How many should I have in my flock ?

[rosaline]

I have a small garden and my neighbours are close to my house. I asked my Landlord if I could keep chickens and to my surprise he said yes. Buy only if they dont anoy the neighbours. My boyfriend said that I should just have two. I read in a post that 4 keeps the coop warm. I live in England and it is cold alot of the year. I would have loads if I could get away with it

I am going to get sussex chickens and I dont know how noisy they are.

Any info welcomed.................Thankyou x

 

[bockbock2008]

You can say you didn't see this if you still want 4 but 2 could be kept warm fairly easy with a heat lamp! Also, jsut to keep the neighbors happy, NO ROOSTERS

 

[cybercat]

I did alot of reading on Sussex breed. I almost got them myself. From what I have read you will be very happy with them as they are not overly noisy and lay well. You have more colors over there than we do here but that is expected since they were developed there.

 

[HEChicken]

Do you plan to let them free-range? If so, how big is your yard? If you are on a small, suburban lot, that may dictate the maximum number you can get. Chickens are hard on grass, so you will be limited to how many your garden can support. If I were you, I would get more than two though, and there is a practical reason other than heating the coop. Chickens are very social creatures and do not do well alone. If you get two and one of them were to get sick and die, it would leave you with a solitary chook. And, unfortunately, integration is often not quite as easy as just getting a replacement. (You might do a search on "integration" on BYC to get more of an idea of what that involves). I would recommend a minimum of four. That way if something happens to one or even two, the remaining chickens will still have a companion.

 

[jaboo81]

Not that much noise and they r a good breed.

 

[cybercat]

OP is in England Europe folks. Not USA so things are different there.

 

[kezabel]

I rent too and we started off with 4 bantams, I thought since they are smaller I could get more lol. Hubby only wanted two. Now we have 3 chicks as well cause 1 of our hens went broody and I got her some fertile eggs to hatch so now we have 7 lol and another broody is sitting on 5 eggs so we'll have more by the end of january but I won't be keeping many of the chicks because just having 4 hens they have stripped the yard they are in bare of grass, there isn't a weed or blade of grass left. My neighbours don't seem to mind the chickens but they are down the back of our yard(Behind the pool and next to the garage Fenced in. Heres apic looking down from the pool area, you can see there isn't any grass anywhere, so I'd say you should maybe get 2 if you don't want to have a dirt yard like mine(and the landlord hasn't seen the yard yet, cause they live thousands of kilometres away Ahhhh)

Also note the garden beds have to be protected from the chickens or you'll have nothing growing in no time.

 

[rosaline]

Thanks guys that helps. I will be letting them free range. I would say my garden is small about 30 feet by 50 feet I think.... You are quite right about the roo's none for me. I would love them but my neighbours would not. I am thinking of bribing them with some eggs so I am thinking of 4 is a good idea......incase some get sick. I would hate to think of them being lonley

 

[rosaline]

Quote:
Woow I didnt realise they like grass so much. My back garden has grass around the edges but in the middle it is just moss. The garadge takes some of the light away in summer. But saying that I still think your garden looks great

 

[Happy Chooks]

I'd get 4. If you are going to free range, then you could lose some to predators. (I lost 1 to a hawk) Chickens don't do well alone, if you only get 2 and something happens, then you will have a chicken by itself.