hen called poo poo

 

[Alex.mc]

We have 3 chickens in our suburban Croydon garden. 3 is an ideal number. You cannot have one chicken as they are social beasts. They provide eggs and are very happy with various kitchen scraps. They are pretty low maintenance, and we clean out the coop once a week. Layers pellets are bought via Amazon in 20kg sacks as well as the large bags of shavings for their coop. But I do buy from pet/animal feed suppliers where I can.
They are quite stupid, but entertaining. They are omnivorous and we have seen them catch mice and sparrows and eat them! They are too big to be worried by cats, but they need protecting from foxes, especially in an urban environment where foxes are often more prevalent. Ours are completely sealed in in their run as well as coop.
They love my spent grain! They fall on it like starving animals and eat until they can hardly move!
If you have the space, then definitely do it.

 

[Leon103]

I had a stream running through the garden so water wasn't a problem, however, it's easy enough to make your own drinker as per this video ...



The thought of spending money is alien to me (who ever invented the phrase "They pay him chicken feed." has never kept chickens!) so I suggest that you search Youtube for "DIY drinkers for chickens" and you will get dozens of ideas.

Enjoy!

Very similar to the drinker I made for my chicks whilst they were still in the coop. Also made a feeder for then out of a large yoghurt pot by the hens would try and get at it.

 

[Dutto]

......

My parents have just got 6. They asked my daughter (nearly two) to name one. She thought long and hard and then said “poo poo”
....

As a young lad of about six years old and still wearing shorts, my Godfather took me up his garden to choose a chicken for Sunday Lunch; and then protested that the old rooster I chose would be as tough as old boots! I insisted, so he whacked it and we carried it back to the house for lunch.

To be fair, it was a bit "chewy" but I enjoyed every morsel, knowing that it wouldn't be clamping itself to the back of my knees the next time I visited the hen coop!

Revenge is sweet eh?

 

[Hoddy]

We have 3 chickens in our suburban Croydon garden. 3 is an ideal number. You cannot have one chicken as they are social beasts. They provide eggs and are very happy with various kitchen scraps. They are pretty low maintenance, and we clean out the coop once a week. Layers pellets are bought via Amazon in 20kg sacks as well as the large bags of shavings for their coop. But I do buy from pet/animal feed suppliers where I can.
They are quite stupid, but entertaining. They are omnivorous and we have seen them catch mice and sparrows and eat them! They are too big to be worried by cats, but they need protecting from foxes, especially in an urban environment where foxes are often more prevalent. Ours are completely sealed in in their run as well as coop.
They love my spent grain! They fall on it like starving animals and eat until they can hardly move!
If you have the space, then definitely do it.

Just so you know, DEFRA guidelines prohibit the feeding of human leftovers and scraps to chickens. It’s because you could be reintroducing processed food back into the food chain for them to eat and then give you eggs from.

 

[Hoppyland]

DEFRA guidelines prohibit the feeding of human leftovers ........ to chickens

Does that mean it's OK to feed them whole humans, but not bits & pieces?

Sorry........

 

[Alex.mc]

Just so you know, DEFRA guidelines prohibit the feeding of human leftovers and scraps to chickens. It’s because you could be reintroducing processed food back into the food chain for them to eat and then give you eggs from.

I take your point, but the scraps are only ever cuttings and peelings from vegetables or fruit. The only cooked food they ever have had is cooked plain white rice. Nothing fed to them is ever salted or in a sauce, or has dressing on it.
veg and fruit that is considered too soft(but not mouldy) also goes to them. They will fall on overripe tomatoes and Strawberries like the world is about to end!

 

[Hoppyland]

I take your point, but .......

