How much looking after do chickens need?
By Alley
on my allotment i have a chicken pen and shed built, i havent had any chickens in there but i am thinking about keeping a few, with two small children my life is quite full , i just need to know how much looking after they need, also if anyone can recommend a book or website for beginners . thanks
20 Jan, 2008
Answers
chickens can be hard work, the feed is exspencif, in the summer thay can get mites and scaly leg mites and need to be shut in at night so foxey dont get them.sorry to be so gloomy but it is true.
the fox eat mine .
NANNYDIGIT.
2 Feb, 2008
just to say thanks to spritzhenry for advising me on a chicken book a couple of weeks ago, just the ticket! and my run is ready and waiting for my chickens to arrive!
29 Feb, 2008
I have chickens, they're great and, despite my intial reluctance, the pluses well outweigh the minuses. I found Katie Thear's book excellent help when we got our first birds. Apart from the eggs they produce and the endless entertainment, mine do a grand job turning leftover veggies, weeds and more especially cockchafer grubs and other undesirables into very useful compost accelerator! Mine also offer a splendid weed clearance and scarifying service on my veg beds.
A tip to keep foxes at bay - get a man (or better still borrow a male dog) to pee around the perimeter. It's not 100%, but it does deter them if you can do it regularly.
12 Mar, 2008
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I just looked on Amazon and found a book for beginners called 'Starting with Chickens - A Beginner's Guide' by Katie Thear. It's a paperback, so a reasonable price! The reviews are good, somebody said they'd been wanting a book for complete novices at keeping chickens and this fitted the bill. Hope this helps. Good luck with them.
20 Jan, 2008