Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

cheeswright

love some advice here please

jexygirl

Hi Cheese,
I am not experienced enough to give advice sorry :S but, although I think mine are clipped they are still pretty good with flying it would seem, and if not, they are good at figuring out jumping on a variety of objects to get where they want to.
The fact that yours came back seems to indicate that where there is food, its worth going back to despite the scare. Mine are in a run, so I have to put them away etc at night, but an ex neighbour of mine at my last pub let his run wild and they slept up in trees to avoid the fox thing too, and though they wondered over to mine, they still went home at night mostly!!
Sorry I cant be much help :S someone who knows will surely post very soon.

To Oyster, keep us posted! I am not sure about the cost of houses as we used an existing brick out building and adapted it, there also seem to be alot of people who use sheds and make runs themselves like we did, depends how handy you are I suppose, even so £450 seems alot of money. Is there a local dedicated poultry dealer or something that you can compare with, or even some of the on line ones for price checks?

One of my girls was perched on my arm today :D:D

Jex

blottedcopybook

Personally I'd clip - if your garden is enclosed by 6ft fences then foxes are unlikely to target your chooks during the day due to the risk factor and at night they'll be safely enclosed in their coop. Our garden is completely enclosed and we've only had a fox attack once in nearly three years when we were on holiday and the eejit housesitting decided not to lock the chooks up one night. On balance, it's been far simpler having their wings clipped and our neighbours are grateful that we're not chapping their door all the time to retrieve wayward hens!

cheeswright

thanks for that - I think it will be the clip - just have to brace myself for some chicken wrangling

help_me_please_3

Does anyone know if sylkie cockerals are too noisy to keep in the suburbs or are they much quieter than larger cousins? I seem to have it in my mind that someone on here said they were a lot quieter but i cant find the post. Maybe its wishfull thinking on my part? I love them theyre so pretty, especially the white ones.:)

tracyk

I have a couple of white silkie hens. I've never kept a cockeral but have been told the same - they are much quieter than the 'average' cockeral!

There are a couple of specialised chicken forums on the web - you could have a look on them - not sure if I'm allowed to post a link so I'll PM you.

jexygirl

update - not like you wanted one, but its here anyhow!

The girls all put themselves to bed tonight, first time ever! Will be re arranging the hoose for the 2nd time on clean out day though as they are not sleeping where the research said they would!

Also not had eggs for 2 days - in a way Im happy as it means they are down to us now, no remnants of previous life, also putting it down to moving / settling, however it could be moult and that worries me as they have few enough feathers as it is. Im not worrying at all about them not providing for us, im worried they are ok!
But they all seem soooooo much brighter and happier, we get meet and greet and personalities are shining through, its hysterical, I could spend hours out there with them!

Jex

help_me_please_3

:)Does anyone know where I can get a few chickens from in the Essex/suffolk area. Looking for something like Light Sussex Rhode Island Red or similar for eggs (not meat.)

Also does anyone know a good place to buy chicken coop/run at a cheap price?

blushingbride_3

if you are interested in rehoming try

https://www.littlehenrescue.co.uk

Frugaldom

help_me_please wrote: »

Does anyone know if sylkie cockerals are too noisy to keep in the suburbs or are they much quieter than larger cousins? I seem to have it in my mind that someone on here said they were a lot quieter but i cant find the post. Maybe its wishfull thinking on my part? I love them theyre so pretty, especially the white ones.:)

Noise isn't really relevant to cuteness, these cockerels will still waken your entire neighbourhood before the crack of dawn. The 'quietest' cockerel I have is Mr Chirpy, my little Pekin, but even he can waken up the entire household. Fortunately, we're within a farm setting, so not too many neighbours to upset. Next door has a Silkie cockerel (one of my last year's youngsters) and he could crow for Britain! :rotfl:

PS - My white Silkie cockerel has become overly territorial, so will no longer be freeranging. He's having a run built for him and 2 Silkie hens so we can assure pure bred, unrelated chicks later this year. That's the plan, anyway.