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

catewithers

Congratulations Cam and Poohbear - it's so nice having hens isn't it?!!

I've come back from a long weekend away to find the most enormous egg in the workd in the nest box! Tempted to weigh it it's so huge. Wouldn't be surprised if it's even a triple yolker - Edna often lays double yolkers and this egg is bigger than those!

As well as that - Bridget's gone broody. Which is the most appalling timing as we're going away on Thursday for 10 days and my parents-in-law are coming to take care of the hens and the dogs. No idea what I'm going to do about her. I've spent the whole evening turfing her out of the nest box but she's being very determined about the whole thing. I left the lid of the box open earlier to discourage her from settling in it. Seemed to work for a while but I've just been back out to lock them up and she's just nesting on the floor instead!!! :mad:

Worried about her because she was already a skinny wee thing and she's lost weight since we've been away already.

Hepcat

Hi all,We had chickens in our little back garden for a few years, 3 beautiful Cream Legbars. Sadly a fox took one and came back for another, I disturbed him (and eventually shot him) but he'd already damaged another.We're just bought a smallholding which we'll be having more chickens on (as many as I can convince my wife to let me have!), can't wait for more homegrown eggs!Red spider mites are a blooming nuisance though, anyone else struggle with these?Hepcat

duckcity

Can anyone of you chicken experts help please?
I live adjacent to a field and have chickens/ducks etc.
One of the chickens decided to befriend me and calls each day for food. She actually follows me into the house ( I have called her Norma)
For several days she has been arriving at 8am and I suspected that she was staying here at night.
I have now found her nest under one of the bushes with SIXTEEN Eggs in it.
I am not sure if the eggs are fertile so I have put them in the airing cupboard to see if they hatch.
Can anyone give me some advice on how to look after her, as she has now been adopted by my family.


Thanks

frillygilly

Definitly don't need a cockeral to get eggs.
If any of the hens go broody you can buy fertile eggs to put under them.

poohbear59

Hepcat wrote: »

Hi all,We had chickens in our little back garden for a few years, 3 beautiful Cream Legbars. Sadly a fox took one and came back for another, I disturbed him (and eventually shot him) but he'd already damaged another.We're just bought a smallholding which we'll be having more chickens on (as many as I can convince my wife to let me have!), can't wait for more homegrown eggs!Red spider mites are a blooming nuisance though, anyone else struggle with these?Hepcat

We had a problem with red spider mites last summer. I bought a powder called Fossil Shield. Its made from fossilised plankton and it got rid of them immediately. I have sprinkled a bit in the new hen house and don't seem to have them this year. Hope that helps.

the_optimist

Does anybody know where I can get some Black Rock chickens in Wiltshire/ Somerset?
OH is building me a coop and run for my birthday and I can buy all the food etc close by but we are stuck as to where to buy the chickens.
Any ideas anyone?

catewithers

Hi optimist

You could try James at Nibley Bird Farm, just north of Bristol. He's great and may well have some.

Good luck!

V_Chic_Chick

duckcity wrote: »

Can anyone of you chicken experts help please?
I live adjacent to a field and have chickens/ducks etc.
One of the chickens decided to befriend me and calls each day for food. She actually follows me into the house ( I have called her Norma)
For several days she has been arriving at 8am and I suspected that she was staying here at night.
I have now found her nest under one of the bushes with SIXTEEN Eggs in it.
I am not sure if the eggs are fertile so I have put them in the airing cupboard to see if they hatch.
Can anyone give me some advice on how to look after her, as she has now been adopted by my family.


Thanks

Just typed this lot up and lost it when the computer crashed :mad: so here we go again:

Chickens hiding nests is a perpetual pain for free range chicken keepers - they have a horrible tendency to do this. She is probably not intending to try and hatch them out, and so they can be collected and either eaten or thrown away (although throwing away is your best bet as they've probably been out there for three weeks at least). Trying to hatch them out in the airing cupboard won't work as temperature needs to be controlled to within a degree, as does humidity, and you simply can't do that in an airing cupboard. Anyway, you don't want to as half of them will be cockerels that will have to be dispatched, and don't even think that your neighbour will want them.

