Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

SuperMum2010

Hi guys, Im new to this thread, and dont have my chickens yet but am about to order my coop. ive been doing loads of research, especailly using www.downthelane.net which I highly recommend for a fantastic bunch of chicken friendly folk who love to hear about newbies getting their hens.

Diddly, from what i have researched, chickens would ruin grass in about 30 seconds so dont necessarily need to be on grass!! I have a large gravelly area set aside for mine and have been told that should be fine although I might need to put some sharp sand down. I think you would need to provide a dust bath but other than that they should be ok. Ive also heard not to free range them completely if you have borders you are proud of!!

SuperMum2010

kayl wrote: »

NEWBIE ADVICE PLEASE!

I have been toying with the idea of keeping hens for years, and have decided to take the plunge! I was very keen on the idea of an eglu as my garden is not that big, and had been on the omlet website every couple of days waiting to get details of one of their beginners courses at the weekend so I and my daughters can go ( as there is only one course in Scotland). When I was on yesterday, I happened to see on their newsletter that the price of the classic will go up £65 today!

I called them and explained the situation, and they were terribly nice and agreed to hold one for me at the old price until I can get on one of the courses. I then contacted the person running the course and she has agreed to do one next Saturday - so it looks like it's all systems go!

Initially I had thought that it would be better to wait till spring. I wondered what everyone's views are? Should I just get them as soon as the eglu arrives, or would I be better to store it in my basement and wait till spring? What are the disadvantages to starting in autumn/winter?

I am presently working my way through this thread, but am limiting myself to 10 pages a day and am up to page 50!

Hi Kayl - I cant wait so I think I am going to go ahead and order mine and hope for some balmy autumn evenings (some hope!!). Good news on the eglu though. Unfortunately they are too pricey for me as I am in Northern Ireland and postage was far too high. Ive opted for a wooden coop with run for 3 hens and am hoping hubby will build me an extended enclosure to put the coop in.

Gigervamp

Angela, gawd, I hope your girl pulls through and it's not a tumour.

Diddly, I would put something like woodchippings (not bark chippings from what I've read) or gravel in their run as they do like to scratch about.

TrulyMadly, I've only had my girls since February, so I can't answer your question about the eggs, so I'm hoping someone with more experience will come along. If you don't get an answer here, I suggest you try asking on one of the poultry forums. The down the lane site that was posted above is a good site. I have a read there every now and again.

Rotwein, I'd not thought of giving the girls a corn cob. Were there any problems over who ate it or did they all share it ok?

Rebekah,

What lovely little characters they are! Love the tomatoe chasing!

The tomato chasing is such fun to watch. Gracie (the black rock) who was the bottom of the pack until we got Agatha and Tabitha, is the tomato thief! She's the one who you see stealing tomatoes from the others and running past the camera with a tomato in her mouth!

I've just checked hubby's twitter and he's posted a pic of our two new silkies here. One is a silkie cross as she's got proper feathers (she's the one closest to you in the pic) and a quiff!
They're settling in and the other girls are getting used to seeing them. The pure silkie is the boss of the two of them, I've noticed.
It's strange though, holding bantams when you're used to holding larger chickens! They weigh nothing and fit in the palm of your hand!

smileyt_2

Eeek! Hepzibah and Morticia can fly! My ex-batts never could (will be interesting to see if Mavis gives it a go now she's seen the other two doing it). This means I can't let them out in the yard without me being there, as I have waterbutts and a compost bin and three dustbins that they could hop onto and get a helping hop over the wall.

Should I clip their wings? I would wait a while anyway, as at the moment Hepzibah needs to be able to fly up on to the perch or the henhouse roof in order to get away from Mavis's bullying. I am sure the bullying will calm down in a few days as it's just a quick peck here and there, not a full scale attack. And although she is being bullied, Hepzibah did manage to steal a worm from Mavis this afternoon. Go Hepzibah!

Morticia is fascinated by my glasses :rotfl:. If I bend down near her or talk to her if she's on the henhouse roof, she stares right into my face and tries to peck them! I guess she's never seen a human face so close up before, especially one with glasses.

gillian62

I always find that new chickens seem to be very nervous and flighty when put in with the 'old' girls. But given a day or two they normally calm down. When we got our 2 pol's to add to our 5 originals, we put them all together. I went to see how they were all getting on a little later, and couldn't find the newbies. I looked up and they were perched on the door of the run, about 7ft up, balancing on a small bit of wood. That was interesting trying to get them down, I'm only 5ft3". But they sooned settled down.

Rotwein44

Gigervamp - I bought a pack of 4 small pieces of corn on the cob and put 2 in initially but the bigger birds weren't prepared to share so I put them all in so they had a piece each! They all loved it and they didnt last long!

Money_maker

TrulyMadly - your hens could be winding down for the winter. Mine used to stop laying around november to januaryish although some hens that have recently come into lay can continue throughout. Perhaps some maize may colour up the yolks a bit for you.

If your hens are in a regularly used run rather than free ranging then I would suggest you worm them. I would recommend flubenvet as the best option after having spent a lot of time researching other options.

Smileyt - only 1 wing should need clipping, just puts them offbalance so they can't fly. It's probably the frames of your glasses that attract them, they love shiny objects such as rings etc. Although one of my ex batts has a 'thing' about my toes.

JayneC

smileyt wrote: »

Eeek! Hepzibah and Morticia can fly! This means I can't let them out in the yard without me being there, as I have waterbutts and a compost bin and three dustbins that they could hop onto and get a helping hop over the wall.

Should I clip their wings?

I clipped the wings of my 2 girls but they can still fly up a bit and so would 'hop' up, mainly onto bikes. One managed to get onto the top of the 6' fence so now I've had to put them in an enclosed run

tracyk

Gigervamp - your chooks were playing Beakball not Football lol - love the videos

diddly74

I went to see my old girls yesterday they are now living with my sister in law and Cluckingham Palace and all 7 of them seemed very very happy. We are living in a rented property now and couldn't bring them with up as I didn't feel there was room in the garden, but now I am thinking the opposite!