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

COOLTRIKERCHICK

when i had a few chickens.... we had a landrover bull bar fram....lol......

but now.. hubby has fixed an old wooden broom handle..... across the chicken house.......

plus instead of making nest boxes....... i have put quite large short terracotta plant pots... in their house.... with loads of short cut straw...... and that works really well......

catewithers

Thanks so much for all your help and advice - I really appreciate it.

Was wondering if i could use something like a tree branch/broom handle etc! I'll see what I've got in the shed that I can reuse as a perch and as nesting boxes.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

keeping and setting up home for chickens can be done very well with using recylced items......

no need to buy fancy things.....i'm sure that the chickens dont watch those diy house programmes....lol.......

just-saving

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

plus instead of making nest boxes....... i have put quite large short terracotta plant pots... in their house.... with loads of short cut straw...... and that works really well......

Excellent idea. Me and OH are almost done only having to add a perch or two inside the house we built and we are off out into the garden in a mo to try and finish the run. I didnt bother with making proper nest boxes as my research (friends and books and internet) tell me that they will lay in anything and more likely wont use the nesting boxes even if they had one...they would prefer a cardboard box or whatever. I went to our local Scats today and got feed and Decimite spray (red mite control) which was a BOGOF offer. Only, I got home thinking the bill was a little expensive only to find they had charged for both cans of spray! (grrrrr) Back to Scats tomorrow. <sigh>

just-saving

Whilst getting all my chicken feed etc at Scats earlier I got a very very large bag of dust extracted wood shavings to put on the floor of the chicken house. Is it also ok for the nesting area (either in flower pots or cardboard boxes) or should I use straw in the nesting area?

Noozan

Talking of nest boxes, we have 3 in our hen house and for some reason, they ALL want to use the end one! It's not so bad now that we have 3 girls but even when we had 21 girls, they all wanted to use the end box! I'd sometimes find several of the hens pacing about the house clucking away whilst one was hogging the box, lol.

Penelope_Penguin

catewithers wrote: »

Thanks so much for all your help and advice - I really appreciate it.

Was wondering if i could use something like a tree branch/broom handle etc! I'll see what I've got in the shed that I can reuse as a perch and as nesting boxes.

For nesting boxes we use those flat fruit boxes that you get in the supermarket. We collect dry grass in the summer in black bin liners. We line the boxes with that - nesting box for £00 :j When it's past it the contents go on the compost.

Penny. x

catewithers

OK so I'm having difficulty finding a breeder/supplier in my area. I'm in Bristol but more than willing to travel a bit out into Somerset/Wiltshire/Gloucestershire etc. Anyone got any ideas for a supplier? Or does anyone know where I can find a directory of breeders?

Also, anyone got any reccommendations for the best breed of chicken for first time henkeepers wanting an easy to look after hen which will lay fairly reliably? Should we go for bantams or large hens?

Noozan

catewithers wrote: »

OK so I'm having difficulty finding a breeder/supplier in my area. I'm in Bristol but more than willing to travel a bit out into Somerset/Wiltshire/Gloucestershire etc. Anyone got any ideas for a supplier? Or does anyone know where I can find a directory of breeders?

I don't have a map in front of me and I can't remember the name of the road but....if you were heading northbound up the M5, come off at junction 22 and follow directions for the airport...that stretch of road is 17 miles and about two thirds of the way along on the left hand side is a smallholding. They sell lots of different breeds of chickens, ducks, geese and various hatching eggs too.

catewithers

Ok I know the road you mean - that's the A38. You don't happen to remember the name of the smallholding, or the last place you passed through on your way to it?