another chicken question

BillScarab

creased-leach wrote: »

I've been reading this with interest- our coop arrived a couple of days ago. I think it was the one in the second link from ebay- but it's been removed and the company were dreadful to deal with.

Anyway, we're taking our time, as we don't want to get the hens til after we've been away at the end of march. In that time, we want to build their run. Does anyone know any suppliers we can get chicken wire from in east kent? I'll be asking the same question about the hens later lol.

We don't seem to have a fox issue here. I've lived here 10 years and never seen a single fox in the village. We're in the middle of countryside which is used to raise & shoot pheasants, so I think the gamekeepers keep the foxs down. We'll remain vigilant, obviously- but I'm hopeful.

Also, any recommendations of friendly, hardy, productive hens? Ones that can fetch my daily paper would be good too :rotfl:

Thanks!

Hills of Devon are as good as anywhere and deliver for free. A lot of people on the Practical Poultry forums recommend them. I've used them and they delivered very quickly as well.

beautiful_ravens

Are battery chickens the 'normal' size, kind of red chickens? I have 4 bantams, and Im wondering possibly about mixing bantams and ex-battery chickies? I would house them in a different coop cos my bantams are in a small one that I made, but they roam free in the garden and field.

My bantams arrived young and wild, but they love me now because they know I bring food!! One we have named Wallace (after william wallace) because she escaped as soon as we let her out, and spent a good week sleeping in the woods before coming into the coop with the other 3 - she likes sleeping in a fir tree in the garden instead of the house, shes in there right now. Freedom!

creased-leach

cuffie wrote: »

Please don't think that just because there are pheasants around the fox won't be there. We were surprised. We have pheasants in our hedgrow (have seen up to 14 recently), and there are still lots of them about so the fox obviously hasn't got them.....but it tried to get our Daisy, and nearly got Rosie, but she ran off to hide for nearly 2 hours - we found her trying to get back into the chicken run...we thought she was a gonner!

Regarding introducing new chooks.....don't do one on their own (the 2 we introduced to our flock of 4 where pecked for a week or so, but they stick together like glue now- even though they don't get pecked....they are best buddies The others go off on their own too). Don't be alarmed - it's their natural way of getting a pecking order. I was so shocked at first, and felt guilty at even getting 2 more hens, but they are great. Im sure if you are introducing a few then that would be better than just 1 or 2.

Don't worry- we'll be taking precautions. It's just that as we're smack bang in the middle of the "lordships" territory, methinks they have a very vested interest in keeping the fox numbers down, by hook or by crook :cool: I've spoken to some longer term villagers, and they've never seen a fox hereabouts either.

Thanks for the advice

steady__eddie

This is not directly connected to the original post but I felt that I had to share it.
I have just listened to Farming Today (Radio 4, 05:45) and the first item concerned some rescue chucks. It was thought that thr recent inclement cold weather might not be to good for them so the local W.I. knitted some body warmers for them. The interviewer was present when they were clothing them. (the chucks not the W.I.). :rotfl:
Well worth a listen for the entertainment value if you know how to use thier listen again thingy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/farmingtoday/

darcyvuqua

well i am getting my ex batts on saturday i think everyone should have chicken besides being cool you get eggs too

darcyvuqua

i got my 4 ex battery hens today there so nice i recommend anyone to do this fresh eggs and you save a life of a year old chicken too if your interested check this link out
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Ex_Battery_Hens/index/

Purple_Sparkles

darcyvuqua - well done on getting your hens, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with them. I noticed a couple of posts back that you were asking where to get feed from locally. I use Jolleys in Willenhall (just off the Black Country Route). behind Tesco in Willenhall.

They always have good stocks of pellets, mash and corn and very reasonably priced too. (No I don't work for them).

I hope that helps and good luck with your girls.

darcyvuqua

woooooo i got my first egg

blushingbride_3

i'd like to get some chickens, ex-battery!:)
I cant wait, i'm thinking, can i convert one section of my shed for the coop? i could cut through and have access from the run?
my dad thinks this would ruin my shed, any ideas?
then i could build a run along the back of the garden.

its either that or i pay £100 for a pre built coop and run from my friends hubby.

also how do i find out where to get feed etc? normal pet shops?

ScratchandSniff-->[X]

blushingbride wrote: »

i'd like to get some chickens, ex-battery!:)

its either that or i pay £100 for a pre built coop and run from my friends hubby.

also how do i find out where to get feed etc? normal pet shops?

YMMV but I don't see the logic in paying £100 to house a £10 hen. Lots of things can be converted into use a hen house. Or you can build them out of old pallets. Personally I'd have thought the shed is more valuable as a shed (and splitting the sed would be more trouble than it's worth.

Look for agricultural merchants. It's about 6 quid for a 20kg of pellets.