Jump to content

Curious about chickens...

powercow

By powercow
in The Family Room Discussion

 Share

Recommended Posts

tiddles

tiddles

Posted
Posted
we were toying with the idea but I was concerned about keeping them cooped up all the time because of the foxes. don;t they like to peck about a bit or are they ok in the eglu? do you move the eglu around much and do they completely demolish the lawn where they have been? sorry if loads of questions but it is something I am interested in.
legalbeagle

legalbeagle

Posted
Posted

Tiddles - ideally they do indeed like to peck around and I give mine at least 2-3 hours a day outside of the run in my garden. But my garden has very high fences and is completely dog proof which means that foxes can't sneak under the fence and drag away a chicken, which is their preferred way. In my garden they have to jump over and show themselves, and then carry the chook back over the fence which they can (and probably would) do, but don't seem to so readily. They prefer to sneak up unnoticed and grab one from under a fence. Plus we have a dog, as does the neighbour who backs on to our garden, so our garden smells of dog, which tends to keep them at bay. We have our Eglu on woodchip, they will definitely trash the lawn, unless you have a big enough lawn to move it weekly and keep it off a used patch for a good few weeks till it has recovered. I never let them out the run unless I am in the house, and at this time of year I don't let them out till about 12.30 and put them back in by 3 or 3.30. So if you can fox proof you fences a bit as I describe, and be careful and vigilant, you will probably be ok, though it's not a certainty. Eglu say they would be fine in a run permanently as long as they have grass and somewhere to have a dust bath.


As a possible alternative you could get two bantams which are much smaller, and would probably be fine just in a run, and maybe going out into the garden when you are out there with them.


They are brilliant company, mine follow me around the garden and go nuts for a slice of brown bread, and we have more fresh eggs than we can use. The kids love them too.

powercow

powercow

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Tiddles,


We let them out in the garden only when we're around with them - I once left them out and went into the kitchen for 10 minutes. When I came back outside there was a fox staring at them from the opposite end of the garden. Rather worrying, particularly as it was a weekday afternoon and I could hear people working in a nearby garden. Since then they get a lot less free range time but cope OK - I give them extra greens (but do seem to get fewer eggs).


We tried moving them round the lawn, but in the end have left them in once place (and sacrificed that patch of grass).


They are a great pet for kids and after 18 months the novelty hasn't worn off.


If you'd like to come and see them, PM me.

chicknic

chicknic

Posted
Posted

Hi there,


We had 2 chickens in an eglu until last week, they are fantastic pets. One of ours died and we've rehomed our other hen with some friends who already have 3 as we're moving abroad next year.


We'll probably be selling our elgu soon, so if anyone is interested then let me know!


Nicky.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Advertise Here

  • Latest Discussions

    • Insuflo
      Councillor Jon Hartley

      By Insuflo · Posted

      I’ve tried to find details of surgeries being held before but not found any. The section of the Southwark website that details councillors’ surgeries says that: Your locally elected Councillors will be holding a roving surgery programme in the Dulwich Hill area to enable residents to raise any local issues. Residents will be notified by letter in advance of the date, time and specific streets/roads where the surgery will take place.  Surgeries are not held in August, on Bank Holidays, Easter or in Christmas Week.  Dulwich Hill Ward Councillors I’ve never seen any notification of surgeries being held, including on the DH councillors’ social media accounts. I don’t know if any other residents of Dulwich Hill have? Neighbouring wards all seem to have times and places posted for surgeries.   
    • David Peckham
      Is Rachel Reeves becoming the new Liz Truss?

      By David Peckham · Posted

      I wouldn't feel too bad about that. It's one of the few degree areas that you can do a BA or a BSc in, so it's a fairly wide-ranging and complex subject. Certainly Truss, Kwasi and Reeves seem to struggle with it.
    • HeadNun
      Is Rachel Reeves becoming the new Liz Truss?

      By HeadNun · Posted

      I can't access the article - what's the gist?  I took the markets getting jittery when she was crying at PMQs to be a sign that they trusted her. But maybe it was because they were simply worried about any form of instability.  The NIC hikes have stymied the economy, which we could all see a mile off. Will a wealth tax improve things? Does anyone here think the trickle down has any impact and that chasing out the super rich will help things? Or are we just seeing off the biggest contributors to the economy? And has the Kwasi approach ever worked anywhere else?  Economics is not my strong point at all, I'd love to know others' opinions, but it seems to be she has few options, especially as the party is so divided. 
    • PeckhamNicola
      Councillor Jon Hartley

      By PeckhamNicola · Posted

      does either of them have a surgery? probably not over summer, but I thought they had to give the opportunity for their constituents to meet them.

East Dulwich Forum

Established in 2006, we are an online community discussion forum for people who live, work in and visit SE22.

Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...