Chicken Rules

Chickens...? : )?

Me && my mother want to get chickens,, not just yet but when we move house. We are planning to any get them for like egg laying, my uncle has some so we know very basic stuff but tbh we don't really know much. Anyone got anii advice on coops, the right chickens, food. We are particularly interested in black rock chickens, any advice or anything we need to know about them...?

Public Comments

1. I have chickens.. and we love them.. http://www.gomestic.com/Pets/Unusual-Pets-Chickens.76299 we used a shed for the coop and fenced around it for their own safety - but they have lots of room, and grass they can eat.. they especially love dandelions.. you can give them bananas, strawberries, tomatoes, brown bread..etc (NOT onions) you should get LAYER ration AND Chicken Scratch.. the layer ration = food.. the chicken scratch = candy.. give it to them by the handful only when you are out wiht them so they get to be friendly read the link too
2. heres a good site to vist you can get supplies and learn info to. http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/
3. I keep chickens and have found this site really useful http://www.henkeeping.co.uk . There's a section specifically for beginners so it should be of great use to you and your mum. There's also forum on there so if you have any hen related questions, there's probably your best bet. I keep black rocks and would recommend them particularly for beginners. They're a hardy bird, prolific layers and not flighty. If you want the tastiest eggs, I'd recommend you look at getting some Marans. They lay lovely dark brown eggs and the colour of the yolk (depending on their diet) is a real deep yellow/orange. They're good layers too but the only downside is that they are known for being broody. Happy hen keeping, you'll not regret it, chickens rock! :)
4. My henhouse could be considered to be like a shed with nesting boxes and I have a pen for the hens to stay in during the day. The henhouse has 2 doors. One of regular size for me to go in to gather eggs( it also has a screen door so I can leave it open in the summer for more air) and a small door the right size so the hens can come and go. I can close up both doors during bad weather. . . rain/snow and the such. I have been lucky in the fact that I just buy hens here and there and I have had friends to give me hens they didn't want anymore but all of the hens I have had have been pretty good layers. I have had Buff Orphingtons,Delawares,Rhode Island Reds,Black Astrolopes,Welsumers and Bard Rock's. Whenever I get new hens,I put all of the birds in the henhouse and keep them there (confined)for a minimum of 2 days so that they will know where they are to go to roost at night. (Provide them water/feed which I normally keep outside the henhouse for them but during this time I keep it inside the henhouse.) Bard Rock (you called it a Black Rock) are as good a egg producer as any of the hens I have had and they seem to be a less "hyper" bird than the rest of them have seemed to be now that I actually think about it. In the 4yrs I have had my chickens I haven't had very many hens that seemed to want to sit on a nest of fertile eggs so as to hatch out a clutch and of the two hens I had,predators got them wouldn't you know. Now it would seem that I have a Bard Rock who has started to lay and acts like she really wants to sit. Though I have 10 nesting boxes it would seem as though all of my hens favor only 3 of those nesting boxes and once this Bard Rock starting acting like she wanted to sit in one particular nesting box that the others would go to and lay their eggs I was afraid this hen would have more eggs than she could sit on and some of those might not be fertile BUT the next morning she had moved herself to one of the less favorite boxes and there she sits. . . . .THANK GOD! Got my fingers crossed that finally after 4yrs I might actually get some chicks though I will have to seperate them or take them from the hen when they hatch because the other hens/roosters will kill the chicks. I clean my nesting boxes on a regular basis in the hopes to keep a nice henhouse and hopefully keep down the possibility of parasites which thus far I feel like I have done. You do know that you don't need a Rooster if all you want is eggs? I feed my chickens Scratch (mixed grains), Layer Crumbles (promotes laying and replentishes vitamins/minerals lost during laying season) and Oyster Shell (strengthens the shell). I buy and mix up 50lb bags of the Scratch and Crumbles and 25 lbs of Oyster Shell though I only mixed about half of the Oyster Shell with the 100lb of feed. You can also use your chickens as a garbage disposal if you want. . . . though I don't feed them cooked meat (just doesn't seem right). I will also feed them treats of diced veggies and fruits and when I am home to stand watch over them I let them out to graze on my 3.2 acres to eat grass and bugs.(Course I am always running them out of my flower beds cuz they destroy the plants with their scratching.) In the winter time I feed my chickens alfalfa. Greenery in the form of grass and alfalfa helps to make the yolk of the egg more yellow. It takes a minimum of 15hrs sunlight to help promote laying. One man that I bought chickens from actually used a timer to turn a light on in his henhouse during short sunlight months so as to get more eggs. . . . I don't like this idea because I figure nature does this for a reason,and I don't need eggs bad enough to "stress" out the chicken. Chickens will peck each other. They will do this if the see bugs etc but should they ever draw blood when they peck all the birds will go to that chicken to peck as they seem to like the blood. You can actually lose a bird from large amounts of blood loss. Some people like to clip the chickens beak to stop this but I don't like this method. I simply remove and confine my pecked on hen until she is not likely to be a target for this as the area being pecked on heals and then I can put her back with the rest of the hens. During molting season. . .generally early to late fall they will lose feathers as if to make new ones to help keep them warm in the winter. They too will lose feathers and become somewhat bald in spots during mating IF you have a Rooster. Roosters mount the hen and often times hold her head with his beak to "control" her. They mate from the rectum where the sex organs are. The rooster has a Cloaca (bird penis) and he inserts in the Hen's vent at her rectum. This mating process only takes seconds though done enough times with the same hen as it seems the Rooster finds a favorite and stay with her she will start to lose feathers from the mounting process. You can go to Cackle Hatcheries.com and view chickens of all kinds (those that are the best egg layer breeds and those that are the best meat breeds). You can see what the adult bird will look like and you can see what the chick will look like. They have American Breeds,Special Breeds and European Breeds. I personally don't like Guinea Fowl as they are an agressive bird and quite noisy though they are good for keeping snakes away. As a beginner "Chicken Farmer" try visiting Backyard Chickens.com as it too has alot of good information and tips. Good Luck and hope I haven't overloaded you with information. Contact me if I can be of further assistance.
5. Definately, chickens are great - they are so sustainable, and friendly, and pretty useful little things. Depends where you live, but some places do starter packs including chicken food, feeders etc and you can pick some hens to go with it too! Try this site; http://www.cotswoldchickens.com/index.htm they are based in oxfordshire, but it should give you a good idea of what you want. This one too includes a starter kit; http://www.freewebs.com/happy_hens/completestarterkits.htm and they sell everything too. This site has all the info you'd ever need really, so its worth having a look though it is more based towards city folk; http://www.omlet.co.uk/homepage/homepage.php And this tells you a bit about Black Rock hens http://www.blackrockhens.co.uk/