Keeping animals...?

[Gulfalan67]

So I've got a mate in Darwin who lives in a small ground floor unit (apartment). She has a dog, a cat and a clutch of chooks -including a rooster. She says she is 'a farm girl at heart' and her menagerie is important to her quality of life.

My wife and I laugh at her but can't understand how she gets away with it. Her neighbours aren't too impressed by the rooster, but nobody has complained.

Just wondering what the requirements are in UK about owning stock on your property...Dogs and cats I understand -but what about goats, ponies, pigs or larger domestic critters? Do you need a certain size block, a council permit or anything like that? Or could you have a goat or pig or chooks in a suburban backyard?

Curious.

Alan

 

[Ystranc]

If you want to keep farm animals you need to register with the county council to get a smallholder number. Effectively each animal is ear tagged with an individual identity but this only becomes important in the event of sickness, transport or the animal going for slaughter and entering the food chain. There is an additional requirement for pigs to be registered with a public health register which is also part of the council but doesn't talk to the other part of the council. Home slaughter is legal as long as it is done humanely. If you transport live animals there are welfare and hygiene rules to prevent the spread of disease or animal cruelty. There are forms in triplicate for pretty much anything and everything. And minimum standards for allowing animals to express natural behaviour, space and housing.
If an animal has a disease/medication of any kind it is wise to keep a record of it along with a note of any recommended withdrawal period (during which food produce isn't allowed to enter the food chain.)
Any animals that die from unexplained causes cannot be disposed of on the farm (buried or burned) but must be removed by a licenced contractor unless ordered to do otherwise by DEFRA.
I'm bound to have missed a few bits, Lol can probably fill in the gaps.
You can keep a small number of chickens without registering (up to 20?) some places have by laws against keeping cockerels
Edit; it is 50 hens before you need to register.

 

[Bam]

According to our deeds we're not supposed to keep chickens although it wouldn't be a criminal offence. The neighbours could go through the civil courts though. We haven't bothered although I was speaking to a mate who has looked into it and spoke to the council who said if he was doing it (paraphrasing now) as a hobby and not a business they had no problem with it and were helpful as long as he didn't have a rooster. So it was down to making sure the neighbours were fine. He even had a place that rehomed ex battery hens, that was about a month ago and I've not seen him since to see how its going but what with our dug and cat the missus has gone off the idea.

 

[Ystranc]

Ex battery hens sound like a fine idea but they quite often arrive in such a state of shock that they don't survive long. I would recommend that he look for some point of lay (twenty week old) warren hybrids, often referred to as commercial brown. Check that they can move about freely and do not have crossed beaks or malformed feet. Depending on where they're from and how many he is buying they will cost between £6-£20 each.
Warrens are quiet, undemanding and quite friendly egg layers. They're a great starting point.

 

[Joecole]

So I've got a mate in Darwin who lives in a small ground floor unit (apartment). She has a dog, a cat and a clutch of chooks -including a rooster. She says she is 'a farm girl at heart' and her menagerie is important to her quality of life.

My wife and I laugh at her but can't understand how she gets away with it. Her neighbours aren't too impressed by the rooster, but nobody has complained.

Just wondering what the requirements are in UK about owning stock on your property...Dogs and cats I understand -but what about goats, ponies, pigs or larger domestic critters? Do you need a certain size block, a council permit or anything like that? Or could you have a goat or pig or chooks in a suburban backyard?

Curious.

Alan

In my last house I had 4 laying hens and 6 rare breeds bantam hens and a banty cock that I incubated from an egg, ultimately the noisy little cock had to go to a farm because he was a noisy little bugger. The hens were acceptable to the neighbours because they loved the fresh eggs. I enjoy eggs Alan but no chicken egg could ever compare to fresh bantam eggs. Anyway I think as long as your reasonable most neighbours are content to accept your way of life

 

[Ark79]

I won’t be telling my good lady about this thread as she’s been nagging me for hens for years Running out off reasons now lol.

my cousin has always kept hens, cocks and a multitude of birds for years, he had ones with blue feet and what I described as fur, pure white also, funny looking things. I love eggs but I don’t like chickens lol

 

[Joecole]

I won’t be telling my good lady about this thread as she’s been nagging me for hens for years Running out off reasons now lol.

my cousin has always kept hens, cocks and a multitude of birds for years, he had ones with blue feet and what I described as fur, pure white also, funny looking things. I love eggs but I don’t like chickens lol

Mark the ones with fury feet are either a bantam breed or a rare breed chuck, why not just get a couple of laying hens and make a portable chicken run and house. Then the secret is to put it on your veg patch for the winter, that gives you a double hit, they will eat every slug and nasty on the patch and you'll never have to use fertilizer again

 

[Ark79]

Mark the ones with fury feet are either a bantam breed or a rare breed chuck, why not just get a couple of laying hens and make a portable chicken run and house. Then the secret is to put it on your veg patch for the winter, that gives you a double hit, they will eat every slug and nasty on the patch and you'll never have to use fertilizer again

