Do you want to hatch chickens, keep hens, fight off foxes, sell your own eggs? Here's how to do it, writes ALANNA GALLAGHER
THE LATEST sound of the suburbs is the cluck, cluck, cluck of hens scratching out a life for themselves in back gardens across Dublin and other urban areas.
There's been a lot more interest in chickens in the last 12 months from across all social boundaries, from rural to suburban and even inner city gardens, says David Sandall, who runs Oak Tree Farm, a traditional beef farm outside Naas, with his wife Hannah.
They supply hatchlings and sell eggs for others to hatch in incubators.
These hard times require everything we buy to work harder for their money and, ideally, offer a return on investment.
Liz Keegan keeps hens professionally producing roughly 550 eggs every day. She sells them directly at farmers' markets.
Chickens aren't difficult to keep, she says. But you have to choose between the chickens and the garden. You can't have both.
Keeping them loose is not a good idea, she continues. "If you give them the run of your garden they will dig holes in your lawn to have dust baths.
"They will eat your slugs but they will also eat your plants and vegetation."
So what are the basic requirements? You need a garden of 30ft or more so they can run a little, says Tom Pollard, who runs Tippy Chicks, a Tipperary-based enterprise that sells two-hen and four-hen coops and runs at farmers' markets. "It needs to be grass or clay, not patio paving or concrete."
How many hens do I need? You must keep two hens at least, as a lonely hen will not be a good egg producer, says Mark O'Riordan who keeps two hens in his 100ft garden in Shankill, Co Dublin. But should you keep a cockerel?
A cockerel is a law onto himself but the girls are happier when there's a cockerel around, says Tippy Chicks's Pollard. "They lay better." But Mark O'Riordan believes: "There is no need to keep a cockerel and, if you do so in a suburban setting, your neighbours will not appreciate it."
There is, ahem, a pecking order to how the birds eat and sleep, explains Pollard. Each hen sleeps in the same spot on the roost every night with the mother hen having first dibs on food. In addition, there are early birds and night owls amongst the fowl.
Foxes are most rookie hen owners' primary concern. The only way to fox-proof your investment is to house the chickens at night. There are numerous options to choose from. The award-winning and ultra-trendy Eglu will appeal to aesthetes.
Or you could opt for the wooden hutch type, provided by Tippy Chicks, which comes with a covered run and is secured by eight inch long pegs, similar in style to those used when camping, to prevent opportunistic foxes from trying to topple the house over.
There's also the DIY route. Mark O'Riordan built his coop himself using supplies he bought in Woodies.
He estimates the materials for the A-framed ark cost no more than €130. It took him one full weekend to complete the task.
Father of three Will Walsh has two 16-week-old chicks in his 160ft long back garden in Glasnevin, Dublin 9.
There is a fox in his area and it is a concern, he says. Will has been told that, if he quite literally marks his territory daily, the fox will stay away - but what will the neighbours think, he wonders.
Will hens make money for you? Producers with less than 50 hens can sell their eggs privately, explains Liz. You put a sign up at your gate or go to market and sell the eggs. But: "You'll find it difficult to make the rent," she admits.
Hens will provide one egg a day, estimates Mark, averaging between 200-300 eggs per hen per annum. His two hens generate a gross annual profit in the region of €200. It's not enough to give up the day job but the O'Riordans have stopped buying eggs.
"We give the excess eggs to friends and family," says Mark. "One of our neighbours makes honey so we exchange eggs for honey. And we bake quite a bit."
Most of the new breed of hen owners are parents of young families.
One man bucking this trend is 21-year-old Ian Murray, who lives in a two-bedroom, third-floor apartment in Tallaght.
The chicks are four or five weeks old and, when they're 16 weeks old, he will transfer them to his parents' house nearby. They have a 30sq ft garden, that's half grass, half paving.
The eggs were sitting on the kitchen table as we talked. He has 10 more eggs in the incubator and in 15 days time may have up to another 10 chicks.
You have to register the chicks with the local veterinary office, he says. "They're the easiest things to look after. One heat lamp and a cardboard box is all you need to get started." So, give it a go, says Mark O'Riordan. In these times there is something to be said for having pets that pay their way and you never know, you could be living the Good Life in no time.
Chick tips: how to get started
Tippy Chicks offer a two-hen starter package of henhouse, complete with covered chicken run and two Rhode Island Red hens and feed, available from his stall at Dún Laoghaire's People's Park Sunday market. Price €390.
www.tippy-chicks.com
086 8627306
David and Hannah Kilcullen of Oak Tree Farm outside Naas supply hatchlings and eggs for incubation.
087 9966100
Hen food and grit is available from poultry or farm suppliers nationwide and from Glanbia Country Life stores nationwide. For stores and opening hours:
Countrylife.ie
A monthly poultry fair takes place one Sunday per month from 11am at Longstone Pet Shop in Ballymore Eustace, Co Kildare. The next fair takes place this Sunday, June 14th.
045 864939
For further information on keeping domestic hens Mark O'Riordan recommends: Henkeeping by Jane Eastoe (Collins & Brown, 2007) available at Avoca stores; Keeping Pet Chickens by Johannes Paul and William Windham (Interpet publishing, 2005); Starting with Chickens by Katie Thear (Broad Leys, 2006) both available on Amazon.co.uk
Eglu is available (about £350/€400 plus shipping to Ireland) from Omlet.co.uk. The site also offers information and tips on keeping pet hens.
