Chickens Afloat!

[gary4lw]

Has anyone got any experience of keeping chickens on their boat? If so - how? Saw a man at Braunston last year who kept chickens on the front deck but never come across it before or since. Has anyone?

[Sam]

Has anyone got any experience of keeping chickens on their boat? If so - how? Saw a man at Braunston last year who kept chickens on the front deck but never come across it before or since. Has anyone?

 

 

No sorry

 

Sounds fun though,... but smelly.

[Keeping Up]

The person we bought our first boat from, towed a butty (Dipper) with chickens and a couple of goats in the front one-third, scrap metal in the middle one-third, and his daughter in the rear one-third (cabin). When he stopped he just let all the chickens and goats out onto the towpath, with the goats tethered by long lines.

Edited May 31, 2007 by Keeping Up
Typo

[Supermalc]

Why would anyone want to keep bird flu on their boat?????????????

[allybsc]

The person we bought our first boat from, towed a butty (Dipper) with chickens and a couple of goats in the front one-third, scrap metal in the middle one-third, and his daughter in the rear one-third (cabin). When he stopped he just let all the chickens and goats out onto the towpath, with the goats tethered by long lines.

 

I dare say animal movement licenses would have put pay to all that malarky for a while

[blackrose]

My neighbour on a Dutch barge has a hen which has just had a chick hatch. He also keeps them on his allotment.

 

I initially thought it was a bit odd but he tells me it was common practice on barges (not sure if he means in Holland).

 

Anyway, I fed it while he was away last weekend and it's no trouble - I suppose the cleaning out is bit of a chore.

 

The girl in front has a pet rat! I think she used to be a goth...

Edited May 31, 2007 by blackrose

[ChrisPy]

no

[Noah]

If someday I sell my house to live aboard permanently, then I'll miss my chickens. However, I did once see a narrowboat with a small run on the roof with three or so hens. It had just crossed the Ribble Link! In Belgium I saw a huge barge with chickens and a couple of goats. I don't know what DEFRA would make of it!

 

Noah (with enough livestock on board already)

[allybsc]

If someday I sell my house to live aboard permanently, then I'll miss my chickens. However, I did once see a narrowboat with a small run on the roof with three or so hens. It had just crossed the Ribble Link! In Belgium I saw a huge barge with chickens and a couple of goats. I don't know what DEFRA would make of it!

 

Noah (with enough livestock on board already)

 

I've had many hens and I still have a goat ( Lotty) but she lives with a friend now who has two other caprines to keeps her company, they are the most wonderful animals and I miss her terribly but as I'm on the boat every weekend possible it just wouldn't be fair to get her back as they miss human company and have a great capacity to get into trouble if left alone, I think she would love canal life tho' I could just see her on a butty floating along behind us or munching her way along the towpath.

[Liam]

...or munching her way along the towpath.

You could bill BW for grass cutting..

Saying that though, they'd probably say you need a Goat license, which would, conveniently, be more than your bill

[AjaxKM]

Get one of those eggloo's smallish run attached to a small nesting box all plastic stick it on the roof but avoid trees!!

[Serendipity]

At least a pair for company, and a docile breed like Black Rock (also salmonella resistant apparently). The biggest problems I see are:-

• When they are out of the henhouse (and they ought to be) dogs not kept on leads will find them irresistable.
  
• Introducing another hen in a restricted space to replace the inevitable mortality. Normally this is done by keeping the newcomers in adjacent protected space for three weeks till they get used to each other. Otherwise they are likely to be pecked to death if they are simply placed together.
  
• Will probably attract rats if in one place for any length of time.
  

Much easier to keep than most people imagine though, have terrific personalities, and recycle all the kitchen scraps although we prefer not to give ours meat scraps.

[Christine]

I don't think keeping hens on board sounds like much fun for the birds but this looks like an interesting option

Eglu

[Bullfrog]

I don't think keeping hens on board sounds like much fun for the birds but this looks like an interesting option

Eglu

 

Hi Christine

 

And there's more!

 

My daughter is moving home and we are going to have to baby-sit her bantams whilst the removals are completed.

