keeping chickens in your garden
- At July 22, 2010
- By Rachael
- In Chickens, Village life
41
I can’t remember when I first read about keeping chickens in your garden, but I can remember falling in love with the the Eglu chicken house as soon as I saw it.
For Mother’s Day last year I got my wish: an Eglu, and four hens from the lovely Jude at Cotswold Chickens.
meet Martha, Pamela, Hermione and Nancy
We started out with four chickens living in the garden, but unfortunately Martha (named after the ultimate domestic goddess Martha Stewart) developed a taste for feathers. After a few months, and every vile smelling anti-pecking spray on the market, we decided to rehome Nancy and Hermione and they now live with my friend Katie and her chicks in the next village.
The lovely thing about hens is their personalities, and their little routines. Pamela and Martha like to start the day with some left-over breakfast cereal, followed by a bit of scratching around. Then they lay eggs, and yell about that for a while. Then it’s time for a dustbath in the bark surrounding the climbing frame.
Life with only two chickens seemed a bit lacking, so a few months ago we introduced Lavender to the family. She lays blue eggs! Clever chick.
Keeping them is amazingly easy – the Eglu comes to pieces so you can hose it down (meaning no red mite, the scourge of chicken owners) and all you have to do is plonk in something comfy for the nest box (we use Aubiose Hemp Bedding and a £9.95 bag has lasted a year!)
They eat Allen and Page organic layers pellets (they go through about a bag a month, which at £15 is still loads cheaper than organic eggs).
In the evening they get a scoop of corn which is the perfect way of luring them out of the flowerbeds and back into the Eglu run – it’s not as easy as it looks, as my friend who chickensat last year will testify.
Hopefully I’ll have persuaded a few more of you that keeping chickens in your garden is a good idea. They’re such lovely people and so entertaining, plus their eggs are the most delicious ever!
Christie
I’ve really been wanting some chickens. We’re moving soon and I was hoping we would be able to have chickens at our new place. I’m thinking it might be too urban though…I will definitely be checking, garden chickens sound intriguing!
Metajugglamum
Hi Rachel,
I’m so glad you found me and left a comment so I could find you … your posts are fabulous and the photography superb. I love this one. I have always entertained the idea of having a property with land and some animals as I adore them and so does my son. Hopefully one day we’ll manage it. After posts like this, I am even more determined – this made me smile so much and I had to belly laugh at the egglaying broadcasts. Fabulous pic of the run. Thanks for sharing! MJM.
Rachael
Ooh, you’re welcome! You don’t need much land to have chickens (I’m a chicken evangelist! I love them) and the eggs are heavenly. Yum.
Donna
oh my I have been playing with my daughter 32 to get some chickens for her garden here in the states just south of Boston. It is such a delightful idea and now you have made me less scared to have her try it! I KNOW the eggs will be so much tastier then store bought…thanks for sharing a lovely post. BTW I found you from cjane on facebook. My #2 blog spot in the a.m. NieNie is first of course. Have a great day
Rachael
Hello Donna – lovely of you to visit from Cjane – I’m missing her daily updates! And yes, I love to read NieNie too. She’s such an inspiration.
The eggs are absolutely delicious – they even look different in colour. Thanks for visiting – hope to see you here again soon.
Tehlia
Great post and tips.
My Soldier and I want to have a small farm, homestead, when he is out of the Army. But we are wanting to have chickens sooner then later. Love the thought of Colorful, Blue eggs.
Rachael
I love having chickens and collecting the eggs every day! And yes, there’s something special about blue eggs, although the speckles and markings on the others are lovely too. Thank you for visiting!
Gina
I have Chicken envy!
Rachael
Thank you! They are lovely, aren’t they?
Sandra
There is no way I am going to tell my kids about this post! I’d have chickens in my freaken garden in less than one week! We love animals, all kinds (especially those that can pay for their room and board by supplying us with eggs!) but I am quite certain it’s not as easy as you make it seem. Although you did make it seem terribly delightful!
http://www.absolutelynarcissism.blogspot.com
estelle@nest
Hi Rachael! Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog, so nice to know I’m getting some new readers. I love love love our chickens! We have 3 large Australorps that provide us with beautiful eggs and I can sit and watch them all day… completely fascinating…
Rachael
They are amazing, aren’t they? To think people think they have no personality.
I loved your blog – have added it to my list of new favourites. Thanks for visiting me!
English Mum
I love my chickens. I do wish I’d taken more notice when you said your Bluebelle was noisy though – the whole area knows when she’s laid an egg!
xx
Mary (A Small Hand In Mine)
OOh, my mum keeps chickens, two named Ken and Tucky. My son loves going round there to see if they have laid eggs, Arent they fantastic creatures? Id love to keep some, but as our garden is rooftop, I think the weather may get a bit much for them, its very windy.
