ooops i've done it again.....more chickens...

just-saving

They are here!!!!!!!!!

We have three little ladies who seemed to choose us before we chose them. We so very nearly came away with four but we had decided on three beforehand so stuck to it....

Dorothy the Bovan Nera (my 11 year old dd has named her after Dorothy from her favourite film the Wizard of Oz)

Prudence the Isa Brown (my 13 year old dd's little lady)

and a Calder Ranger who is mine and OH and she is so small compared to the other two. I have yet to name her.

They are all so adorable. They were snuggled up together in a box in between my dd's on the back seat and they were sung some nice calming songs by both dd's on the journey home. We got them home at about 8pm and introduced them to their new home. They all seemed to take to it immediately and found the feeder and drinker straight away so have fed and watered. As it was getting darker we left them alone and I just had to have a peek....two are on the perch and one is settled in a corner.

After speaking to the chicken man that we got them from we are going to allow them out in the morning into their attached run. He seems to think that they will be fine as they are used to being let out in a big garden and return by themselves in the evening.

So, finally....at last...I am a proud chicken owner. It feels like I have been waiting for ever for this moment and its finally arrived.

I will post a pic as soon as I can and cw you must do the same. Not long now...they will be with you soooo very soon.

That was a good note to point out ctc. Way before we made a definite decision about getting chickens we did make sure we would have a neighbour or two who would be willing to look after them if we were to go away. Our neighbours (a vicar and his wife) want to look after them and have been promised any eggs they find are all theirs! Every day this week the vicar has been doing cluck cluck noises over the garden fence and last night he told OH that we have now been named Tom and Barbara (from the Good Life!) They have a 3 year old daughter who has been asking them non-stop..."are the chickens there yet?" Well, now they are and they are popping by on Sunday to introduce themselves.

Brilliant news Penelope Penguin...yet more exciting news. Thats got to be an incredible experience. Keep us updated.

Hello to kit34. You're right...this is a fantastic thread and I just want to thank you ctc again for giving us all the chance to have somewhere to share all our chicken news. This is by far my most fave thread on MSE.

Tomorrow can not come soon enough.

Let us know how it all goes tomorrow cw

catewithers

Wow! Sounds simply perfect! So glad it's all gone well for you. No idea how I'm going to sleep tonight! Mine should be here about 11am tomorrow morning. I have the day off work too!!!

I'll keep you posted.

LindseyM

i've been reading this thread for a while now and agree its fab!! :T

i'm so jealous of you guys that already have your chicks and those about to - hopefully it won't be long for me either! just gotta build the coop and run and away i go!! :rolleyes:

so, couple of questions... i'm building the coop/run myself and will be looking at getting 2 hens (1 Black Rock & 1 Light Sussex) - will a 3ft x 4ft (H: 3ft sloping to 2.5ft) coop with a 6ft x 3ft run be big enough. I don't want them to feel cramped in any way. Esp since they will need to be in the run for most of the day until i finish work?

also, the fence between mine and my neighbours gardens is only about 4ft tall - i know chickens can fly higher than this - would it be sufficient if I just put some screening/trellis to about 6ft?

thanks in advance

v excited chicken newbie :j

just-saving

Oh my....I'm wondering if catewithers is standing by the door waiting..pacing up and down excitedly or have they arrived

I'm all excited for you cw.

And LindseyM....I have been at the stage that you are at right now...I never thought the day would arrive when we finally got our hens but they're here now and its fantastic.

When I went to check on the girls this morning I think they were all on the perch together but could not see properly so came back in until OH and dd's were up and about. A little later we opened the pop-hole and Pru came right on out into the run. The others followed later on and now they are all inspecting their new property. Pru definitely seems to be the boss and has already started having a go at Dorothy and Henrietta. (yep, my one now has a name) I came in as I think its part of the process of sorting out the pecking order but I felt a bit sad.

Then Pru somehow managed to get a hold of the cord that opens the pop-hole and it was hilarious watching her with this long bit of cord giving it a tug but then she looked like she wanted to start swallowing it so I took it straight off her. Maybe she thought it was a huge long worm. What a handful she is turning out to be! :rotfl:

I have bred mealworms for the garden birds for a while now and thought I would see if the girls were interested. Well, Pru came right up and takes them from my fingers without a care in the world.

I'm dying for a cuddle...the other two look like they are in need of a cuddle...cripes, I am feeling so motherly and protective. :rotfl:

OH is working from home today and is taking a break every ten minutes to look from the back door to see if they are ok. He is taking to them extremely well and is still wishing he got a fourth one yesterday.

Back soon

catewithers

They're here they're here!!!! :j :j :j

Lovely James from Nibley Bird Farm arrived and set up my house and run. Then we clipped their wings and put them all in there.

I have a Light Sussex called Guinevere, a Bluebelle called Edna - she's defnitely the boss - a Silver Link called Margarita (she seems very shy and is currently hiding in the house) and a Minerva called Bridget!!