She has bought one of these 2nd-hand on e-bay and it's now sitting in our back garden:-

 

http://www.omlet.co.uk/homepage/homepage.php

 

Regards

 

David

[andywatson]

Has anyone got any experience of keeping chickens on their boat? If so - how? Saw a man at Braunston last year who kept chickens on the front deck but never come across it before or since. Has anyone?

 

I don't think they'd like it much. Either they'd be confined to a very small run or they'd be at risk when allowed to wander about off the boat before getting to know their territory. I've had a couple killed and injured in my own backyard in separate incidents by uncontrolled dogs.

 

 

I've got a couple of pekin bantams (the fluffy ones with furry legs) which I would recommend as easy to keep pets with pleasant and amusing character. My own cat and dog don't bother them at all.

Coincidentally the cockerel is called Garry.

[GUCCC150]

I use to have a pair of Polecats on the front of our old boat Molly Maguire for a few Years they used to cause a stir at time when people thought they were rabbits

[gary4lw]

Coincidentally the cockerel is called Garry.

Not surprised!

[ChrisPy]

I use to have a pair of Polecats on the front of our old boat Molly Maguire for a few Years they used to cause a stir at time when people thought they were rabbits

what did they make of chickens - or shouldn't I ask ?

 

PS Slithy Tove is a slimy type of water badger, or so we are led to believe. Can I keep a pair of badgers in my foredeck well?

Edited June 2, 2007 by chris polley

[andywatson]

I don't think keeping hens on board sounds like much fun for the birds but this looks like an interesting option

Eglu

 

They should be done under the trades descriptions act.

Eglu claim you'll never run out of eggs.............

 

Well I have.

 

 

Gary the cockerel never laid a **** thing and Chloe the hen is getting long in the tooth (or should I say beak) and hasn't laid and egg for over a year.

 

They are about as much use as fake rivets on a welded boat.

[MaryP]

Much easier to keep than most people imagine though, have terrific personalities, and recycle all the kitchen scraps although we prefer not to give ours meat scraps.

 

I've not kept chickens afloat, but in the back garden, and I agree whole heartedly with this quote. I'd love to have chickens again, but alas not on our boat as it's only 23 feet long!!

[andywatson]

Sorry for the tardy reply but an update:

 

Moored at Great Heywood this weekend was a boat with a run on the towpath containing 2 chickens.

They seemed pefectly happy and were both laying OK.

BW have not raised any objections and passers by, particularly kids, seemed to enjoy seeing them.

 

A chicken run on the tug deck would enhance a Mel Davis boat.

 

 

PS I am sorry to report that Gary the cockerel got scoffed by a fox.

Edited June 2, 2010 by andywatson

[Janet S]

I've never kept chickens afloat, but we do have a boating caterpillar...

 

 

 

He's a bugger to house train but not very good on the egg front!

 

Janet

[The Anonymous Bard]

A chicken run on the tug deck would enhance a Mel Davis boat.

 

That's because he makes Northwich Traders and not "Bantams"... boom boom!

[magnetman]

reminds me of one of my favourite "fast show" clips

 

[Derek R.]

A small hutch - preferrably not an Egloo, they are awful - can be kept in a well deck. You'll need no more than four birds, and two are fine. They like human company and are great characters. Cleanliness is paramount to keep smells down, and they'll quite happily roam a towpath, though passing dogs will be a possible problem. Keep them shut in the boat or a hutch and you will create problems with smell and sickness. (And I don't mean bird Flu - a non existent problem).

 

I heard that a working boat family kept a few birds in a forecabin somewhere. When the boat cast off, they charged along the towpath ahead of the boat, and jumped on at the next bridge'ole.

 

Keith and Christine Ball kept pedigree Goats on their boat Gerald back in the eighties. Everything spotless - and milk! Somewhat labour intensive though.

 

Having a few birds at home, I think keeping them on a boat would bring more challenges that they are worth - mostly from outsiders and their dogs taunting and chasing them.

 

Derek

Edited June 3, 2010 by Derek R.