Stop making it sound so easy joe, a hate the bloody things with there bobbing heeds and wonky feet

 

[Joecole]

Stop making it sound so easy joe, a hate the bloody things with there bobbing heeds and wonky feet

and their beautiful eggs not to say the beautiful soup they make when they are past egg laying Mark so I suggest you stop being a whimp about it and grow some feathers on your chest

 

[Ark79]

and their beautiful eggs not to say the beautiful soup they make when they are past egg laying Mark so I suggest you stop being a whimp about it and grow some feathers on your chest

nope

 

[Ystranc]

Truth be known it is probably cheaper to buy your fresh eggs. Chickens can be relatively expensive to keep in small numbers when you cost in the expense of housing, feed etc. The people that make a profit out of poultry farming are able to do so because of the economy of scale...the more birds you keep, the more economical it is. We are only playing at it. Having said that I've just had to spent the thick end of £500 on materials to put a 7x4 meter roofed extension on my chicken run because of this bird flu quarantine coming in on Monday.

 

[Ystranc]

nope

I've seen photos of your shed and tool store Mark, you could soon knock up a cracking little hen house. Just think of the brownie points that you could earn from Sharon....I could email some designs strait to her very easily if you'd like mate

 

[Ark79]

I've seen photos of your shed and tool store Mark, you could soon knock up a cracking little hen house. Just think of the brownie points that you could earn from Sharon....I could email some designs strait to her very easily if you'd like mate

How dose joe put it second word is “OFF”

 

[Joecole]

Truth be known it is probably cheaper to buy your fresh eggs. Chickens can be relatively expensive to keep in small numbers when you cost in the expense of housing, feed etc. The people that make a profit out of poultry farming are able to do so because of the economy of scale...the more birds you keep, the more economical it is. We are only playing at it. Having said that I've just had to spent the thick end of £500 on materials to put a 7x4 meter roofed extension on my chicken run because of this bird flu quarantine coming in on Monday.

Trust you to spoil things when I was about to have him pecking out of my hand

 

[Gulfalan67]

Absolutely its cheaper to buy eggs from commercial producers but then you have no control over the conditions the hens are kept in or the impact of the industry on the environment.

We would never buy battery farmed eggs on principle. Not because I'm a bleeding heart chook hugger, but because the industry has an appauling environmental record and I hate to think what chemicals and hormones go into their layers. Just look at the colour of your home egg yolks compared with what comes from the battery farm. And in these days of COVID and chook flu, high densities of birds pose a biosecurity hazzard.

I read somewhere that the chook is the most populous vertebrate species on planet earth, outnumbering humans many times over. Thats why I'm not too sore whenever an old python slides in and swallows one of ours

Alan

 

[Gulfalan67]

 

[Joecole]

Absolutely its cheaper to buy eggs from commercial producers but then you have no control over the conditions the hens are kept in or the impact of the industry on the environment.

We would never buy battery farmed eggs on principle. Not because I'm a bleeding heart chook hugger, but because the industry has an appauling environmental record and I hate to think what chemicals and hormones go into their layers. Just look at the colour of your home egg yolks compared with what comes from the battery farm. And in these days of COVID and chook flu, high densities of birds pose a biosecurity hazzard.

I read somewhere that the chook is the most populous vertebrate species on planet earth, outnumbering humans many times over. Thats why I'm not too sore whenever an old python slides in and swallows one of ours

Alan

And of course you can always eat the python, as I no longer have chickens all my eggs are certified free range from my local farm shop as is most of the meat I eat

 

[Bam]

And of course you can always eat the python, as I no longer have chickens all my eggs are certified free range from my local farm shop as is most of the meat I eat

I had the discussion a while back with the missus about where I got my meat from. My proper local butcher isn't organic and I said I can support the local guy OR buy organic, she preferred that I use the local guy which I did for a number of years. I've fallen into bad habits though, as its just me I find it easier to buy larger packs and freeze them and now they're generally from a supermarket. I still like to buy steaks and some stuff from him (he does an array of lovely burgers) but I'm back to the ease of the supermarket for chicken breasts etc.

 

[Joecole]

I had the discussion a while back with the missus about where I got my meat from. My proper local butcher isn't organic and I said I can support the local guy OR buy organic, she preferred that I use the local guy which I did for a number of years. I've fallen into bad habits though, as its just me I find it easier to buy larger packs and freeze them and now they're generally from a supermarket. I still like to buy steaks and some stuff from him (he does an array of lovely burgers) but I'm back to the ease of the supermarket for chicken breasts etc.

My pet hate from super markets is sausages, to get decent ones you have to go to the deli section and pay a ridiculous price, in my local farm shop I can buy beautiful farm made bangers for about two thirds of the supermarket price

 

[Bam]

My pet hate from super markets is sausages, to get decent ones you have to go to the deli section and pay a ridiculous price, in my local farm shop I can buy beautiful farm made bangers for about two thirds of the supermarket price

Funnily enough, I'm not a fan of the snorkers from my local butcher although his burgers are brilliant and he's quite inventive with stuff in sauces. Nice thick cut steaks too.