Spoilt chickens????

Lotus-eater

Yep, that looks like a nice young light sussex at the front to me. Not a hybrid

Dual purpose, eating and eggs.

spirit

jsh99 wrote: »

http://img121.imageshack.us/i/chooks.jpg/

I let them out last night for the first time! They took a while to realise I'd taken the end off the run but then they were happy to rummage about along the fence/hedge line. Funny getting them back to bed though - Dad and I gently chasing them to go in but they were not ready for bed! I finally caught the Cuckoo Maren and put her in the run and even with the end still open she didn't come out again - see I said she wasn't the sharpest chook in the coop! The others then went in ok as they could see her in there already.

So funny! Will let them out again tonight for a couple of hours and then over the weekend - hopefully they now get the idea.

lovely looking hens :j

jsh99

spirit wrote: »

lovely looking hens :j

''Yep, that looks like a nice young light sussex at the front to me''


Thanks both. The lady I got them from had some really lovely looking chickens and everthing looked well cared for so a good starting point.

They enjoyed plenty of time out roaming over the weekend and have now got the 'bedtime' idea now! The Maren spends a lot of time laying down dozing and the Nera spends all her time scratching about! Looking forward to some eggs around the end of the month.

Invalidation

Were all prepared to collect our 6 ex-battery hens next weekend to join our 4 Black Rock hens.
With the Black Rock's we leave them in their run every other day then let them out in the garden every other day. With 6 more hens arriving that will have to change to 2 days in the run then 1 day out, to save a bit of garden

RebekahR

Anyone ever had day old chickens? Is it better to have them from that age if you arn't going want them soley for eggs?What age can you tell the sex?

Mojisola

RebekahR wrote: »

Anyone ever had day old chickens? Is it better to have them from that age if you arn't going want them soley for eggs?What age can you tell the sex?

We've had quite a few day olds over the years, mostly because we've had hens go broody and wanted to give them chicks.

Commercial laying breeds are colour linked for sexes and so you're guaranteed hens. Rare breeds aren't and we ended up with five cockerels one year!

I don't know whether I'd be bothered to raise them without a broody but it's lovely having a hen in the garden teaching her chicks. The dog has to be extra careful because a hen with chicks is a fearsome beast if she senses danger!

spirit

Invalidation wrote: »

Were all prepared to collect our 6 ex-battery hens next weekend to join our 4 Black Rock hens.
With the Black Rock's we leave them in their run every other day then let them out in the garden every other day. With 6 more hens arriving that will have to change to 2 days in the run then 1 day out, to save a bit of garden

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, please may we see some pics?

I just love seeing people's gals

diddly74

We used to have 7 ladies, but when we moved house (due to renting) we had to relocate them to my SIL's. They now live in Cluckingham Palace a huge coop with a roof, but when we had them they lived in a large fenced area which they reduced to bare soil/mud (depending on the weather). One of the ladies has since been taken off by a fox from their garden while they were out "weeding" the borders for her.

When we first had them we allowed them the run of the garden - we lost the lawn that summer much to my charagin. They ate everything they could find in the garden despite getting the majority of the kitchen scraps as well. One even tried to mug my friend one summer's day for a cigarette nub! lol

Now we have been here a year I am desperate to have some more chucks, but hubby keeps saying it will be too expensive to set up again. I have earmarked a corner of the garden and will continue with the drip drip nagging formula to get my own way!

Invalidation

spirit wrote: »

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, please may we see some pics?

I just love seeing people's gals

Can we post pics here? If so Ill take some when we get them home

Davesnave

spirit wrote: »

I just love seeing people's gals

Oh, OK then, here's my gal....



Took us a while to get through that particular 'egg!' :rotfl: