Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

KittyBoo_2

I've had my chooks a while now but I am always really chuffed when they lay an egg.
I always say "thankyou ladies" when I collect them.:)
Boiled egg and soldiers must be one of lifes luxuries.

susyrosy

I've got a problem - my hens are currently having to live in their ark - so, they have a run under their roosting quarters, but this isn't very light. They're in restricted quarters because an influx of new neighbours with armies of cats have been terrorising my hens, who ended up right at the top of very high trees (like pigeons), and impossible to get down, and they weren't eating. So - now they have their food but of course no free ranging for green stuff, and of course, they only like grass ...... I've also noticed their combs are becoming very pale, which is worrying me. I'm sure they should have a supplement as they aren't currently free ranging, but I don't know what to give them.

My son has promised to make me a large cat-proof run - but of course he's very busy, and it's not at the top of his list. I'd LOVE to nag, jump up and down, demand, screech - but that wouldn't work either!!!!!

So - what should I do about the pale combs?

TIA

Susy

poohbear59

diluvsdiscounts wrote: »

My DH fitted a light in my chicken shed about 6 weeks ago it comes on around 3am and goes off at 8am and fingers crossed up until now each chicken is still laying 1 egg a day.
Apparently you have to give them around 17 hours of light a day to keep them laying or so I have been advised anyway.

I have, at last, got around to ordering a light. It is an LED solar powered shed light so I hope it works okay. The remote control means we can turn it on from the house (I hope). We actually had an egg today, the first one in nearly two weeks.

moominyak

My girls just get the natural daylight (such as it is), and if anything, they seem to be laying better now than they were in August/September!

I've been giving them warm layers' mash with a bit of poultry spice mixed in (as well as crushed eggshells if I have any) in the mornings, I think it's done them a power of good

Even the "one who hardly ever laid" is laying a proper-shelled egg 3 or 4 times a week at the moment, a drastic improvement on the soft-shelled disasters she was laying previously. And the one who was laying out has at last succumbed to the nesting box - maybe her little patch under the bush was getting too cold and soggy!

Alas, another one (Mildred Fierce) has reverted to sleeping in the nesting box, which means I have to disturb her when I go to retrieve any eggs after work. Ah well, maybe she'll go back to the perch in the spring (rolls eyes)

MKCOL

Sadly my pair seem to have gone on strike all of a sudden!!

They had been v good layers since getting them in May, almost without a fault each laying one a day, sometimes having a day off to follow up the next day with a MAHOOSIVE egg.....but now they have stopped. Just switched off. Both of them have decided that's it & haven't produced for the last week now.

Any ideas? They free range all the time (hence the garden is a complete mud-pit now grrrrrrrrr) and now it's colder we're locking them up over night (which we prev hadn't been doing).

Any ideas? Other than not laying they still seem really happy & fine - plenty of poop!!

poohbear59

MKCOL wrote: »

Sadly my pair seem to have gone on strike all of a sudden!!

They had been v good layers since getting them in May, almost without a fault each laying one a day, sometimes having a day off to follow up the next day with a MAHOOSIVE egg.....but now they have stopped. Just switched off. Both of them have decided that's it & haven't produced for the last week now.

Any ideas? They free range all the time (hence the garden is a complete mud-pit now grrrrrrrrr) and now it's colder we're locking them up over night (which we prev hadn't been doing).

Any ideas? Other than not laying they still seem really happy & fine - plenty of poop!!

I have ordered the light to see if it increases egg laying. We have had three eggs in a week from 9 hens! We haven't seen blue skies for about two weeks now and I wondered if being under a perpetual cloud has put them off too.

I will try the warm layer mash to see if it helps. Do you use layer pellets with hot water on them?

moominyak

poohbear59 wrote: »

I will try the warm layer mash to see if it helps. Do you use layer pellets with hot water on them?

Mine have pellets in a hanging feeder (which I top up whenver it's running low), they get the mash (or meal) mixed up with warm water in a couple of bowls in the morning. If I don't have time to sort their warm breakfast, they still have the pellets which is the same stuff just in pellet form. I've never tried adding water to the pellets, I suppose it would take a bit longer to prepare as presumably the pellets would take a while to soften up.

The poultry spice / crushed shells wouldn't really mix in with pellets too easily I don't think (although if it's wet... then maybe that would work).

I think it's the poultry spice and the eggshells which are making a difference, they seem to love it anyway!

ETA: The weather up here is pretty yuk just now too, generally grey, gloomy and wet. Maybe ex-batts are just so delighted to be outside they don't care about the weather

poohbear59

moominyak, I haven't herard of poultry spice so I am looking into that too. If you can have eggs where you are and from ex batts too I should here. I have 9 and had no eggs again today.
The newest ex-batts are sleeping in the nest boxes and pooing in there too.

MKCOL

How bizarre, they both laid an egg today!
So either they subscribe to this thread or have seen me tweeting about their strike!

twiglet98

poohbear59 wrote: »

I have, at last, got around to ordering a light. It is an LED solar powered shed light so I hope it works okay. The remote control means we can turn it on from the house (I hope). We actually had an egg today, the first one in nearly two weeks.

Do you have a link for the remote controlled solar light, please - both our outdoor flood lights have blown AGAIN and I don't want to get the electrician back at yet more expense, so a solar light that can be switched on from the house sounds fantastic!