Well.... Unfortunately it is not quite that simple. As I understand it, it ain't just a guideline, it is actually illegal to feed "kitchen scraps" to poultry, even if they are not being kept commercially. Kitchen waste includes anything - even if it is of purely vegetable origin - if it came out of a kitchen, whether it was a commercial or a domestic kitchen. From the perspective of the home chicken owner, who maybe has a very few, basically "pet" birds for interest (and a few eggs) this is clearly bonkers. What can be the possible problem in cutting off the outside leaves of a cabbage, and then feeding it to the chickens???
From the perspective of DEFRA it is a measure which helps to reduce the spread of animal diseases. I believe that the real target of the legislation is the feeding of animal by-products to livestock (not just poultry, but pigs, bovines etc). This is sensible. It reduces the chances of another foot-and-mouth outbreak. Or, maybe, "mad cow" disease. Yep, the legislation is overkill for the home chicken keeper - and for us it seems illogical. But I understand why it's there - and how would you simplify it?
Far easier for DEFRA to have a "catch -all" than a raft of complicated rules which differed depending upon how many chickens you kept, precisely what you fed them on. who you were then allowed to pass the eggs (or meat) on to - even if you didn't sell it. So it's a lot easier for them.
If you want to be "squeaky clean", then there's a solution for us also. Not such an easy one for some, though. Nothing can be kitchen waste if it does not enter your kitchen. Therefore, if you segregate vegetable waste outside of your kitchen, or cut off unwanted bits there, then it's perfectly legal to feed it to your poultry. If you do it inside your kitchen, then no.
At this point you may be asking yourselves 2 things:
1. If the point of the legislation is to stop the feeding of animal by-products, and I'm being very careful to avoid doing this, then is what I'm doing actually ethically wrong as opposed to technically illegal?
2. Who is going to follow this up and prosecute me anyway?
However, in answering these questions, always bear in mind - it is illegal!!
Oh, and of course I take no responsibility for the precise accuracy of this information - or for any prosecutions that may follow!!!

 

[Leon103]

Well.... Unfortunately it is not quite that simple. As I understand it, it ain't just a guideline, it is actually illegal to feed "kitchen scraps" to poultry, even if they are not being kept commercially. Kitchen waste includes anything - even if it is of purely vegetable origin - if it came out of a kitchen, whether it was a commercial or a domestic kitchen. From the perspective of the home chicken owner, who maybe has a very few, basically "pet" birds for interest (and a few eggs) this is clearly bonkers. What can be the possible problem in cutting off the outside leaves of a cabbage, and then feeding it to the chickens???
From the perspective of DEFRA it is a measure which helps to reduce the spread of animal diseases. I believe that the real target of the legislation is the feeding of animal by-products to livestock (not just poultry, but pigs, bovines etc). This is sensible. It reduces the chances of another foot-and-mouth outbreak. Or, maybe, "mad cow" disease. Yep, the legislation is overkill for the home chicken keeper - and for us it seems illogical. But I understand why it's there - and how would you simplify it?
Far easier for DEFRA to have a "catch -all" than a raft of complicated rules which differed depending upon how many chickens you kept, precisely what you fed them on. who you were then allowed to pass the eggs (or meat) on to - even if you didn't sell it. So it's a lot easier for them.
If you want to be "squeaky clean", then there's a solution for us also. Not such an easy one for some, though. Nothing can be kitchen waste if it does not enter your kitchen. Therefore, if you segregate vegetable waste outside of your kitchen, or cut off unwanted bits there, then it's perfectly legal to feed it to your poultry. If you do it inside your kitchen, then no.
At this point you may be asking yourselves 2 things:
1. If the point of the legislation is to stop the feeding of animal by-products, and I'm being very careful to avoid doing this, then is what I'm doing actually ethically wrong as opposed to technically illegal?
2. Who is going to follow this up and prosecute me anyway?
However, in answering these questions, always bear in mind - it is illegal!!
Oh, and of course I take no responsibility for the precise accuracy of this information - or for any prosecutions that may follow!!!

This is why I always order a extra cabbage from the veg shop and take it straight to the chickens before entering the kitchen
Watermelon seems to be their favourite.

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

This is why I always order a extra cabbage from the veg shop and take it straight to the chickens before entering the kitchen
Watermelon seems to be their favourite.

