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GF and I are moving into a new place soon and have always fancied keep a few chickens for eggs. We have a couple of friends who do the same but after a little reading on the internet it seems that keeping ducks is a little easier. Anyone on here have any experience?
Chickens are dead easy, if they have enough food/water and an automatic door opener/closer you can leave them alone for long periods - just collect the eggs every couple of days.
They're dead cheap and produce iDave fuel, what's not to like.
Ducks look cute but they utterly trash the ground they're on.
My thoughts only and am happy to be enlightened.
Chickens are easy, but foxes are absolute b*******. I'd shoot every one I could find - they've had 5 or 6 of our flock over the last year.
foxes also like Duck 🙁
Ducks will wreck your garden more than chickens.
You end up with a giant mud bath.
Foxes need to eat or they'll die, they slaughter a flock to create a food stash for later on, thats why they'll come back, its the food chain. Best bet is to predator proof your flock (its what i dread most!).
Dunno what easiest or makes the most mess, but sounds like you need to visit the singletrackworld of chickens, which is: http://www.backyardchickens.com it has a great forum which is very helpful to noobies.
After looking at their coop designs [url= http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/martin-ds-member-page ]here is our full custom build[/url]
😀
You need a pond otherwise they won't be happy and their feathers get in a right mess.
Thanks for all the info. It looks like chickens will be the better option. Would love coop like yours qwerty but unfortunately we are limited by garden size. Looking to have a maximum of about four chickens.
Lovely eggs from ducks though, and you won't find a slug in your garden anywhere. (The OH keeps 3 domestic mallards and 2 Indian runners.)
Chicks are easyier than ducks which need water,to be put inside at night and their poo stinks. We run an electric fence and have never bothered to lock them in at night either. Need to keep your eye out for rats too
Here is my self build..
Ladies inspecting the progress..
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Finished coop without poo tray..
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Nice and toasty..
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Here's mine - only paid for mesh, all wood was scavenged:
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