Keeping Chickens in a South African Suburb

Backyard chickens are increasingly popular and mostly straightforward, provided you check the rules first and build for predators rather than hoping.

Check the by-laws

Most municipalities permit a limited number of hens on residential properties, often with conditions about distance from boundaries and neighbouring dwellings, and roosters are frequently prohibited outright as a noise nuisance. Sectional title schemes usually prohibit poultry entirely. Check your municipal animal or poultry by-law and, if applicable, your body corporate rules.

Do not keep a rooster in a suburb. You do not need one for eggs and it will generate complaints.

The coop

• Space: roughly 0.3 to 0.4 square metres per bird inside, plus a run of at least one square metre each, more if they are not free-ranging.
• Ventilation without draught — high vents, no gaps at roosting height. Ammonia build-up causes respiratory disease.
• Roosting bars higher than the nest boxes, or they will sleep in the boxes and foul the eggs.
• One nest box per three to four hens.
• Shade. Heat kills chickens far more often than cold in South Africa. A coop in full afternoon sun is a death trap.

Predators

This is where most people lose birds. Dogs, cats, mongooses, genets, birds of prey, snakes and rats all take chickens or eggs. Use welded mesh rather than chicken wire, which a determined predator tears through. Bury or skirt the mesh outward at ground level to stop digging. Cover the run. Close the coop at dusk, every single night — the vast majority of losses happen overnight.

Rats are the underestimated problem: they eat feed, take eggs and kill chicks. Store feed in sealed metal bins and do not leave feeders out overnight.

Feeding and health

Layer pellets as the base, plus grit and a calcium source such as crushed shell. Kitchen scraps are a supplement, not a diet, and there are rules about feeding certain waste to poultry. Fresh water always, in shade, checked twice daily in summer.

Watch for external parasites — red mite lives in coop crevices and comes out at night, so inspect the coop, not just the birds. Deworm as advised and quarantine any new birds for a fortnight.

Neighbour management

Give the neighbours eggs. It solves nearly everything.