Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

Wirenth

In case anyone is interested, these are links to the types of feed that gritts and Marigold123 mentioned in their posts:

http://www.marriagefeeds.co.uk/poultry_feeds.htm

http://www.allenandpage.com/smallholders/ads/layp.htm

mrs_drudge

Hello every one - I am glad that chickens have come up - as I have a really beginners type question! I keep reading that they can be fed on potato and vegetable peelings - well, I have a bowl full of muddy peelings - do they go straight into the pen - or do I cook them complete with mud (obviously for the grit - me - lazy!)?
I have four girls - one white, one brown and two grey - they are hybrids of some sort or other. All are now laying - we have white, brown and beige eggs with freckles!
Liz

Wirenth

I've fed them raw peelings with no problems at all.

The squeaks of joy my chicks make as they dive towards the offerings are very amusing.

halloweenqueen_2

Our chook doesn't like raw potato peelings or cooked carrots for that matter and is not realy fussed about tomatoes, but give it the end of a cucumber and its hilarious, its head goes up and down like roadrunner pecking corn!! The ends of the cucmber we give it now seem to be getting longer though!

gritts

mrs_drudge wrote:

Hello every one - I am glad that chickens have come up - as I have a really beginners type question! I keep reading that they can be fed on potato and vegetable peelings - well, I have a bowl full of muddy peelings - do they go straight into the pen - or do I cook them complete with mud (obviously for the grit - me - lazy!)?
I have four girls - one white, one brown and two grey - they are hybrids of some sort or other. All are now laying - we have white, brown and beige eggs with freckles!
Liz

Where potato peelings are concerned, give them cooked potato peelings. They love them. I would guess raw peelings are fairly indigestable.
When you next make roast potatoes (for example), save the peelings. When all the food and your roasties have been cooked, switch off the oven and place the peelings on a baking tray and just leave them in the residual heat. They should go all crunchy. Perfect chook food plus a use for old peelings (other than composting).

gritts

Mine love melon seeds, grapes, twiglets (if they are having a party) and leftovers from dinner like peas, sweetcorn, mash potato. If I have some stale(wholemeal) bread I spread some marmite on it and they go crazy.

In fact I rarely give them treats as such but give them all the bits from the kitchen that would ordinarily get thrown away, cucumber ends, stale bread, leftover cereal or yogurt, peelings etc etc. They think these are all treats!!

As for apple cores - they won't touch them unless they are cut them up into little bits!

I suppose chooks are just like us, they are all different and like different things.

Sarahsaver

mine have leftover noodles and veg, and a few rice crackers they will be chuffed!

GIRLPOWER_2

I would love to keep hens... have a large garden and an old unused 6 x 4 shed... having read through this is what I think I have to do to get started....

So plan....

Make sure shed is water proof and placed on concrete base.

Make an attached run.(is this just a 3 foot chicken wire fence around the front of the shed about the same size area as the shed?????)

Make a perch and a nesting box for in the shed.

Buy a food/ water feeder and food,

Locate local builders yard for free shavings (to use on the floor)

wire up a light/timer to the shed so they can see in the winter(how long do I put this on for???)

Do they need heating in the winter?????

Locate hens... battery ones are looking good to me.

Anyone any further suggestions??????

Alfietinker

Just worked my way through the entire thread phew!

Girlpower: We're getting some chooks in the summer (unless there's any flu restrictions in place) and I've done loads of research which may help you. We've got a long-thin typical urban garden.

We're going to build a walk-in run about 7 x 8 foot which we've been informed will be fine for 3 bantams. We'll put a raised coop (on stilts or something) in there so they get the full space to run around in. We're out too much during the day to let them roam the garden (and have spent 3 years perfecting it!!) so we need the run to be as big as possible as they'll be in there much of the time. Providing a covered roof (not roofing felt which will harbour mites) will give them some shelter too. Chicken wire is not as fox-proof as mesh either.

With regards to the coop: Apparantly it's not necessarily such a good idea to make the coop too large as it can be harder to keep an even temperature - especially in the winter. I've read varying sleeping space, from 1.5 to 2.5 square feet per bird is adequate. The birds will snuggle up together at night (don't know what happens if they don't like each other!!)

Provide a nesting box, with plenty of litter in so they can 'scrape' before laying. I did read in one source not to make the nest box too light as the hen may start eating their own eggs (I thought roaming birds would lay anywhere?) Make sure the perch is higher than the nest box as they will go to the higher ground to sleep and you don't want them sleeping on the eggs instead.

I've been told not to provide scatter corn unless you can give it late afternoon. Any earlier and it will 'block' them up and not allow them to digest the goodness from their proper food (I didn't really understand). There was also a reason for not giving corn in the evening too. Make sure there is grit around and they'll take it as and when they feel they need it.

We've been recommended Wyandotte Bantams which make brilliant pets and don't mind being confined, which is ideal when they have to stay in the run. I'm still thinking about battery chickens, which would be my first choice but I've heard conflicting advice. Some people say they are very easy to care for, other people say they need more care than we can give them in the beginning and are not a good choice for novices. So still deciding!

Hope some of this is useful - I've got most of this information from talking to a breeder, reading books and quizzing people on the poultrykeeper forum.

Bet you can't wait to get your chooks!!!

Ted_Hutchinson

Marigold123 mentions the use of a droppings board under the perches, This is definitely a good idea. I've improved on this idea by lining it with a layer of newspaper, covered with a shovel of sawdust/shavings to keep it in place.

This means when I come to clean out I can remove the droppings/shavings/paper in one action and don't have to pressure wash/clean the droppings tray each time.

It also is a very good use of my neighbours Daily Mail, Just the right size and an appropriate use for such a S****y newspaper.