In response to a short conversation re backyard chickens in this thread
http://davesgarden.com/t/370734/
Southmede
No more battery hen farms can set up now, this has been in effect since the 1st Jan this year. The idea is that all battery hen farms will be banned by 2012.
Rescuing chickens already in the battery system is a great cause, you can pick them up for very little outlay. Unfortunately they will be getting to the end of their lives. Warrens tend to live 2-5 years, their laying life is around 2 years only although one or two eggs every week or month is possible. Most of these hybrids created for production do have much shorter lives than the true breeds.
As for looking after them, do you have a local petsitter who could call by on their way to other clients? Or a neighbour to check in? Chickens are on a par with rabbits for their ease of keeping and require very little work for a small flock.
As for room, the regulations for production free range birds is 1m squared per bird.
It might be worth asking your local council what their take is on pet chicken keeping, if you're near a built up area it might be that you cannot keep a cockerel, they are superfluous anyway unless you want to breed the hens. I've not known a council say no yet! When I was little, we lived on a council estate in Wolverhampton and kept chickens in the backyard and we had numerous cockerels too *G*
Can't answer the egg eating one *G*. If you buy a laying hybrid breed you can expect somewhere around 250-300 eggs per year per bird. Less eggs from a true breed.
We have a large run at the back of the garden complete with shrubbery *G*. It's high enough so we can stand up and we have 2 sheds, one small for the ducks and a shed for the chickens as they prefer to sleep on a perch, it's just a little wooden garden tool shed (£50 B&Q) with a piece of wood across. The little triangular coop and runs you can buy can house 3 laying birds easily and the advantage is you can move them about but you'll pay upwards of £150 for a new one of those.
Backyard Poultry Keeping
Thanks for all this info seems that it may be a possibility after all, we will contact the council to see if there are any probs. My other half Mike has had a yearn to keep hens for a while since reading al article about adopting redundant battery hens. I'm pleased to hear that battery hens keeping may be on the way out. He once worked for a Children's society in Tynemouth where they kept hens and goats. He has adopted an afinity with the hens since they regualry escaped and he was the one to chase them down the high street to the amusement of all.
They olso got food from various charitable sources and once they got a huge amount of apples, which the goats had great fun eating in great quantities. The result was some very intoxicated goats as the apples fermented in their stomachs. Well that is the story I was told anyway.
ROTFL Southmede, sounds as if Mike really enjoyed his time with the creatures! I can't imagine drunk goats, they are a nightmare sober *G*
I always think there is something about all the little brrrrs and clucks that hens make which is comforting. Also you know exactly how the hens have been kept and can eat your eggy soldiers with confidence.