Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

Gigervamp

ginnyknit wrote: »

One of my girls was making a hell of a noise this morning and got reprimanded - well I shouted 'shut the chuff up' out of the loo window. When Dd collected the eggs later I felt awful, one of them had laid the biggest egg I ever saw so no wonder she was making a noise!

A few weeks ago I went to collect the eggs and found that Amelia had laid a really big one. It weighed 3 oz! The next day, Daisy, being the boss, decided that she couldn't be outdone by one of her underlings, so she laid an even bigger one! Her egg weighed 3 1/2 oz! We took pics!

This is Daisy's egg:




And here are both their eggs with their normal sized eggs for comparison:


Both were double yolkers too.

Gigervamp

Kevie192 wrote: »

The other thing I forgot to mention is my cat (and soon to be a kitten too)... I have read that a cat will probably be too scared of chickens to hurt them in any way but what about bantams? I would hate to clip their wings only to find they're now an easy target for the cat!

Kevin x

My girls aren't bantams, but there are 2 cats next door and we have an adopted stray who spends all her time outside. None of the cats take any notice of the girls. In fact, Puss doesn't like the girls getting too near and will leave the garden if they wander over to her.

Here's a pic of Puss curled up in the herb bed ignoring the girls!

lyndasharp

Our 3 bantams and our cat get on fine. Our cat likes watching them, but that's as far as it goes! She spends a lot of time sat on the hen house roof.

Our bantams have just started laying!!!!! Yippee, eggs! They have been laying 2-3 a day for the last few days, which has really impressed us as we weren't expecting them to start so quickly, and lay quite as many!

singlehouseholder

Does anyone know what chattering means? My beautiful Welsummer has just started to do this, its really weird. I got another two bantams on Wednesday night, a Sussex, who is like a giant, and a partridge wyandotte. I don't think the Wels makes the noise 'cos she's scared, cos she does it when she's with me waiting for me to lift the pots for woodlice.Anyone else's Birds do this?

Gigervamp

My girls make lots of different types of sounds. There's the normal clucking when they're talking to me, the loud racket that Amelia makes to let everyone know that she's laid her egg, :rotfl:
and they also do a funny little sound when they're sunbathing, it's kind of like a cat purring.

singlehouseholder

Gigervamp wrote: »

My girls make lots of different types of sounds. There's the normal clucking when they're talking to me, the loud racket that Amelia makes to let everyone know that she's laid her egg, :rotfl:
and they also do a funny little sound when they're sunbathing, it's kind of like a cat purring.

wonder if the chattering happy sound is the same as yours when they're bathing in the sun. The Wels is so very friendly and follows me all round the farden, while the others are like , aye whatever i'm eating grass. They're so rewarding, I just hope my two newby's will get to the same stage of friendliness instead of eyeing up the fence and hedge considering whether or not they can escape!!:eek:

kazire

hi i have 3 hens which will be due to lay in the next couple of weeks - hopefully, I need to build a nesting box, do they need individual compartments each? or would a nesting box divided into 2 be ok?

singlehouseholder

kazire wrote: »

hi i have 3 hens which will be due to lay in the next couple of weeks - hopefully, I need to build a nesting box, do they need individual compartments each? or would a nesting box divided into 2 be ok?

My lasses have 2 nesting boxes, but they just pop in and out to do an egg. They don't do one at the same time, don't know if this is the norm, box divided into 2 should be ok I'd imagine.,,

singlehouseholder

Right, poultry shield and diatom, good preventative measure for the dreaded red mite? Gave me two new lasses a dusting with Louse Powder & Red mite powder as have previously found lice on my welsummer and don't want the itchin to be spreadin. Originals got done last week when I found the crawlies. I've read lots about red mite and want to be pro-active, I spray house daily, and under perches with dettol/water mix and always clean the poop out of under the roosting perches. I've been looking to buy Diatom and Poultry Shield for a double pronged attack but most places I've found on the line charge around £50 for the 5litre PS and 5KG diatom. Could probs buy smaller quantities for my 4 lasses but would prefer to buy in bulk, any suggestions for online suppliers? All suggetions greatfully rec'd. Thankyou.

Kevie192

Aww, I really should stop reading this thread!

I really really want my chooks but I still haven't found a house / run that is affordable. I really love looking at all ur pics tho and I can't wait to get my girls