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And..../keeping chickens
The message
from Adrian contains these words: Hi Chris On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:12:54 -0000, "Cerumen" wrote: "Adrian" wrote in message .. . Hi All On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 19:29:22 +0000, Sacha wrote: ......who did what today in their garden? Nobody here I can tell you. We have had high winds and rain, then everything went a bit sunny and then it all started again in a minor key. No gardening but some satisfactory time at a potting bench for me and away from the desk! Windy & rainy here also (S/W Ireland) - but spend a happy couple of hours with a borrowed rotovator getting some drainage into the soil inside the new polytunnel. Rotovators have moved on a bit, it seems - this one is a German 'AGRI' - 6hp '2-wheeled tractor' - made short work of the somewhat claggy soil. Have left it all to dry out some more before spreading some peat-free compost on top and turning that in... Looking forward to our first growing season here in the Emerald Isle ! I wish you well and hope you grow as much as I was able to when gardening an acre here with polytunnel, chooks, ducks and so on. These days I am on a different acre here which is mostly what I call "natural". Thanks for the good wishes ! We're n 2 minds about chickens, ducks & so on. Had hens at the last place (Suffolk, UK) - and while they were great fun to watch, and produced lovely banty eggs, the were bit of a problem on holidays (getting neighbours to look after them) and with general ailments..... - I'd like ducks, but I guess they're likely to be as much of a 'bind'. I'm in exactly the same state of doubt. I'd love to keep chickens and have inherited a rather splendid chicken-house, but just worry about the problems of not being able to stay away over night etc. I'm wondering about getting some moveable electric fencing so that I can vary the area the chickens use, but keep hesitating because of these doubts. I'd be interested to know from anyone who keeps chickens whether it's OK to leave them occasionally to put themselves to bed if the fencing is good enough to keep foxes etc out. Janet G |
#3
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And..../keeping chickens
HI Janet
On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 17:37:39 GMT, Janet Galpin wrote: The message from Adrian contains these words: Hi Chris On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:12:54 -0000, "Cerumen" wrote: "Adrian" wrote in message .. . Hi All On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 19:29:22 +0000, Sacha wrote: ......who did what today in their garden? Nobody here I can tell you. We have had high winds and rain, then everything went a bit sunny and then it all started again in a minor key. No gardening but some satisfactory time at a potting bench for me and away from the desk! Windy & rainy here also (S/W Ireland) - but spend a happy couple of hours with a borrowed rotovator getting some drainage into the soil inside the new polytunnel. Rotovators have moved on a bit, it seems - this one is a German 'AGRI' - 6hp '2-wheeled tractor' - made short work of the somewhat claggy soil. Have left it all to dry out some more before spreading some peat-free compost on top and turning that in... Looking forward to our first growing season here in the Emerald Isle ! I wish you well and hope you grow as much as I was able to when gardening an acre here with polytunnel, chooks, ducks and so on. These days I am on a different acre here which is mostly what I call "natural". Thanks for the good wishes ! We're n 2 minds about chickens, ducks & so on. Had hens at the last place (Suffolk, UK) - and while they were great fun to watch, and produced lovely banty eggs, the were bit of a problem on holidays (getting neighbours to look after them) and with general ailments..... - I'd like ducks, but I guess they're likely to be as much of a 'bind'. I'm in exactly the same state of doubt. I'd love to keep chickens and have inherited a rather splendid chicken-house, but just worry about the problems of not being able to stay away over night etc. I'm wondering about getting some moveable electric fencing so that I can vary the area the chickens use, but keep hesitating because of these doubts. I'd be interested to know from anyone who keeps chickens whether it's OK to leave them occasionally to put themselves to bed if the fencing is good enough to keep foxes etc out. Janet G Don't get me wrong - it's great fun keeping chickens (though I had my doubts as to the economics of the project !) Chickens are smart enough to put themselves to bed, mostly - but not smart enough to shut the door behind themselves g I've heard of folks using electronic timers & motors to clost the hutch door at predetermined times... We used to let ours free-range (within a fenced-off part of the garden) whenever we were in the house or garden. If we were going out then we'd chase them back inside the hutch / enclosed run. Never lost one to foxes - but just down the road they had a fox break into a netted enclosure and caused a right mess - guess it depends on how hungry / smart the local foxes are... Regards Adrian |
#4
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And..../keeping chickens
Janet Galpin wrote in
: I'm in exactly the same state of doubt. I'd love to keep chickens and have inherited a rather splendid chicken-house, but just worry about the problems of not being able to stay away over night etc. I'm wondering about getting some moveable electric fencing so that I can vary the area the chickens use, but keep hesitating because of these doubts. I'd be interested to know from anyone who keeps chickens whether it's OK to leave them occasionally to put themselves to bed if the fencing is good enough to keep foxes etc out. We have 2/3 chickens in a completely enclosed run (think fruit cage) and coop. There's no problem leaving them provided - they have enough water (and food) and can't knock over the containers - predators can't get in - if it is cold, they are kept inside A weekend is no problem: we just leave them. For a week, we get a neighbour to feed/water/open the pophole in the morning, and drop the pophole door at night. The only time the fox got in was when we left them in the city for a weekend |