Vonnie
My hens and ducks ate absolutely everything green in my garden but now we’ve invested in an Eglu cube it’s so much nicer for both them and us. I totally agree with you, 2.5 years of henkeeping here and I don’t see that ending soon
Carin
I love chickens, I grew up surrounded by them, but haven’t braved having them here in town…though one of our neighbours do, so the three year old often runs next door to look at the chuck chucks and comes back with a yummy egg or two.
nixdminx
That makes me want to up sticks and move to the countryside. We’re Londoners with foxes in our garden so they would not last a night here.
Lori @ RRSAHM
Oh wow, how cool. We actually looked into getting chickens, but the council said no because we don’t have enough property. I’m kinda jealous!
Jon Lee Hall
Love your chickens. They are beautiful. I have never heard of an Eglu. My husband wants to buy a farm when he retires and raise chickens. I will be sure and tell him about the Eglu. I never realized chickens were so beautiful.
linda
I wish we could. Illegal in most (all?) urban areas here. I suspect that will change as it’s challenged, but for now, no.
linda
Also, I wonder why Martha doesn’t bother Pamela or Lavender?
Love the photos, too. Did I ever tell you that when we have taken C to fairs with agricultural exhibits/competitions she spends *hours* in the barns with the hens and roosters?
Melanie
We are thinking about chickens when we move and I am really excited about the prospect! Incredibly, Dave is even more keen on the idea than I am!
xx
Rachael
Ooh, hooray. I love chicken shopping by proxy – I can cheer you on!
Tatjana
I will so have chickens in a year or two, oh yes! I may be too lazy for that small-holding I’d love to have but I will have a tiny chickeny holding
Rachael
Oh, lovely 2010, the year of amazing things. xxx
Keeping Chickens
Keeping chickens is certainly an addictive and entertaining hobby. I can’t believe we’ve had ours for 2 years now.
We have 7 now. 2 Isa Browns, 1 Maran and 4 Cream Legbars that we’ve had since day old chicks – they are still currently being kept seperate from the big girls and will join them in a few weeks time. But hopefully like you, we will have some ‘blue’ eggs soon!
The joy of getting your own eggs from just walking down the end of the garden never ceases, all that lovely chicken poo for the compost heap that eventually goes on our allotment; plus the endless hours of entertainment they provide… I can’t believe it took us so long to decide to keep chickens in our garden
Rachael
Oh, our Lavender is a Cream Legbar (with a bit of something else mixed in). Her eggs are smaller than the others, but so beautiful! Chicken keeping definitely is addictive. I can’t imagine the garden without them now.
Tim Daniels
Feather pecking is a difficult vice to cure but it sounds like you did the right thing rehoming Nancy and Hermione.
Red Mite are such a pain to the poultry keeper. They are notoriously difficult to get rid of and a pressure washer or even hose pipe and sprayer are one of my most useful tools in the fight against them.
Rachael
Luckily we’ve managed to avoid red mite so far, but a friend of mine has been struggling. Thank you for visiting. Your site is my chicken encyclopaedia!
Tim Daniels
Thank you, I’m glad you like it. It’s a labour of love but I never grow tired of thinking of something else that really ‘needs’ to be on there! I have subscribed to your RSS feed and look forward to keeping up with your blog
Rachael
Thanks Tim! You must be finding your viewing figures are going up and up at the moment – it seems that every second person I meet is getting some hens for the back garden!
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Helen in Switzerland
I’m so envious – I’d love to keep chickens, but I’m sure my (not very nice) next-door-neighbours would report me to every possible authority if I did and cause a great deal of hassle. One day though….one day…my dreams will come too…..and then I’d like bees and a goat too!
Rachael
One set of our neighbours weren’t at all keen and it caused a bit of an atmosphere for a while, but a few boxes of eggs seems to have cheereed them up a bit!
liveotherwise
I have a friend who hatches her own and has even considered selling them on. Can’t quite wrap my head around the practicalities though.
Rachael
It’s really very easy, honestly! Not much different to having rabbits or guinea pigs, only you get lovely eggs as a bonus. And they are such lovely characters – the children love them and carry them around under their arms like handbags!
liveotherwise
I’m not that fond of rabbits or guinea pigs, and haven’t ever kept them either! We had a dog when I was growing up and cat or cats since I was a teenager, and that’s your lot. Apart from the horses, but they didn’t live in the back garden
Kate
Aw, you are making me nostalgic for my chickens. We lost ours just over a year ago to a fox. They were ex-batts.
They did scratch the hell out of my garden tho.
Rachael
Ooh, we’ve been lucky so far (touch wood) and haven’t had any foxes in the garden. I think having really high fences all the way round might be putting them off – or else it’s our dog?
Maxabella
I just popped over here from Fat Mum Slim and I’ve got a little tear in my eye. The reason is that I miss England a lot lately (we lived there for four years 10 years ago and it’s never left me) and I’ve also been talking about getting chickens for so long and haven’t done it. But you make it seems so easy!!! I’m inspired and grateful. Following you straight away!
Rachael
Oh, how lovely! It’s so nice when people visit from other blogs!
Keeping chickens is really easy – no harder than having a pet rabbit or a guinea pig, but with yummy eggs as a side product. I’m off to visit your blog now and say hello!