All of them, apart from Margarita, are out in the run pecking about and doing generally hen type things.

My dogs have had very interesting reactions to them - my Jack Russell - who's a big wuss - is quite wary of them. But my Chinese Crested, who is the softest thing in the world actually - just looks like he wants to get in there and eat them but Margarita gave him a good squawk and told him where to go! Going to have to be careful until they get used to each other.

I'm trying to post a photo of them but I can't work out how to do it! Anyone got any ideas?

And I forgot to ask the lovely James about grit for them. I've got layers pellets and corn for them but don't I need to provide them with grit too?

JS - would love to know how you breed the mealworms - that sounds like heaven for hens - and would be good to put out for my resident hedgehog too. Tell me more.

Wish DH was home to join in the excitement - going to see if I can convince him to leave work early!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

i am soooooo glad you got your chooks.....:j .....

as for the grit......i dont add any extra grit.. as they scratch the ground etc.. so pick up grit etc from the ground.......

i personally think you only need to give it to birds that are not outside and free range etc..... as some people keep their chickens like rabbits especially the show people... so they dont scratch around.....

but someone else might tell you something diff....

steady__eddie

Like ctc, I never used to bother with grit, now and again (if I remembered) I would crush the shell of an egg which had previously been consumed and give them that. They appeared to enjoy it, the ultimate in recycling ?

LindseyM

LindseyM wrote: »

so, couple of questions... i'm building the coop/run myself and will be looking at getting 2 hens (1 Black Rock & 1 Light Sussex) - will a 3ft x 4ft (H: 3ft sloping to 2.5ft) coop with a 6ft x 3ft run be big enough. I don't want them to feel cramped in any way. Esp since they will need to be in the run for most of the day until i finish work?

also, the fence between mine and my neighbours gardens is only about 4ft tall - i know chickens can fly higher than this - would it be sufficient if I just put some screening/trellis to about 6ft?

thanks in advance

v excited chicken newbie :j

just wondered if anyone had advice on this before I go and buy the materials...?

TIA

COOLTRIKERCHICK

LindseyM wrote: »

i've been reading this thread for a while now and agree its fab!! :T

i'm so jealous of you guys that already have your chicks and those about to - hopefully it won't be long for me either! just gotta build the coop and run and away i go!! :rolleyes:

so, couple of questions... i'm building the coop/run myself and will be looking at getting 2 hens (1 Black Rock & 1 Light Sussex) - will a 3ft x 4ft (H: 3ft sloping to 2.5ft) coop with a 6ft x 3ft run be big enough. I don't want them to feel cramped in any way. Esp since they will need to be in the run for most of the day until i finish work?

also, the fence between mine and my neighbours gardens is only about 4ft tall - i know chickens can fly higher than this - would it be sufficient if I just put some screening/trellis to about 6ft?

thanks in advance

v excited chicken newbie :j

sounds ok to me.. but i am not really good and gauging sizes...lol.... as for the garden fence....i would def.. put the trellis up.... and even then you might get one checkien that can get over....i had a few like that......even when i clipped their wing ...lol....

i used to just clip one wing.. with the chickens... as they could get get their balance then....

just-saving

yayyyyyyy, at last. Fab news cw. I was smiling away when reading
your post. What great names too. Thank goodness neither of us
ended up with any of our DH's chosen names...including curry, fajita, kiev,
korma and n'chips.

I took some pics and movies but I also need help with posting pics.

I did buy a small bag of grit and they have been helping themselves
to it but thats most probably because they are in their run right
now. Like ctc says, once they are foraging in the garden they're
bound to find loads of little stones and grit along the way.
They have been a delight to watch today...Pru was first to take a
dustbath. I had forgotten about getting sand and dirt or whatever
to make a bath for them but by kicking all the bark to one side
in an area of their run and kicking up the dirt she made one of her
very own. How clever. When she finished Dorothy jumped in her
place. Dust was flying everywhere.

Now all three are eating from our hands. Once one sees the other
getting something then they come along too. DH started picking up
flowerpots and there were loads of slugs and my goodness our three
girls went potty for them.

About the mealworms CW. I used to buy mealworms from our local
petstore. They turned out to be quite expensive at £2.00 for a
small punnet. I was interested to know exactly what a mealworm was and
so looked it up on the internet (its the larval stage of a Darkling Beetle) and found out that it was relatively easy to just 'grow your own!' So, I bought one pot of mealworms from the pet shop and put them in a small plastic fishtank that I bought from Wilkinsons and added some bran and they begun breeding. I always give them cucumber so they can nibble on that and quench their thirst! I have had success with them ever since. I keep meaning to buy some special bran with added vitamins from off the internet but I always keep forgetting. I've always just given them to the robins and blackbirds as a little treat so I have never run out of them but with the chickens I guess I may have to buy a couple more handfuls to up the breeding numbers. Heres the mealworm: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mealworm
Heres how to breed them: http://www.birds-uk.co.uk/mealworms.html