As for feeding her, there is some useful information on this at my website (which has been described as "Chickens for Dummies") https://www.allaboutchickens.tk and click on feeding.

If she is sleeping on your property then it is probably best if you take her indoors (whether that be house, shed or garage) in a cardboard box overnight to protect her from predators overnight. Of course, you should never prevent her from going back to her original home (her owners & the law might not look too kindly upon that) but you can encourage her to stay if you wish.

Cate - groups.google.com looks quite good, as opposed to Yahoo groups which I actually hate with a passion, but am forced to use. We need to come up with a name. I think it should incorporate the word poultry instead of chickens as that encompasses more people.
Bristol Poultry Keepers Association/Club
Bristol Poultry Association/Club
Bristol Domestic Poultry Association/Club
Association of Bristolian Poultry Keepers

Or something to that effect - let me know, and if anyone else has any input then I would be happy to hear it, positive or otherwise.

Someone turned up on an American chicken forum that I go on who's from Bristol (and we hardly ever get British people on there) . . . I sent them a message and a link to this thread.

duckcity

Thanks for your reply.
we made an incubator set at the correct temperature and one of the eggs has hatched! I think another one is on the way.
We have set up a second box at the correct temperature and have given the chick water. What do we feed it on?


Any help would be appreciated

V_Chic_Chick

duckcity wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.
we made an incubator set at the correct temperature and one of the eggs has hatched! I think another one is on the way.
We have set up a second box at the correct temperature and have given the chick water. What do we feed it on?

Any help would be appreciated

When you said it was in your airing cupboard, I was envisaging them laying in the warm on a few towels or whatever you keep in your airing cupboard!

Your chick needs water that it cannot fall into and drown - so too small to get a foot into (you'd be surprised how many people manage to drown their chicks). Marbles in a shallow dish can help prevent the problem.

You need to feed it on chick crumbs (I don't know where you live, so I can't suggest any particular suppliers, but look in the yellow pages for agricultural feed suppliers / merchants (or something to that effect) and ring up and ask if they stock them.

I copied the following from my website (click on feeding)

As a chicken grows up, their nutritional requirements change.

Chick Crumbs
Hatch to 6 weeks
Some contain a cocciostat, which is a vaccine to prevent your chicks getting coccidosis in later life. However, if you are feeding waterfowl, make sure that you get a cocciostat free feed as it is extremely poisonous to waterfowl. Also, a cocciostat in the chick crumbs will prevent you from legally being able to label your chicken's eggs and meat as organic. Chick crumbs are about the same size as mash, because young chicks can't cope with pellets.

Image courtesy of www.smallholderfeed.co.uk

Grower Pellets
Ages 6 to 18 weeks
Grower pellets give the nutrition that a chicken needs during this stage of rapid growth. It looks much like layers pellets, but has a different composition.

Layer Pellets
18 weeks onwards
Layer pellets provide the nutrition needed to lay eggs. If you have a rooster in with your hens, then he can also eat layers pellets.

Image courtesy of www.smallholderfeeds.co.uk

Breeder Pellets
All stock currently being used for producing fertile eggs for breeding
Breeder Pellets provide the nutrition that chickens need to give their chicks the best start in life.

***************


Now that you have hatched these chicks out, I hope you are willing to make suitable provisions for them - your neighbour is unlikely to want whatever cross-breed chicks you have hatched out (nothing personal, but I would be livid if someone took eggs from one of my hens, hatched them out, and then presented them back to me). Bare in mind that half will be cockerels, and cockerels fight. You can only have one cockerel to eight hens max . . . you get the picture. Still, you'd better get busy, because they will be starting to go outside by 8 weeks old, and they're going to need a coop and run . . .