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

LindseyM

thanks cate, you've just made me realise what potential escape routes there are in my garden! :eek:

there's more to this keeping chickens malarky than i thought! :rolleyes:

loving all the pics btw

catewithers

Zippy - yes we clipped them when they were delivered!! That's why i thought they would be ok!

In fairness I think it's only Bridget who can manage it because the others are bigger and heavier than her. But it doesn't stop them all trying! They're scaring me half to death! :eek:

So I've left them in their attached run today until we can get the netting over the top after work. DH is going to B&Q on his way back from an interview to get it. Don't like leaving them in the little run - although there's plenty of room for them - but I'm a big softy! I've hung some spring greens in there to amuse them for the day.

But all the stress was more than made up for by how sweet they were when I had to go out and put them to bed!

Hapless_2

Where your chickens can escape, a fox can get in. I hope the run you have has a wire fencing bottom or the chickens are shut in at night otherwise Mr Ferdinand will get in and kill the lot. Foxes will kill for the sake of it, not just to eat. Just as will mink, there are also weasles and stoats to consider, they will take their chances with a sick or young chuk. Vermin the lot of 'em


I grew up around chickens, but the council won't let me keep any even though we are in a extremely rural area!Booooooo

catewithers

Hi Hapless,

If you read the description of my run that I posted earlier, you'll see that it certainly does have wire round the bottom of it. Also that they have a run within the main run and that is attached to their house and is completely enclosed and fox proof. That's the one that I've left them in today.

Bit rubbish about your council. Have they given you a reason?

just-saving

Wow, after working nights and zzzzing all day I've just caught up with the thread again. Sure sounds like you're having fun cw. I couldnt help but giggle. You sound just like me (another big softie here) as I have been hanging greens up too. I tied string round a cauliflower and hung it up and they have been having a good peck at that.
Anyway, similar story going on here too. I caught Prudence standing on the back of a chair on Sunday evening which I had been using and she was stretching her neck looking at the next available stepping stone - the coop roof which would then lead to the wall. So, I have now moved the chair!!!!! I saw her from an upstairs window and made a quick exit to the back of the garden to get her down and to tell her 'don't do that again!' :rolleyes:
They are out now, munching on all things creepy and crawly in the garden bed. DD1 took two of Pru's eggs to school today for cookery - good job she only needed two eggs. We had to save up especially over the past two days and are desperately trying not to buy any more! Got another one today - Pru disappeared for twenty minutes between 10.40 and 11am. We have been weighing them and todays is 57g, yesterdays was 55g and Sundays was 50g.
DD2 had a spate of 'I hate chickens' and 'I don't want them anymore' on Sunday after walking into the garden barefoot and finding out that our chickens like toes! She did a rather amusing dance and ran quick smart back into the house. After introducing her friend to the chickens on Monday she now likes them again but does insist she wears her welly boots outside. Very wise! She is now training the chickens with a doggy training clicker :rolleyes: that I received as a freebie and clicks away as she runs from them and they chase her around. Great exercise for dd and chickens too! And a total turnaround from Sundays episode. She was also extremely chuffed that Pru turned around in a full circle yesterday. Pru was then promptly rewarded with a mealworm.
And they say a dog is a mans best friend...........

Hapless_2

catewithers wrote: »

Hi Hapless,

If you read the description of my run that I posted earlier, you'll see that it certainly does have wire round the bottom of it. Also that they have a run within the main run and that is attached to their house and is completely enclosed and fox proof. That's the one that I've left them in today.

Bit rubbish about your council. Have they given you a reason?

Eeek that shows how awake I am...

As for the council, chickens are classed as livestock and we cannot keep livestock, although we could keep pigeons!
I am querying this as our housing is about to be transferred to a diferent authority. Several of the people who have bought their council homes hace cickens, but we can't, noise and smell apparently.
Daft when you consider the estate is right next to dairy farm!:rolleyes:
I'm not buying this place just to keep chickens. Although I may get away wih quail as they are game not poultry/livestock.

catewithers

JS - sounds like your daughters are having lots of fun with your hens! Never thought about trying to train them - that could be interesting! Mind you, I have enough on trying to keep my bolshy Jack Russell in check! She's a typical JRT - give her an inch and she'll take a mile! :rolleyes:

Hapless - council's are so ridiculous. :rolleyes: Hope you're successful in challenging their stupid bureaucracy! Let us know if you get some quail. What are they like to keep? I don't know anything about them. And what about getting some Indian Game or Old English Game chickens - can you try and pass them off as game?!! :cool:

Last night - again in the rain! - I put some netting over the top of the big run so they now can't get out. But I think I've worked out why they were trying. They only seem to do it as it's getting dark and the bit they're aiming at has a tree overhanging the run. So I wonder if it's down to their natural instinct to get somewhere high to roost? Anyway, they had a bit of a look at it last night but no more jumping/flying/climbing and Edna went in to bed and the others all followed her so I think we should be ok. Going to keep the netting in place for a few weeks until they get older and heavier and are less able to jump/fly/climb! :cool:

They have an undercover area in the run so they have some protection from any rain but they all just stand around getting wet! Can't decide if I'm right to be concerned about it or just being a big softy! What do you think?

Edna seems to be giving Guinevere a really hard time as well. I let them out this morning and she was chasing her round the run for no good reason from what I could make out. Guinevere is quite nervous, not only of me and DH but also of all the other hens. Keeping an eye on her but she doesn't seem to be suffering physically at all. Hoping they'll settle down soon.

Wish the weather would get better so I can spend more time outside with them! I know I shouldn't say it, but I hate the rain!

just-saving

Its been raining here too cw...even now its raining. The hens have got a bit wet at times but I'm guessing they would shelter if it was really bothering them. I think its bothering me more at the moment seeing them with water droplets all over them and its making me want to run outside with a towel to dry them off. :rotfl: I was worried yesterday and went outside to be in the rain with them only to find that they were perfectly fine underneath the beech tree which was acting like a huge umbrella.

Quail should't be a problem with the council surely. Fingers crossed that you eventually get some kind of feathered friends soon hapless. My friends have quail(s) and they got their first egg a couple of weeks ago which was no bigger than a malteser.

Just wanted to ask a question on perches. We had made a perch out of a piece of 2x4 piece of wood but then I read that it should be at least 4-5cm wide so now I have made a new perch. Thing is they arent perching at all but are all going to sleep on the flowerpot, Pru inside and the other two balancing on the rim. Is it important for me to place them on the perch every night? I was doing this but they want none of it and go straight back to the flowerpot.

catewithers

I know all 4 of mine started off sleeping on the perch but since the weekend, when I've gone to clean them out in the morning, there's quite a lot of droppings in one of the nest boxes. DH had to shut them away tonight cos I was playing badminton, and he said that when he peeked in the house to check they were all in, 2 of them were in the nest boxes and 2 on the perch.

I reckon that if they're happy then I'm just going to leave them to it. Others with more experience though may advise differently....

Still raining

Penelope_Penguin

OMG - here's a story :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Boy hatches chick from shop egg.

One to try if you can get hold of an incubator.

Penny, x