Ours go mental for sweetcorn and also love Melon and Grapes. One of our hens has hatched a Goose egg so thats causing total confusion lol

 

[Alex.mc]

Well.... Unfortunately it is not quite that simple. As I understand it, it ain't just a guideline, it is actually illegal to feed "kitchen scraps" to poultry, even if they are not being kept commercially. Kitchen waste includes anything - even if it is of purely vegetable origin - if it came out of a kitchen, whether it was a commercial or a domestic kitchen. From the perspective of the home chicken owner, who maybe has a very few, basically "pet" birds for interest (and a few eggs) this is clearly bonkers. What can be the possible problem in cutting off the outside leaves of a cabbage, and then feeding it to the chickens???
From the perspective of DEFRA it is a measure which helps to reduce the spread of animal diseases. I believe that the real target of the legislation is the feeding of animal by-products to livestock (not just poultry, but pigs, bovines etc). This is sensible. It reduces the chances of another foot-and-mouth outbreak. Or, maybe, "mad cow" disease. Yep, the legislation is overkill for the home chicken keeper - and for us it seems illogical. But I understand why it's there - and how would you simplify it?
Far easier for DEFRA to have a "catch -all" than a raft of complicated rules which differed depending upon how many chickens you kept, precisely what you fed them on. who you were then allowed to pass the eggs (or meat) on to - even if you didn't sell it. So it's a lot easier for them.
If you want to be "squeaky clean", then there's a solution for us also. Not such an easy one for some, though. Nothing can be kitchen waste if it does not enter your kitchen. Therefore, if you segregate vegetable waste outside of your kitchen, or cut off unwanted bits there, then it's perfectly legal to feed it to your poultry. If you do it inside your kitchen, then no.
At this point you may be asking yourselves 2 things:
1. If the point of the legislation is to stop the feeding of animal by-products, and I'm being very careful to avoid doing this, then is what I'm doing actually ethically wrong as opposed to technically illegal?
2. Who is going to follow this up and prosecute me anyway?
However, in answering these questions, always bear in mind - it is illegal!!
Oh, and of course I take no responsibility for the precise accuracy of this information - or for any prosecutions that may follow!!!

Vegan kitchens are exempt!
.
.
.
but we're not vegan.....
I note the legislation is from 2014, and I have missed that as been keeping chickens since way before that.
I don't think I'm going to stop.....

 

[ChrisD123]

They love the mash from brewing, always chuck a few handfuls from the grain basket in...mine go nuts for it

 

[Oneflewover]

I picked up 4 hens last weekend. I'm so chuffed - it's a bit sad but it's been a bit of a dream of mine .

 

[Hagrid]

My chickens don’t lay, any ideas?

 

[Oneflewover]

My chickens don’t lay, any ideas? View attachment 29142

We already had one of that variety. Landed in our garden a few weeks ago looking the worse for wear, and has stayed ever since. Very friendly, but can't quite get close enough to read the numbers on his leg rings. Looking healthy and strong having had access to food and water

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

Anyone got a recommendation for drinkers? I'm looking at plastic but perhaps galvanised is much better?

Great, thanks

I would stay with the plastic, you cant put Apple C ider Vinegar in the Galvo ones as it rots them, the plastic no problem, cheap easy to clean its a win win

 

[Geoffinthewilds]

I picked up 4 hens last weekend. I'm so chuffed - it's a bit sad but it's been a bit of a dream of mine .

View attachment 29132

You will probably end up with more, we started again with 6 ex batts, last count was 36 Chickens, 3 Ducks and 4 Geese, the Mrs put her foot down when I mentioned a Rhea

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I picked up 4 hens last weekend. I'm so chuffed - it's a bit sad but it's been a bit of a dream of mine .

View attachment 29132

Did they used to live in a very small coop?

 

[Oneflewover]

I would stay with the plastic, you cant put Apple C ider Vinegar in the Galvo ones as it rots them, the plastic no problem, cheap easy to clean its a win win

Yep, went with plastic, and yes I am adding cider vinegar