Advice for aspiring chicken keepers?

Following on from the thread about Jamie oliver and hugh whtsisname and the chicken/egg campaigns. Dani asked a few Q regarding possibly keeping chickens.

We also planned on getting some when we moved here 2 yrs ago, but money hasnt allowed this. We re costed it lastnight and still it doesnt seem viable on paper. No other reason we couldnt keep them other than the initial outlay.

We were thinking of 6 or so to begin with. Our only consideration is foxes but we would have the chooks secure at night.

I believe neither Dani or myself would want to keep cockerals, and Dani asked about how smelly they are? Also about having wire across the top of a coup to keep out cats etc?

So we reckon..
chickens.
coup.
run (we dont need one)
poultry grit.
woodshavings.
wormer.
red mite powder.
louse powder.
corn.
pellets.
straw.
feeder.
water dispensers.

whatd I miss?
ANY advise or suggestions on how to get started appreciated. Anyone with Q's of there own please ask

Hiya..
I've looked into this already....and one day....

Have you seen these?????
Give lots of info on the site about chicken keeping too...

http://www.omlet.co.uk/homepage/homepage.php

ty for the link. gonna read the chicken guide now.
eglu's are waaay out of my non existant budget tho

no they are expensive...but the site is a good read!!!!

miine too - although have to say the faffy woman inside me really likes all the colours etc !!

but it does give you an idea of what you can do which is good. My OH built a shed for our back garden so am sure he could build a chicken shed. am going to have a look on freecycle for some wood and wire etc. just on the offchance.

might be worth checking with builder merchants for offcuts of wood - after all as pretty as the eglu is i dont suppose it needs to be pretty am sure the chickens wont care !!

You need proper layers pellets for egg producers not just corn, also have you considered rescuing ex battery chickens, they'll give you afew more years of egg laying as they are discarded after their first year.
You can convert any wooden building to a small chicken house as long as it is fox proof. If you want more info pm me and I'll give you some links.
Becky

Exactly Dani...I guess the hardest bit will be making everything fox/cat and dog proof!!! Doesn't Isochick keep chickens??? I'm sure she does...may be worth PMing her?!

thanks - it was the ex battery hens i was thinking of.

will pm for more info on reading material...

We dont have any access to ex battery hens up here but plenty locals have dozens. The birds should be the easy bit

Anyone know how much a hen would consume (layer pellets/corn) pw or pm?
Or cost of 20kg bags of corn/pellets?
I believe the price has gone up lately due to the wet summer.
Cost of red mite powder/wormer etc?
basically anything in my list

I had decided lastnight we werent doing it but now im at it again, lol

I want chickens too!!

Have to be happy with budgies I guess. Although there is not much meat on them (only kidding)