Chicken Help Please Please Please

mum_of_4

skipton wrote: »

Yes the Blackrock is the friendliest of the group. The Bluebelle is the one thats not sure about being touched

Yes I got red...did want pink but my other half wanted boring green.

We have to share the garden with a Badgers sett, foxes that walk across the drive during the day, a wood full of squirrels and the odd pheasant or three so I wanted something very secure. I bought the extra runs this week which has made all the difference.

I think my girls are spoilt they get lots of treats.....cooked potato peelings today yum yum. They are on woodchip mulch so lots of bugs but no grass. I cut up grass for them as I was worried about them eating long grass and getting a compacted crop!

When i'm on holiday i throw some corn into some tubs and then my neighbour just keeps swopping them over so that they can get something green. I also plant some around the garden and they tend to leave a lot of my plants alone. It grows really fast.

skipton

What a great idea. I'll do that in spring until then I'll keep going out with my scissors. They go mad for it when I sprinkle it over the floor.

tryingtobegreen

UPDATE
Lost my little chook over night, the other 3 seem and always have been OK but could tell the little one was struggleing.
My chooks are getting better around me now, they still dont like me picking them up but love to come into the house for a bit of TV and warmth. This is my little treat to bring them round to likeing me.
I dont let them go, i just hold, coo and stroke.
Got a nest box made and attactched yesterday, they not been in it yet, im gutted as it took me all day in the freezing cold.
Ive put their food into it today in the hope that they get hungry enough to venture in an realise its full of shavings and hay.
So a sad day, 'scratch' has gone to chook heaven, but the others WILL be fine

allIcouldwishfor

Hi tryingtobegreen, sorry to hear about your chook.

Well done on adopting them - they are lots of fun and very good value pets, although I doubt your new nestbox will see any action much before April!

pbfhpunk

I have the cube from omlet, love it!!

Started off with 6 in April one got taken by a dog, which was horrible, then 2 more by a fox, so got 4 more and now up to 7, got 1 bluebelle - boss of the bunch, 1 speckledy - think of Blanche from corrie, nosey and stirring up trouble! , a Black rock, 2 cross hens (think this is they're angry rather than cross breed, one is having a moult at the moemnt) and the two most adorable Amber stars, that clamber for attention and always want to be stroked and picked up and wander into the kitchen.

We feed them layers pellets and they gat a tin of sweetcorn thrown in the run to forrage and scratch for. and treats of grapes which is hysterical to watch them going for, mashed up new potatoes which they end up with all over their beaks! Porridge oats, and pretty much anything really!

Wouldn't be without them. For worming and red mite we sprinkle DE in the nest bok on the roost bar ends, in their run and in their food.

H

Takana

Thats so sad you lost one of your chickens. I hope the others continue to do well. I really want to keep chickens, but I'm not allowed outdoor (or even indoor) pets where I live One day when we live in a better flat or even a house I will keep them!

mum_of_4

So sorry for the loss of your chicken,tryingtobegreen. I would be so gutted if we lost one. We had a sparrow hawk take three young pekins. In about 1 minute of each other. Onece hte hawks young flew we never had a problem but were were so upset.

pbfhpunk i also have an amber star/link/lee and she is so lovely. I looked everywhere for them and then a fab poultry farm got some the day before i was going to collect my others so I was so pleased. She is called snowie (children named her)and just loves to be cuddled.

tryingtobegreen

i dont understand the difference with breeds. i just went for bantys as theyre the smallest im told.
Could i add another breed without them fighting?
also what gives good eggs and is friendly?

dora37

Your chickens should be fed grower pellets until the age of about 18 weeks and then should be fed layer pellets.

Corn should be fed only as a treat it is like sweets to them and will make them fat- which is not what you want if you want layers.

Chickens have a pecking order so new introductions need to be done slowly otherwise serious feather plucking and worse (chickens can become cannabilistic at the sight of blood). Also as yours are only young, you would only be able to add the same age otherwise any older ones couldcause them serios damage.

tryingtobegreen

thanks dora, i was thinking the same age ish to replace 'scratch' but did not really no how etc
when u say slowly do u mean an hour a day or something similar? also what breed is friendly?
mine are friendly but very skittish, it takes me a few attampts to catch oneof them. im thinkling thats due to no friendly contact with previous owners or r chooks just like that?