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Tatbabe
30-Sep-10, 15:50
How suitable is a back garden to have 3-4 chicken in?

Thought about leaving them free to roam during most of the day and have them back in the coop over night ...

Am grateful for any advice. Thanks.

chaz
30-Sep-10, 17:05
Hi, that should be fine, make sure they cant escape and scratch up any neighbours gardens tho:D

Farmhands
30-Sep-10, 18:05
Hi,

keeping hens in the garden should be okay as ive done it myself for a few years now. The amount of Hen droppings does begin to add up soon enough though and i dont advise putting them there if your a regular garden user eg- children playing football in it.

manloveswife
01-Oct-10, 18:08
I currently have 8 chickens in our garden, 5 are hybrid large fowl, 3 are polish chamoi bantams, and I have a couple of week old chicks I hatched in the incubator, under a brooder that will join them in spring.

As far as the droppings go, those from the coop mixed with straw make good compost, those they drop in the day I find are soon washed away by rain.

I think the only thing you may want to considering is the harm to your garden from the scratching around they do, they can be pretty destructive and during the winter things can get a bit muddy so you might be as well also having a movable run if you are garden proud.

I suppose a lot will depend on the size of garden, but 3 or 4 shouldn't be too bad.

That said the bantams are very garden friendly and don't make half the mess of their bigger counterparts so you could have more, so a light breed might suit better. The eggs are smaller but still as tasty, oh, and if you pick the right breed of hen you can even have green or blue eggs. Another thing to consider is brown egg layers eat more than white or cream egg layers.

Dog-eared
02-Oct-10, 19:09
Bantams are the way to go. You don't need a cockerel - they're noisy at dawn. Which is very early in summer !
Try Mr Grogan at Spittal crossroads, he might have some. He's got a website.

kcurl100
04-Oct-10, 09:02
i have 1 khaki campell hen duck i hatched from an egg i got at the butchers shes great causes no damage and layes a big white egg every day.shes super tame does not fly and roames around the garden with my wyandotte hens.she does not need a pond only a bowl of water i feed her dry dog buiscuits alond with chicken food.