Hey House MD

dazz1971 · #1 11-04-2009, 03:03 AM

do you keep chickens as pets or to get eggs ?? im just curious cause my partner kim keeps bringing up chickens so far ive managed to get her to settle for a vegtable patch but i dont think its gonna work for long
the reason i ask about eggs is cause i think you need a rooster around to get the hens to lay eggs ?? or i could of just been mistaken ?

so also keeps badgering me to get her some pigglets but i flat out said no lol

i mean between myself kim and her daughter and son we have 3 dogs 1 chocolate dobermann and 1 whippet(kims) and a 5 month old staffie pup (mine) 2 rats (kims son) and 8 guniea pigs (kims son nd daughter)

oh and 1 tropical show tank (380ltr) all of ours

i think thats quite enough animals for 1 household

sometimes i think kim and the kids would have us living in a zoo !!!!

Robotic Pope · #2 11-04-2009, 05:25 AM

The Hens just begin to lay eggs when they get to a certain age. You don't need them fertilized to cook and eat them

House MD 221B · #3 11-04-2009, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dazz1971

do you keep chickens as pets or to get eggs ?? im just curious cause my partner kim keeps bringing up chickens so far ive managed to get her to settle for a vegtable patch but i dont think its gonna work for long
the reason i ask about eggs is cause i think you need a rooster around to get the hens to lay eggs ?? or i could of just been mistaken ?

so also keeps badgering me to get her some pigglets but i flat out said no lol

i mean between myself kim and her daughter and son we have 3 dogs 1 chocolate dobermann and 1 whippet(kims) and a 5 month old staffie pup (mine) 2 rats (kims son) and 8 guniea pigs (kims son nd daughter)

oh and 1 tropical show tank (380ltr) all of ours

i think thats quite enough animals for 1 household

sometimes i think kim and the kids would have us living in a zoo !!!!

We keep chickens as both pets and for eggs. They are remarkably easy to look after, change their water and top up their food every day, and clean them out once a week. It's a common misconception that you need grass to keep chickens, but so long as you buy a good quantity of bark chippings, they can scratch around quite happily in those.

go to the omlet website, and they do a who package of a run, an eglu (roost) and 2 chickens, plus first bag of food, and grub and glug bowls for around £300. and once you've got all that, the food is very reasonable, and chickens cost between £15 and £25 on average.

You also do NOT need a Rooster for them to lay eggs most hens lay around 300 eggs in their first year, you only need a rooster if you want them fertilized and to breed. We get about 1 a day from Poachy, her partner Scramble passed away a couple of weeks ago now, so because chickens don't do well on their own, on account of them being a flock animal, we got 3 new girls, Miss penny apple, Angua, and Pecan, all of which are point of lay hense (about 2 weeks off first lay hopefully) and we get about 6 a week off Poachy, so we should eventually get about 24 a week. But sally loves to bake, and we give some to the neighbours and friends and family etc.

also people think chickens are noisy, so cant be kept close to other residents, but thats not true either, its the ROOSTERS that make ALL the noise.

hope this helps, but check out the omlet website as the forum there is incredibly helpful, I'm on there under the same name. and prospective chicken keepers are welcome to sign up an ask questions, they're a great crowd.

dazz1971 · #4 11-04-2009, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by House MD 221B

We keep chickens as both pets and for eggs. They are remarkably easy to look after, change their water and top up their food every day, and clean them out once a week. It's a common misconception that you need grass to keep chickens, but so long as you buy a good quantity of bark chippings, they can scratch around quite happily in those.

go to the omlet website, and they do a who package of a run, an eglu (roost) and 2 chickens, plus first bag of food, and grub and glug bowls for around £300. and once you've got all that, the food is very reasonable, and chickens cost between £15 and £25 on average.

You also do NOT need a Rooster for them to lay eggs most hens lay around 300 eggs in their first year, you only need a rooster if you want them fertilized and to breed. We get about 1 a day from Poachy, her partner Scramble passed away a couple of weeks ago now, so because chickens don't do well on their own, on account of them being a flock animal, we got 3 new girls, Miss penny apple, Angua, and Pecan, all of which are point of lay hense (about 2 weeks off first lay hopefully) and we get about 6 a week off Poachy, so we should eventually get about 24 a week. But sally loves to bake, and we give some to the neighbours and friends and family etc.

also people think chickens are noisy, so cant be kept close to other residents, but thats not true either, its the ROOSTERS that make ALL the noise.

hope this helps, but check out the omlet website as the forum there is incredibly helpful, I'm on there under the same name. and prospective chicken keepers are welcome to sign up an ask questions, they're a great crowd.

thanks house will check out omlet site with kim for sure sounds like a plan to me

dont know where i got the idea you needed a rooster i think i was thinking along the lines that they mate and then have an egg lmao!!!! i didnt realise that they just lay eggs anyway

and all those eggs would come in handy for sure

House MD 221B · #5 11-04-2009, 01:02 PM

Yeah, they're just unfertilized chicken ovulations. And there's so much you can do with them,
Cookies, quiches, cakes...
as well as poached / scrambled / fried eggs etc.

and because we feed our on organic food, and they freerange all the time and are such happy chickens, the eggs taste AMAING!

let me know what your username is on the omlet forum if you like, and if you have any questions i'll do my best to answer them.

juz1 · #6 11-04-2009, 01:14 PM

Come on House...you've given them names....that makes it personal...

"yeah, I just love Gladys' unfertillised ovulations..."

Made two good friends locally who both keep chooks...One even had them as part of the house purchase! getting alot of Bantham eggs from a couple up the road...gorgeous...never want another supermarket shelf egg again! And watching my 10 month daughter chow down on something so good and natural is pricelss...
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Transit Connect

House MD 221B · #7 11-04-2009, 01:25 PM

yeah, they're pets

we don't eat them. lol
1) cus Sal is a veggetablist
and
2) she won't let me, even though so long as they died of natural causes, I'd have no issue with it.

Angua is a little banty, she's just a little ball of fluff, she's so cute.

This is basically the standard Eglu MkII with standard Run, but we added an extra 1meter run extender because we went from having 2 chickens to 4 chickens. an Eglu can hold 2-4 chickens, maybe 5 with a couple of bantams, and the Eglu Cube can hold up to 10. They are all fox and rat proof.

juz1 · #8 11-04-2009, 01:39 PM

Egg layers ain't worth it...they're not good eating anyway...

some birds 'fer eatin' ,some fer layin' as they say in Norfolk...

Can you sex them? A Vietnamese colleague of mine can, but its a rare skill in Blighty these days...
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LEXUS GX

IiI GUNNY IiI · #9 11-04-2009, 04:49 PM

Please take my friends request on Xbox.I would like to talk to you about the 202.And switching to IL-2 on PC.

House MD 221B · #10 11-04-2009, 04:51 PM

I'd love to, but my Xbox has RROD'd and is in frankfurt germany, being repaired.

I'll PM you my MSN address, and I'd love to chat with you about it.

I did get your request through the website, but ive been rushed off my feet, I apologise for not getting back to you. check your PMs