Page 20 - ALG Issue 3 2014

Feature on...
Working with Chickens
Two years ago I decided to give up supermarket eggs and keep four of my own hens to lay eggs for me. I researched breeds and selected those that were most productive at egg laying and those that also had the ability to withstand weather. I chose two White Star Leghorns and two Black Rocks. I purchased from
a company called Happy Chicks who delivered point of lay hens (18-20 week old hens) to my door.
I purchased a new hen coop and built
it in the back garden. The entire garden was intended for the chickens except the patio, which I netted off. I purchased a ‘Grandpa Feeder’ for £119 as this enables you to feed dry laying pellets for 19 days automatically – the birds
stand on a front foot plate
to open the food cover and
this prevents birds or vermin
eating their food, it took a
few days for them to learn
how to open the cover.
As soon as the chickens
arrived I decided to
take them down to my
allotments. I have bought
a bike cargo trailer to go behind my bike.
I catch the chickens and pop them in and down we go. They like the freedom on the allotments and can go where they like and scrat and peck anything not under nets. Delicate veg like brassica (when small) grows under anti-pigeon or butterfly net and they can’t access the veg but when
the cabbage etc. is mature the chickens can go under the net and peck insects and caterpillars off which they like doing and don’t eat the cabbage apart from a peck
or two. Mostly they mill around eating and pecking and scratting upending weeds before I hoe them. They have a 2nd chicken coop on the allotments for shelter and
for them to lay eggs in when down the allotments but I don’t leave them overnight or when I’m not there as this allotment has foxes in the daytime as well as at night.
I have netted everywhere and adapted my allotment regime to include chickens and I enjoy working with them all the time. They are not pets and earn their keep
by laying eggs and doing work on the allotments. Black Rocks are also good company and like humans (a lot of chicken
breeds will not come near you). They will get used to you digging ground over
and vacuum up all manner of insects and pests I’d leave when digging - only to be
a pest in the veg plots later on. I clean my hen coop daily when I collect the brown eggs, I give them fresh straw in the nesting boxes, clean any poo out and bag it for the allotments. The straw with a bit of poo will go under the strawberries on the allotment. I use sawdust on the removable floor under the perches.
I only have one of the original hens left - the others died natural deaths. To replace them I got three, six-week-old Black Rock chicks last year and had to provide Infra- Red Lamp heat at night and feed chick crumbs, although the big hens ate some of the chick crumbs and the chicks found out how to access the Grandpa Feeder and ate the hen’s food when they were not looking! At Christmas they came into lay and I
have an egg a day off them. I would not pen these breeds of chickens as they like roaming a large area, hence why they have all of the large back garden, a big shed for shelter in bad weather and the run of the two allotments.
I have always fed the chickens through
the Grandpa Feeder which can store 19 days of feed and works automatically or you can make a feed up daily with chicken meal, food waste and veg yourself but be aware they will not go back to eating dry laying pellets if you start making them a meal every day and they will honk at first light for a meal.
Black Rocks are very big hybrid (hen) birds with a pretty red fleck on a black background of lots of feathers. They are resistant to salmonella and do not need inoculations like other breeds and which is a nasty injection and causes a reaction in chickens. They are able to withstand any weather including English winter conditions; unlike most chickens they grow to like human contact. I have never contemplated having a cock bird because of the dawn chorus and noise pollution to neighbours.
I don’t reckon I have too much extra work keeping a small number of four hens and taking them down the allotments seems
to be enjoyable to both of us. We work together in perfect harmony and symbiosis. I am so glad I decided to keep chickens and it is so rewarding to me and them.
Rod Earp
Individual Member NSALG Ltd Lowestoft
They like the freedom on the allotments and can go where they like
Black Rock hens (left to right), three new chicks - Ping Pong and Pooh with the adorable two-year-old hen, Henrietta.
(Right to left) Ping, Pong and Pooh feeding, pinching the hens food as they have Chicken transport – travelling in style! chick crumbs to eat.
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