It’s odd, you would have thought that there would be an easy to find, easy to digest introduction to keeping chickens somewhere on the net – and perhaps there is – but frankly, I can’t find it. So here, in a slight change of direction for this motorbike and travel blog, is a short introduction to what you need to know in order to keep chickens. No complicated feeding patterns, no brain-dump of house building materials and no overly long political statements!
Is it difficult?
No. Really, you just need a house, some food and a little time.
What do I need?
A house for them to live in, food, water, and a safe place for them to wander in.
What kind of house?
Anything, turns out all chickens really need is a perch, a nesting box, and somewhere safe to wander. There are loads and loads of sites and companies out there offering many different designs and solutions for housing our feathered friends. There’s a list of useful links below you may want to try. We went to the local feed store (Widmer Feeds & Country Store) who were very helpful and put together a package with everything we needed for about £250.
What do I need on day one?
Food is really complicated right?
No, not at all. To start out all you need to do is feed your wonderful new friends layers pellets. There are hundreds of options for these, but again your local store can recommend something, or just pick them up at your local pet superstore – they all carry this stuff now. Also provide them with a little grit – most important. Other than that it’s all personal preference and you’ll figure it out as you go – there are many schools of thought on chicken feed – so just get yourself going with the most basic and then work it out for yourself.
What happens when they arrive?
If like us you opted for a simple starter solution from your local country store or from someone like Omlet then you’ll have everything you need on hand. Get the bedding into the coup, set up the water drinker and the feeder, and then quietly put your birds in their new home. Keep the feeder in the perch / nesting area for a few days so they have a reason to go back in there and don’t let them out of their run for the first five days.
At dawn open the poop door (that’s the door from the nesting area to the run) and at dusk make sure they’ve gone to bed (they generally take themselves) and shut the door. That’s really about it. Chickens bought ‘at point of lay’ wont actually produce eggs for a good few weeks so don’t expect miracles.
What then?
In the first few days just get used to having them around, and them having you around – handle them, talk to them, go about your business in the way you always did. Don’t let them get used to an non-normal routine from you.
Useful links
I’ll add to this list over time but these shops and websites are a good starting point.
Are you some kind of chicken expert?
No, I bought our chickens last week, they arrived on Saturday – I know absolutely nothing – all of this information has been gleaned from several books, many magazines and a whole bunch of websites – it’s the simple starter information in one place – for me, as much as anyone else.
This is the first of what will form a series of posts talking about chickens and the reality of keeping them – what you really need to know – rather than a complicated debate about feeders and housing.
Being advertised at in facebook is a pain in the ass – the ads are never relevant and regardless of how much time I spend clicking the little crosses and telling facebook I’m not interested in free holidays to spain…. I still get adverts selling me free holidays to spain.
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