Keeping hens

Rescue hens will lay lots of eggs so little if any cost, but you need a secure run, that will cost £100+, the run will need moving weekly so you do need space, if you have 3 hens you should get 2 eggs a day.

The real downside is cost, if you are buying bags of chicken feed your eggs will cost at least double that of supermarket free range.

I had three garden hens for a few years. I enjoyed it a lot but, you won't save money though you'll have much better eggs than any shop can provide. I paid some builders working on our house to build a run, burying the chicken wire a foot down into the ground. Otherwise, the fox who uses the ginnel at the side of our house on her/his travels would have had the hens. I was lucky and had the space but you can buy a run big enough for three hens fairly cheaply. They can be moved every day.

Two of my hens laid 2 eggs a day. We kept ourselves in eggs, and often had half a dozen extras for friends. The hens also have great individual characters. They loved free ranging around the garden. The three dogs were curious but one loud "leave" and they would lie happily in the garden with the hens clucking around them.
Happy days, so glad I was able to do it but the space eventually was needed for other things.

We kept 3 hens for several years, and gained lots of eggs for our family and several friends and neighbours

On the downside, one year the coop became infested with red mite, which needed intensive and costly treatment. The hens also gradually go off laying, but still need feeding, and we did have a spate of mice visiting the coop.

Eventually the oldest hens died, and the coop was becoming shabby and in need of replacement. We decided not to bother, and didn't keep any more.

Someone near me has got hens. I hear them every morning and have visions of the family sitting at breakfast time eating fresh boiled eggs They're quite big gardens so I imagine lots of freedom for the hens.

My daughter has kept chickens for several years, the rescued hens looked very sick and unwell when she first had them, but they blossomed, you will need a large fenced area, with fencing that goes under the ground also a hen house to shut them up in at night.
Sadly, although she has kept chickens for years, none lived to a ripe old age, vets visits for some, who then died ( after expensive treatment) but the foxes visit frequently and took Her last 6 hens just recently and she was devastated, so no chickens at the moment.
Bear in mind that as the nights draw in there will be no eggs until early spring.
But well done for considering rescue hens, they are only released infrequently so you might have to get your name down for the next lot.

I so admire anyone who takes in rescued or ex-battery hens.
Hen keepers, how do you rate the Omlet coop range?

Omelet coops are very good but expensive. We had hens for a time at the school where I taught and an Omelet coop was given to us.
It was easy to clean out and great for the hens as it was almost fox proof.

We had hens years ago when we lived in a rural location and DD2, when 9, had a roaring egg business selling them to friends and family. Hens roamed free during the day and were closed in the henhouse at night.

Three 'rescue' hens owned the bottom of the garden for a few years, they were all individual, even down to the colour and shape of eggs they laid. 'Downsides' are mentioned above, but I'd also add that they have to be let out and in every day, so there is a commitment to being around all the time.

We kept hens formerly.

However, their feed does attract mice and unhappily, rats!

So don't keep hens if you don't keep cats or a terrier.

Fresh eggs are marvellous, but hen-houses have to be mucked out and hens can have fleas!

Also like all livestock they have to be looked after by someone else if you want to go away from home.

We were brought up on a small poultry farm, and when my sister moved house when retired, she couldn’t wait to acquire two or three chickens, (not rescue ones), as she had never had a garden before.

Her DH built a run and hut, and it was all great, she gave them old fashioned names, and enjoyed the eggs.

After a few years however, and a replacement hen or two, I think the novelty wore off a bit. If they wanted to go away, it meant getting a neighbour to see to them, some rats were spotted in the garden, the chicken run took up most of the outside space. And the cost of feed etc. must have far outweighed buying a dozen free range eggs a week.

Final straw, last surviving hen was poorly, had to be put down (expensively) by vet. (Our dad, back in our childhood, wrung the necks of failing stock, a much cheaper option, but this was in the 50’s).

Never hear sis mention keeping chickens any more.

ducks lay better than hens. Rescue hens lay brilliantly and are much tamer than rare breeds. The only way to avoid fox and badger predation is a completely enclosed 'aviary' (with netting dug down as previously mentioned) or as I do - electrified netting. 10,000 volts is a good way to avoid then becoming fox food. Omlet are good but can become very very hot in sunny weather.

We kept hens for years, specialising in rare breeds. There was always a market for them at an auction about 45 mins away.

We gave up when our last ones died of old age three years ago. The main reason we didn't replace them was the year before there had been an outbreak of avian 'flu' and and all poultry, including domestic pets had to be kept under cover. Ours free ranged so we had to build covers for all the runs. There was a hefty fine for anyone who didn't comply.

Our hens hated being confined and their food bill doubled so I wouldn't want to go down that route again, despite the supply of lovely eggs.

Avian flu was a godsend for us. We live in a rural area. Neighbours with chickens on both sides. One is a responsible owner, the other wasn’t and her lovely free range hens Ranged all over our garden, scratching up plants and pooing on the grass. We were at our wits end.
I think that they were too much trouble when they had to be confined so we never saw them again. @merlotgran

Well the @merlotgran didn’t work How do you get the bold name at the beginning?

We’ve lots of land so I kept 4. With coop, food, illness, finding someone to look after whilst away, etc it’s very expensive . When the last one died, I didn’t bother again.

Cheaper to buy from farm near us who sell duck eggs too.

I’d like to keep hens but realistically it’s not going to happen, I don’t think. Instead I live vicariously through a friend who rescues battery hens. She’s become obsessed and now drives round the country with a trailer full of hens, delivering them to people wanting to rehome.

Last Christmas was interesting - she ended up taking some unwanted turkeys (They’d grown too big) and had two dozen of them roaming round her not-very-large garden until she could find homes for them! ? ? ?

We kept hens too when we lived in the country and agree it's quite costly. Especially on a small scale - poultry farmers seem to make a living.
Another point not yet mentioned - ours always went "off lay" at certain times of the year. Or went broody and somehow managed to collect all the eggs which others had laid for her to sit on.
We had cockerels too, maybe that makes a difference. But they eventually ended 'in the pot'.
As Iam says it's so interesting to watch their behaviour and learn from it.
There were buzzards about where we lived and they go for chicks or small hens. One day I heard the boss cockerel making a huge row and saw him flapping his wings looking very aggressive. He was frightening off a buzzard to protect his hens. Who were hiding under a bush.