hf1

Excited

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laceybat
Cloth Nappy Wise Woman
Cloth Nappy Wise Woman

Excited

Postby laceybat » Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:41 am

:wine:
my DP has just told me that i can get some chickens.
h ow many do you think we will need for a family of4
i use to have chicken when i lived at home but we had about 10 for a family of six but we had them more for pets than egges as we also had goats and othe farm animals

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Citrus
Cloth Nappy Lover
Cloth Nappy Lover

Re: Excited

Postby Citrus » Tue Sep 28, 2010 9:46 am

Lucky you! I can't wait to have chickens one day - they're so cute, bimbling around the place.

It depends how many you have room for, I would say. There one of those things that are a bit addictive :giggle: My ex-boss had maybe 3 or 4 layers, and sometimes we had enough eggs and sometimes none. My outlaws have about 8 chickens and a couple of ducks, and through the summer they have enough to give us lots, but in winter they sometimes still end up buying eggs. Since there'll always be people who will happily take eggs off of you (they're great for trading for small things, actually), maybe it's worth looking at the space you're willing to give them and going from there?

Good luck in your chickeny adventures :wine:

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red_dwarf
Cloth Nappy Aficionado
Cloth Nappy Aficionado

Re: Excited

Postby red_dwarf » Tue Sep 28, 2010 9:53 am

no idea how many you will need, but i know you can get ex battery hens for about £1.50 each. You have to put your name down as they go to different places every month. i was looking at getting some myself, but its in my contract on the new builds that you are not alowd livestock :cry:

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happytails
Cloth Nappy Worshipper
Cloth Nappy Worshipper

Re: Excited

Postby happytails » Tue Sep 28, 2010 3:38 pm

You need atleast 3. So when 1 is laying the other 2 have each other for company :wink:

My friend has 4 chooks and says she never needs to buy eggs (family of 3) and she often gives her mum and MIL eggs too, ive been lucky enough to get some too, they are YUM!

WE chose to get a lizard instead of the chooks but it was a close call :wink:

Sarah xx

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Citrus
Cloth Nappy Lover
Cloth Nappy Lover

Re: Excited

Postby Citrus » Tue Sep 28, 2010 5:38 pm

With the ex-battery hens, they won't always lay. Some are too old, and my ex-boss had one that had been de-beaked (a hideous thing, it seemed to me) and she was always very skinny and never laid. Very sad to see her trying to pick up corn and really struggling :( It's fantastic if you have space to give one or two a good home though.

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ramsons
Cloth Nappy Nutter
Cloth Nappy Nutter

Re: Excited

Postby ramsons » Tue Sep 28, 2010 6:17 pm

We've got a couple at the moment, but three would be better. I've had up to 13 in the past, that was way too many we had eggs coming out of our ears!
If you are out of practice with keeping chickens you might want to start with some healthier ones than the ones straight from an battery farm, sometimes they can be really very ill and its not always great for a beginner to have to be coping with the problems. Or maybe see if you can find someone who rescues ex batteries near you, and take them on a few months down the line when they've refeathered etc. Having half naked, stressed and ill chickens in winter might be harder work than you want. :hug:

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simlou
Sucker for Cloth Nappies
Sucker for Cloth Nappies

Re: Excited

Postby simlou » Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:32 pm

Ooooh fabulous, chucks are fab! We have three, always had two or three for the last few years. I agree it is addictive and I'd love more but three is enough for us. Depening on what breeds you get we are guaranteed two eggs a day and trust me when I say you'll soon have more eggs than you know what to do with! We give them to family, work colleagues etc and we still are over run with them - there's only so much baking you can do! Have you decided where you are keeping them? They do destroy any lawn area you keep them on and they do produce a lot of poop! We've reduced the area ours can free range over now to keep them away from the patio area right next to the house. They still have a lot of room but when Ewan is toddling we didn;t want him standing in or picking up the chicken poop. If you want to know anything hun just ask away

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laceybat
Cloth Nappy Wise Woman
Cloth Nappy Wise Woman

Re: Excited

Postby laceybat » Wed Sep 29, 2010 7:24 am

happytails wrote:WE chose to get a lizard instead of the chooks but it was a close call :wink:

Sarah xx

we have lizard already. we get through a big tray of eggs a week :oops:

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beck
Cloth Nappy Ninky Nonk
Cloth Nappy Ninky Nonk

Re: Excited

Postby beck » Wed Sep 29, 2010 8:05 am

ooo I'd love some chickens but I think our cattle dog would terrorize the poor things :giggle:

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