Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

singlehouseholder

ginnyknit wrote: »

My 3 girls laid 4 eggs yesterday - ex batts - and we celebrated with a few slugs. I also try not to go down the chemical route for parasites. I doknow that citronella candles get rid of red spider mites so am going to move the girls out every couple of weeks and burna candle in the coop. As for lice, i haven't heard of a good way of getting rid sorry

matalan are having a sale and I just picked up some citronella tealights at half price, I shall give them a go thankyou!
As for getting the lice eggs aff my poor partwyan, I put a drop of insecticide shampoo, the kind for little pets, in a bowl of warm watre and soaked cotton wool in it then wrapped the cotton wool on the eggs, its softened them up enough to scrape them off, horrible things. My neighbours must wonder why I spend so time cleaning chickens bums! Gave her, and the Sussex a squirt of the Johnsons of johnsons antimite for good measure. I didn't do all the birds, which may seem stupid, but I don't like to give 'em chemicals if I dont have too. The other two, for some reason don't seem to have any/many lice. Don't know if its the ACV/Garlic they get in their water?

smileyt_2

Hello chicken lovers! Does anyone else have a very noisy hen? Mavis (ex-batt) squawks so loudly I'm afraid the neighbours will complain! She is louder than any cockerel crowing. And boy, once she gets into the swing of it she could holler for England, it's almost as if she gets herself hysterical. She's healthy, lays an egg most days, has plenty of layers mash and fresh water. She has Deidre hen for company. I let them out of their pen for about an hour a day to ruin my garden. The pen is 6ft square so they have enough room for the two of them (more than was recommended by the Battery Hen Welfare Trust).

She stops squawking as soon as I go out.

Has she just trained me to go and see her every time she squawks loudly? Does anyone know of any other possible reasons why she may be squawking? I have started to call her Mavis the Mouth now because she is so gobby lol!

ginnyknit

If you had just pushed something as big as an egg out of something the size of a chickens bum you would squawk :eek: One of mine does it and boy is she loud, luckily all the houses have just been double glazed ! seems she has trained me to run out and shut her up to but she always has the last word.

Gigervamp

Yup, Amelia likes to let everybody know when she's going to go in to lay and when she's done the deed.

moominyak

Hi all, apologies for butting in here, but thought I'd ask the ever-reliable MSE-ers before joining yet another forum...

Am looking to get 4 chickens within the next couple of months, does anybody know where I can get them around here? I know there are plenty of farms in the (Inverness) area, poultry dealers don't seem very well advertised though!

I was thinking about some ex-battery hens but the BHWT person for Scotland is based way down south.

I've only found one actual dealer on the web, they are in Buckie (about 50 miles away).

I would be grateful if anybody could point me at somewhere a bit nearer (although I can travel 50 miles to fetch them if need be). Ex-batt would be great (nearer than an 8-hour round trip, preferably!)

TIA

smileyt_2

ginnyknit wrote: »

If you had just pushed something as big as an egg out of something the size of a chickens bum you would squawk :eek: One of mine does it and boy is she loud, luckily all the houses have just been double glazed ! seems she has trained me to run out and shut her up to but she always has the last word.

Gigervamp wrote: »

Yup, Amelia likes to let everybody know when she's going to go in to lay and when she's done the deed.

Yes but Mavis squawks all the time almost! Not just when she's laid an egg.

I did ask the vet (who sees a lot of chickens plus various other exotics) and she fell about laughing and said there was no clinical reason for a hen to squawk herself silly, she obviously just likes the sound of her own voice! I came downstairs at 6.30am and she was merrily squawking her head off - on a Saturday morning! My neighbours will shoot either me or her or both of us one of these days!!

ETA Mavis was squawking, not the vet lol!

singlehouseholder

smileyt wrote: »

Yes but Mavis squawks all the time almost! Not just when she's laid an egg.

I did ask the vet (who sees a lot of chickens plus various other exotics) and she fell about laughing and said there was no clinical reason for a hen to squawk herself silly, she obviously just likes the sound of her own voice! I came downstairs at 6.30am and she was merrily squawking her head off - on a Saturday morning! My neighbours will shoot either me or her or both of us one of these days!!

ETA Mavis was squawking, not the vet lol!

My Sussex was enjoying shouting morning greetings (520!)so I've had to black the windows out, seems to be working, fingers crossed. My Part Wyan goes nuts, but just when there's a poxy cat about, but then she's just warning her mates. Could our Mavis be shouting because there's a predator about? I'm about to order some fence prikka strips to stop the ghastly animal sitting on the fence and freaking my lasses out.

smileyt_2

singlehouseholder wrote: »

My Sussex was enjoying shouting morning greetings (520!)so I've had to black the windows out, seems to be working, fingers crossed. My Part Wyan goes nuts, but just when there's a poxy cat about, but then she's just warning her mates. Could our Mavis be shouting because there's a predator about? I'm about to order some fence prikka strips to stop the ghastly animal sitting on the fence and freaking my lasses out.

Hi, I doubt it's because of cats - I have two dogs and they are always extremely keen to tell me if a cat ventures up on to one of the walls :rotfl:

I am coming to the conclusion that she squawks because she's bored and because she likes the sound of her own voice. They have been out of their pen for over an hour now to scratch around and not a peep. I got the biggest pen I have room for and they have space to scratch around in there, but she obviously prefers to be able to scratch round the yard. I let them out when I can but I can't let them roam when I'm not at home. She's an ex-batt so any space is better than a cage! I'm on the homeswapper website and looking for a house with a proper garden, so one day she may have lots of space to scratch, and a much bigger pen. A palace in fact! That's my dream anyway, and probably hers as well lol.

rsj

Hi all,
Has anyone any views on using a double storey rabbit hutch for keeping 2 chickens in. The type with the run on the lower half. Obviously not there only access to exercise, they would be able to free range the garden too.

Thanks

smileyt_2

rsj wrote: »

Hi all,
Has anyone any views on using a double storey rabbit hutch for keeping 2 chickens in. The type with the run on the lower half. Obviously not there only access to exercise, they would be able to free range the garden too.

Thanks

If it's just to sleep in and lay eggs in, I don't see why not. When I first got my girls they were in a rabbit hutch which I left open during the day so they could have access to their exercise pen.

You need to make sure it's not draughty, has enough ventilation and doesn't have a felt roof.

I don't know if anyone with more know-how than me will be able to advise further.