Chickens on the lawn ... and other questions.

[ll]

Hello

so we are thinking of getting 2 baby chickens, which brought me to this wonderful forum. My husband is concerned that if we let them roam in our fenced yard there will be chicken poop all over and we won't be able to walk in our urban yard. Any insight regarding this? Our local park has many ducks & geese and you cannot walk without stepping in droppings, will 2 buff orpington hens make our yard like that?
I read that you should keep separate shoes for going inside your chicken coop, does that mean we should have wear separate shoes for our yard too? Will our whole lawn will be like a chicken coop and we won't be able to play outside?
Also we have concerns of lice ... is lice something that they are bound to get and we must use a weekly preventative, or is lice something that 2 carefully kept clean chickens will probably never get?
Do we have to wake up at the break of dawn to open our coop pop door, or can we sleep until 8am/9am and then let them out? (I don't want the added expense of an automatic door).
I read about cleaning their coop once a year with the deep bedding method ... we have a rabbit hutch that I clean ALOT more often than that, and the rabbit's droppings fall thru hardware cloth. Is cleaning the chicken coop monthly not a good thing? *is confused*
Also I keep seeing "DH" everywhere, can someone just satisfy my curiousity as to what the letters stand for?
Thanks for any info!

 

[Fred's Hens]

I wouldn't worry too much about lice, but simply put? If you allow chickens to wander your yard, you'll have holes dug and poop EVERYWHERE. On the walkways, porches and anywhere. It almost seems as if they save up the really big ones until they get on your deck, patio or porch and let 'er dump!!!!

OK, we have joke about it, sort of, but honestly? Yes, it is that bad. Unguarded flower beds? Yippee! That's invitation to rip it up, dust bath, smash day lily plants flat, and you name it. Oh yes, chicken are wonderful in every way.

 

[LarryPQ]

2 chickens will poop more than you think, but will be unnoticable in the grass. It breaks down fairly quickly, and while it smells, it doesn't have the same staying power as carnivore poo (say dog turds).

There are very few diseases you can catch from chickens: and am fairly certain they are not present in teh US.

People keep seperate shoes because:
1- It is a pain to keep cleaning your shoes.
2- Visit other people who have chickens and want to prevent the spread of chicken diseases.

Lice happen. Prevantative maitenance and occasional checking will keep it in control. Wild birds have lice, so you cant prevent it 100%. Thankfully, they are easy to get rid of.

No, your girls will happily wait for you to let them out. If you build and enclosed run, you don't have to let the chickens out. Give them a doggie door.

Clean the coop as often as you need to. It is dry here, so the deep litter method has very little value for me. Goodness forbid it rains, because that is the only time the coop stinks to me.


Finally: You may want to consider getting 3 hens, rather than two. Then if one dies, you do not have a lone hen, and have to worry about introducing a random new bird. Chickens like a flock.

 

[outdoor junkie]

Nobody answered the DH question, I've been wondering that too but have been scared to ask for fear it stands for dumb husband.

 

[DancingHen]

First off, welcome to BYC!

Yes, chickens will poo everywhere, and they will dig up or eat your plants. They do love to scratch a lot. If this concerns you you could build them a run, or fence off a section of your yard in order to contain the mess to one area.

You do not have to let your hens out at the crack of dawn. 8 or 9am is fine. They will come out whenever you let them, but also don't mind a couple hours in the coop. I think an hour or two in the coop each morning gives the hens a chance to lay their eggs before going out. This can help them learn to use nest boxes rather than bushes.

And the deep litter method is just one of many ways people manage their coops. If you prefer to clean it more often it is really just about personal preference. So long as you keep it clean enough to be sanitary living quarters for the birds. I do know that if the birds are exposed to small amounts of poo from chickhood on it helps their bodies build resistances to certain bacteria, but too much mess breeds excess bacteria. But clean the coop as often as you like.

Hope that helps.

Oh, and be sure that your birds will be totally worth the mess! They are such fun.

 

[donnavee]

DH is short for "Dear Husband". And so it goes - DW "Dear Wife", etc. It took me a while. At first I was amazed at how many people had spouses with the same initials - and then

- it hit me!

 

[outdoor junkie]

So it's not dumb husband.

I just thought all women had the same pet names for us as mine does.

 

[DancingHen]

Quote:

 

[ll]

Thank you all for your replies

 

[chicknhawaii]

Quote:

It can also mean "darling" but I like your answer!!!