Sustainable living - Chicken tips please

johnfás wrote:

My neighbour has a dog who barks so I don't think they could complain if I brought in some farm animals. Are you allowed to keep farm animals in an urban environment? Do you need a licence or a certain zoning of land or anything like that?

I think you have to register chickens with DAFF, for avian flu reasons. Not sure what the story is re sheep or cattle, but travelling around certain parts of Dublin would seem to indicate that the rules for keeping horses are fairly lax.

Helen Dillon keeps chickens.

TheBear wrote:

johnfás wrote:

My neighbour has a dog who barks so I don't think they could complain if I brought in some farm animals. Are you allowed to keep farm animals in an urban environment? Do you need a licence or a certain zoning of land or anything like that?

I think you have to register chickens with DAFF, for avian flu reasons. Not sure what the story is re sheep or cattle, but travelling around certain parts of Dublin would seem to indicate that the rules for keeping horses are fairly lax.

Seems to be cultural in nature. I guarantee you if I brought a horse from a relation down the country up and grazed it in Bushy Park I would not only be liable to a fine, I'd be brought up before a judge for countless other reasons. I have always thought the same would apply if I, not having the background of a traveller, were to adopt the lifestyle of a Traveller and create myself an unofficial halting site.... interested to hear if anyone has tried this??

johnfás wrote:

TheBear wrote:

johnfás wrote:

My neighbour has a dog who barks so I don't think they could complain if I brought in some farm animals. Are you allowed to keep farm animals in an urban environment? Do you need a licence or a certain zoning of land or anything like that?

I think you have to register chickens with DAFF, for avian flu reasons. Not sure what the story is re sheep or cattle, but travelling around certain parts of Dublin would seem to indicate that the rules for keeping horses are fairly lax.

Seems to be cultural in nature. I guarantee you if I brought a horse from a relation down the country up and grazed it in Bushy Park I would not only be liable to a fine, I'd be brought up before a judge for countless other reasons. I have always thought the same would apply if I, not having the background of a traveller, were to adopt the lifestyle of a Traveller and create myself an unofficial halting site.... interested to hear if anyone has tried this??

call me a cynic, but you have a fixed abode, therefore can receive mail/summons.

johnfás wrote:

TheBear wrote:

johnfás wrote:

My neighbour has a dog who barks so I don't think they could complain if I brought in some farm animals. Are you allowed to keep farm animals in an urban environment? Do you need a licence or a certain zoning of land or anything like that?

I think you have to register chickens with DAFF, for avian flu reasons. Not sure what the story is re sheep or cattle, but travelling around certain parts of Dublin would seem to indicate that the rules for keeping horses are fairly lax.

Seems to be cultural in nature. I guarantee you if I brought a horse from a relation down the country up and grazed it in Bushy Park I would not only be liable to a fine, I'd be brought up before a judge for countless other reasons. I have always thought the same would apply if I, not having the background of a traveller, were to adopt the lifestyle of a Traveller and create myself an unofficial halting site.... interested to hear if anyone has tried this??

I'd be interested in watching that Bushy Park experiment. You're probably right, though it's strange that they'd care more about a horse grazing or kids skateboarding than they would about the number of people drinking there at night, and the number of people allegedly attacked there.

To be honest I haven't been down in Bushy Park in literally years. Tend to go to Marley or more often than not I walk in the mountains. Parks are a fabulous resource but when I want to go for a walk I prefer to do it in the mountains without the limitation of a boundary!

Well, the chickens are here, all present and correct: two Isa Browns and two beautiful Wellsummers.

One of them has just laid an egg

Hey I grew up with chickens. There was henhouse out the back and I used to play with them.
Then one day the local farmer and a couple of others came by and killed them all. I still remember running into mammy and dragging her out to get them to stop but she just stood and looked on. The farmer laughed as he chocked them. I must have been 4.

And that was the end of our chickens.

Respvblica wrote:

Hey I grew up with chickens. There was henhouse out the back and I used to play with them.
Then one day the local farmer and a couple of others came by and killed them all. I still remember running into mammy and dragging her out to get them to stop but she just stood and looked on. The farmer laughed as he chocked them. I must have been 4.

And that was the end of our chickens.

And that, m'lud, is why I killed all those joggers with axes...

toxic avenger wrote:

Respvblica wrote:

Hey I grew up with chickens. There was henhouse out the back and I used to play with them.
Then one day the local farmer and a couple of others came by and killed them all. I still remember running into mammy and dragging her out to get them to stop but she just stood and looked on. The farmer laughed as he chocked them. I must have been 4.

And that was the end of our chickens.

And that, m'lud, is why I killed all those joggers with axes...

aye - life just wasn´t the same again. And when I heard the clucking boises in my head I was reminded that the blood of murdered chickens was spilt and crying out for jusitice!
But was it justice or revenge?

