Need help with chickens pretty please with a cherry on top:)

Question

ok here are the questions

1- if i keep two chikens in my backyrad will they destroy it?

i dnt have any vegetables, only small fruit trees and a lawn

will my grass dissapear or something? my yard is about 13 metersX8 meters

2- do u think that one australorp and one isa brown is a good choice(both females of course) are there any other breeds that are also good at being pets?

3- are those two choices flighty?

the fence that goes around my backyard is about 1.8 metres

do you think theyll run away?

4- will they destroy the garden beds?how nessasary are dust baths?

and finally what should the place they be locked up at night be...give examples

thakns alot

Answer 1

I would choose old english game bantams or seabrites being very pretty birds and  coming in several different color varieties.About being "flighty" this depends on how they were raised. Sometimes a chicken that has had very little  human contact can be tamed but not  often. They will do minimum damage in the yard  but small damages are to be expected. They will need some shelter especialy in cold weather and proper food (table scraps are a treat for chickens) You can also clip some of the inner wing feathers from one wing and make flying impossible. email me if you have any further questions

Answer 2

Two chickens probably won't destroy your backyard, but they do scratch and peck and can make some spots thin if they don't have very much room.  I suck at metric conversion, but two chickens would do just fine even in a very small backyard.

My top choices for chickens as pets are silkies (for their size, personality and looks), followed by buffs or barred rocks (heavy layers, nice temperaments, delicious egg and reliable layers).

If you want your chickens to not "fly the coop", clipping wings is very easy and painless for the bird.  Clip the flight feathers on only ONE wing - this throws their balance and they can't take off very high.  Don't clip both wings or they'll learn how to navigate without the flight feathers.

Chickens know where they are safe and well fed - they may try to wander a little during the day, but our entire flock (over 50 birds, mixed flock) knows where the nest box is, and everyone puts themselves away in the evening after free ranging all day.  Some breeds, particularly guineas, like to roost in trees, and these birds may be more difficult to close up at night.

Chickens are naturally drawn to turned soil because dust baths are fun - and they use them to keep parasites in check as well.  You can actually put a dust bath outside (wood ash works great to help prevent parasites), but you can also use a mite and lice dust mixed in with some dry soil or DE (diamtous earth).  If they don't have a dust bath, they will most certainly make their own.  My raised planters by my carriage house were designated as dust baths by the girls this year (and the end of one of my squash rows as well).  The bigger the bird, the more likely it is that you will have some inconvenience or damage to your beds or plants.  There's ways around it, though.

Chickens are almost completely blind in the dark and need to be locked up securely at night.  A small coop with a drop door that can be closed at night would work for just two, or look online for some plans for a "chicken tractor", which is a moveable coop and pen in one.  Their housing can be simple or elaborate, as long as they are protected from owls, raccoons and other predators.

Hope this helps!  

Answer 3

1. keep them in a pin made of chicken wire they will escape in a back yard with no pin. Plant veggies if you need to i guess. chickens eat feed its cheep at the feed store. I dont think your grass will disapear if you dont let the chickens where the grass is and the most damage they will do is eat the grass and lay eggs.

2. Well i think that all chickens are good but look it up online that a  certain color of chicken lays brown egga i think but they are all good to me.

3. Only if you dont keep them in a pin at all times and give them a place to lay there eggs they will be happy but just in case sometimes if you want to let them out your fences have to be very tall and chicken proof lol.

4. they will distroy them if you let them get to them easy i would put up chicken wire around just to be safe. http://www.mypetchicken.com/ebook.aspx?C...

5. A outside pin boxed all around but big for space just like the one i have described in the past words.                  Hope this helps  

Answer 4

Well:

1. Chickens will no destroy the backyard. They only peck at small pebbles/stone to aid their digestion since they don't have teeth

2. Depends what your chickens are for, eggs? meat? or just for fun?

3. Chickens can fly over fences when frighted, I tried chasing a chicken and it flew over a fence that was around 1 meter high

4. what the heck is a dust bath...

and finally, they should be locked up in a chicken coop. Maybe build one out of those wires supported with wood and corrugated metal or plastic sheet as a roof. that would be what I would do.

Answer 5

they will fertilize the lawn and if you keep them in a type of mobile pen you can move it around so that one part does not get bad and the others good.

Answer 6

they might scratch up the grass a bit, but will not intentionally, destroy your garden, in fact the poo will fertilize it for you, chickens in general are good pets they can jump fences but rarely do if they are well fed and happy, chickens are not very good fliers, but they might hope over the fence, as for your beds they might scratch about so i would fence any flowers you don't want destroyed, the best place to put them at night is in a hut, they like to be off the ground so a shed with perches about a foot off the ground will be ok, generally chickens are cool as pets, we had one that used to come around the front and peck at the window when she wanted feeding, best of luck with the chickens honey