Anyone here have chickens?

I would LOVE to have chickens. Our garden is full of lovely worms and slugs that they would adore and they could have the run of our whole enclosed garden. But unfortunately I don't think the council would entertain it. And I think we could potentially have large number of foxes in the area. So I'll have to dream instead!

This website is really good. We got our eglu from them and they were also able to provide a list of places in the area where we could purchase our chickens from.

https://www.omlet.co.uk/

Thank you ? Shall go and have a read. Wondering now if I can get something sorted in the next couple of months ?

We do, we live on a farm and we have a shed as their hutch. What sort of info do you want to know i will ask my H when he gets back ?

The omlet forum is good, even if you don't buy an eglu.

we have chickens and pekin bantams, shout if you need any help x

Thanks ? My plan was to have an enclosed shed as their house and put some perches and boxes in there for them. Then outside to have a run surrounded with chicken wire. However I'm not sure what flooring to have. It'll be a permanent structure so won't be able to move it around the lawn. Any thoughts?

Are you thinking of flooring for the shed or the run? If the latter, some people use bark chippings, as they can be replaced from time to time as necessary. If you just have bare earth (or even grass initially, as the hens will strip it quickly) will turn very muddy and potentially become scorched with the droppings - we had this problem with our hens and have been able to peel off the top inch of "soil" where the run had been. There's more information on the omlet fora, I seem to remember.

My only comment about the shed is to think about red mites - apparently they're much worse in wooden hen houses than those made of other materials - so make sure you can easily get into all the corners to disinfect/delouse regularly.

I love having chickens - I hope you enjoy them too!