The silence of the chickens ? ...

cactus flower wrote:

The silence of the chickens ? ...

The heads were bitten off by Hennibal Lecter

Chickens are anything but silent, their bok bok bok is a pleasant addition to our surroundings. Egg laying, if the noises the hen makes are anything to go by, is not an easy task.

I'm not sure how much to feed them. I have topped them up twice so far today, and last time I looked out of the window, four little faces were staring up at the house hopefully...

toxic avenger wrote:

Respvblica wrote:

Hey I grew up with chickens. There was henhouse out the back and I used to play with them.
Then one day the local farmer and a couple of others came by and killed them all. I still remember running into mammy and dragging her out to get them to stop but she just stood and looked on. The farmer laughed as he chocked them. I must have been 4.

And that was the end of our chickens.

And that, m'lud, is why I killed all those joggers with axes...

Good one.

The chickens have been doing well, and giving us eggs most days. We are getting to know each other. They know I bring them food, and if they are out in the garden descend on me at speed with a nice swaying run, apart from the shy one who sticks her head gingerly over the edge of whichever bit of greenery she is hiding behind.
Shutuplaura ( I think) told me I would need a gun to protect my chickens. I was looking out of the bedroom window this morning and saw a small grubby child chasing shy chicken around the garden, grabbing her from behind and leaping off over the hedge with her. I was out of the bed and into my coat and boots in seconds, and around to the side lane where I thought I would find him. His family was there, washing the horses in the pond and generally chilling. They told me they had sent him back with the chicken, which was true. It was just a reflex .
Then they offered to sell me some chickens....

This reminds me of a part in Michael Moore's first documentary film, Roger & Me*, where he interviews an unemployed woman in Michigan who has resorted to farming rabbits in her garden and selling them. The scene where she's skinning the rabbits ain't pretty.

The scene is actually titled "Pets or Meat?"
*
Roger & Me
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098213/

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=xPNmHPjkxdk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_&_Me

Quote :

...Moore also meets some of the residents of Flint, who are reeling from the economic fallout of the layoffs. We meet a former feminist radio
host named Janet who, to find work, joins Amway as a saleswoman. We also meet a former auto worker, angered over the layoffs, who is actually named James Bond.

The most famous resident that appears in the film is Rhonda Britton, who sells rabbits for "Pets or Meat" (The scene many believe was the reason Roger & Me received an R-rating features Britton killing a rabbit by beating it with a lead pipe. The rabbit fights back before and during the early part of the beating.) Prevalent throughout the film is Sheriff's Deputy Fred Ross, whose job now demands that he go around town carrying out evictions on families unable to pay their rent...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105134/

I'm shocked. Somebody should have taught that woman how to kill a rabbit properly

(pm me for instructions)

I can see FAS starting up some courses for the humane killing of chickens and rabbits!


The documentary is old so it's hard to find in your video rental shop so....
Roger and Me (1989)
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3776055/Roger__amp__Me
Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint (1992)
http://www.monova.org/details/706961/ROGER%20AND%20ME%20(1989)%20AVI.html

Chickens don't like snow.

Chicken flavoured ice-pops anyone?

I was wondering how they'd do in snow.

(I'm getting mine on Saturday! I'm so excited! Getting two Rhode Island Reds, one Welsummer and one Sussex.)

Good luck TheBear.

Mine are much happier now we have taken the plunge and let them roam. They are of course destroying the flower beds but it is worth it for their happiness and the much tastier eggs. We found their nest under the bedroom window and we're getting 5-6 eggs a day now.
The Welsummers can fly quite a bit.

I'm looking for someone around here who will swap bread or potatoes for eggs. We have plenty of fruit and greens now.

So, here are my first pictures of the chickens. This is from the first day I got them home; they were just exploring their new environment. They were a bit shaken due to the drive from Monaghan (and because my nephew - seen in the background - was chasing them whenever I turned my back), but they settled down soon enough.

No eggs yet, and the jokes about chicken soup and the like are becoming more frequent. Let's hope they start laying soon.

(As can also be seen, Mr and Mrs Bear ran out of steam halfway through clearing the garden. I figure the hens will help out on that front, picking at everything that grows.)

Cute as buttons.

Is the Sussex the blonde ?

What do you give them to eat? They like cooked vegetable peelings, greens, we get layers mash from the co-op, some bird seed (they go mad for that, I think there might be something addictive in it) or porridge. They find a lot of bugs in the garden.

If they are roaming, it may be just that they are hiding their eggs successfully.

In one of those photographs, they appear to be under attack from a Dalek.

They have to be among the finest chickens I've ever seen.