Chickens in the Backyard

These videos about keeping chickens at home in a backyard were made in my daughter's back garden in Yorkshire. It's not very big, roughly 60' by 20' so roughly 100 square metres given over to the dozen hens and couple of ducks that she keeps along with the two rabbits and seven cats (Yes! It's Jollity Farm)

Keeping Ducks in the Back Yard or Garden

Despite what you might have heard, you don't need a big pond to keep some ducks happy in the back garden. This film stars Bumble & Bee, the big Aylesbury drakes. Ducks can make surprisingly affectionate and communicative pets.

See - Keeping Ducks in the Backyard

Backyard Chicken Keeping Tips

The first clip discusses the types of chickens you can get and where to get them from. You can get ex-battery or barn hybrid hens from commercial producers a pound or less or you can buy pure breed hens from a breeder as well as how much room and and overview of the chicken coops etc.

You can also meet Bumble & Bee the ducks who share the yard with the hens, co-starring with Blackie the Polish cockerel.

See - Backyard Chicken Keeping Tips

Backyard Chickens - The Daily Routine

As with any pet, it's important to develop and stick with a routine. Even with a dozen hens, it only takes 10 to 15 minutes a day to look after them in the week along with half an hour at the weekend for the main clean out.

See - Backyard Chicken Keeping Routine

Low Cost Chicken Housing

As with any hobby, you can spend a fortune if you're not careful. However keeping a couple of hens need not cost you much at all. Here in my daughter's garden, she's converted a rabbit ark bought for £40.00 into a chicken coop.

See - Low Cost Chicken Ark

Hens Stopped Laying

We all know that egg production falls off in the shorter and darker days of winter but we had a bit of a mystery on our hands. From a dozen eggs a day we found ourselves with quickly falling numbers and finally one day with no eggs at all!

See - Hens Stopped Laying

Hens & Your Garden

Before you keep hens in your garden, you really need to consider the effect the hens will have on the garden. A couple of hens allowed out for a few hours won't cause much of a problem but when you've a dozen hens and two ducks in a small garden, things can get out of hand.

See - Hens & Your Garden