Cluck cluck cluck

[Pumpkin]

Am thinking of getting an Eglu with two chickens. There doesn't seem to be any foxes near me so am reassured on that front. But there is a cat that keeps coming in to the garden and using it as a litter tray (grrrrr!!)

Wondering if anyone in the area has/is keeping chickens and how you have found it.

(Chickens are for life, not just for dinner)

[Ulysses]

This might not be the response you were looking for pumpkin as it is not mine own personal experience but that of my parents. At home in Caterbury the neighbour decided on a chicken coop as you described. Now, the homes are detatched and set a fair distance apart but things soon took a turn for the worse.

The cock would wake the household at all manner of unacceptable hours...especially in the summer months when he'd welcome the sunrise every day...even at 5.30 on a weekend morning!

This did not lead to discord between neighbour and parents but things had to stop. Eventually the family got rid of the run (they couldn't get a full nights sleep either).

Just something to bear in mind. Had both familes not been so friendly who knows how things might have turned out. I assume you also have neighbours fairly close by?...

[Thomas]

It does sound like a lovely idea, but are you sure there aren't any foxes near you? There seem to be no end of them round where I live in Upper Sydenham.

[Pumpkin]

Plan to get two hens. They still lay eggs without the nuisance noise-making cock.

have seen foxes in far end of lower sydenham and outside the train station (!) but not anywhere near me. Then again, it may be the thin end of the wedge and they are roaming around chicken hunting in Sydenham.

Be good to hear from anyone with chickens in Sydenham. IF the news is bad...may settle on a bunny instead

[nomie44]

Sydenham is full of foxes. Not sure where you live but I regularly see them around Trewsbury road, Fairlawn Park - and not just in the dead of night! So you may need to make sure your coop is fox proof

[Willy]

I was under the impression that the Eglu was fox proof so I'm not sure it matters too much. As long as you are in the garden when you let them out of the run to roam free and you remember to tuck them up at night you should have no problem.

[Pumpkin]

Yes - eglu are suppose to be fox proof, but plan to put up extra defences as do not want a blood bath!!

The hens will be like family so will look after them as best as I can.

[Julsb]

Oh I'm envious. I loved keeping chickens when I was a child, and once you've had fresh eggs you'll never go back to the ones that sit around for weeks in the shop.