#5
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And..../keeping chickens
"Janet Galpin" wrote in message
I'd love to keep chickens and have inherited a rather splendid chicken-house, but just worry about the problems of not being able to stay away over night etc. I'm wondering about getting some moveable electric fencing so that I can vary the area the chickens use, but keep hesitating because of these doubts. I'd be interested to know from anyone who keeps chickens whether it's OK to leave them occasionally to put themselves to bed if the fencing is good enough to keep foxes etc out. If you already have a chook house, then the ideal thing would be to put a fence with a gate in it all around the chook house so the chooks have a permanent yard which they always have acess to but which protects them if you need to go away or if you don't want to let them roam round the garden all the time. Chooks will always put temselves to bed at dusk and they can easily be left if they have access to both food and water. Chooks in the garden can do major damage at seedling planting time but a permanent chook yard is a boon for gardeners as all garden waste can be thrown in to be scratched over and manured before adding to the compost heap. They will also do this to rough mulching materials too that you might want to throw under trees. They love tree prunings. If you do decide to build a fence, then lay the chicken wire flat out on the ground at the base of the fence for about 2 ft towards the side that foxes would ingress as foxes usually like to dig under but aren't smart to figure out not to dig right at the base of the fence. foxes can also climb wire so a fully enclosed yard is a good idea. |
#6
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And..../keeping chickens
"Janet Galpin" wrote in message ... I'd be interested to know from anyone who keeps chickens whether it's OK to leave them occasionally to put themselves to bed if the fencing is good enough to keep foxes etc out. Yes they do go safely home themselves especially if the food hopper if you use one and the water is inside. That said it's best to put the feeder outside mostly otherwise they will stay near it and not get out as much as they otherwise would -- Chris, West Cork, Ireland. |
#7
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And..../keeping chickens
The message
from Sacha contains these words: On 28/2/07 17:37, in article , "Janet Galpin" wrote: snip I'm in exactly the same state of doubt. I'd love to keep chickens and have inherited a rather splendid chicken-house, but just worry about the problems of not being able to stay away over night etc. I'm wondering about getting some moveable electric fencing so that I can vary the area the chickens use, but keep hesitating because of these doubts. I'd be interested to know from anyone who keeps chickens whether it's OK to leave them occasionally to put themselves to bed if the fencing is good enough to keep foxes etc out. My step daughter kept hers in a thing rather like a fruit cage. It was built up against the fence so the chicken wire simply had to go along the front of the run and have a door made into it. Could you do that or something similar? Yes, something like this. I was originally thinking of moveable fencing so that I could move them around and keep them on fresh ground, allowing grass to grow. The area round the chicken-house is over-run with nettles and I thought I could mow part of it in the hope that that would get rid of the nettles while keeping the chickens on the other bit - then swap over. Perhaps permanent fencing would be a better idea and perhaps I just need to wait patiently until I've controlled the nettles. Janet G |
#8
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And..../keeping chickens
The message
from "FarmI" ask@itshall be given contains these words: "Janet Galpin" wrote in message I'd love to keep chickens and have inherited a rather splendid chicken-house, but just worry about the problems of not being able to stay away over night etc. I'm wondering about getting some moveable electric fencing so that I can vary the area the chickens use, but keep hesitating because of these doubts. I'd be interested to know from anyone who keeps chickens whether it's OK to leave them occasionally to put themselves to bed if the fencing is good enough to keep foxes etc out. If you already have a chook house, then the ideal thing would be to put a fence with a gate in it all around the chook house so the chooks have a permanent yard which they always have acess to but which protects them if you need to go away or if you don't want to let them roam round the garden all the time. Chooks will always put temselves to bed at dusk and they can easily be left if they have access to both food and water. Chooks in the garden can do major damage at seedling planting time but a permanent chook yard is a boon for gardeners as all garden waste can be thrown in to be scratched over and manured before adding to the compost heap. They will also do this to rough mulching materials too that you might want to throw under trees. They love tree prunings. If you do decide to build a fence, then lay the chicken wire flat out on the ground at the base of the fence for about 2 ft towards the side that foxes would ingress as foxes usually like to dig under but aren't smart to figure out not to dig right at the base of the fence. foxes can also climb wire so a fully enclosed yard is a good idea. Thanks to everyone for the very helpful advice and reassurance that it's OK to leave chickens at least overnight. Janet G |
#9
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