Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

bexbex

I have 3 chickens in my garden, only one will come out in the snow though lol

Gigervamp

Luckily we've got some large trees covering half the garden, so the girls have somewhere relatively snow free to walk around on, but the ground is frozen solid so they're having a hard time pecking for insects. I've had to defrost their water several times today too. I've given them porridge for breakfast along with their pellets the last couple of mornings and they love it.

meggielo

I've just found this thread:j That's abeautiful hen bexbex, is she an ex batt? I have 10 hens, all ex batts ranging from hens that were rescued from March 2009, to two seperate lots that have been rescued in 2010. I love them all.

Readng over the last couple of pages of the thread about egg production being down it is totaly normal for ths time of year like all ready mentioned. I am getting two, sometimes three eggs a day from my 10 hens! Two of the old hens from 2009 don't lay any more anyway and are in retirement:D

There are quite a few pictures of my hens on my blog for anyone that is interested. I am an ex batt co ordinator for the south east:cool: We bring the hens ordered for our area down from a pick up point on the day of the rescues from the farms.

I have lost three hens to foxes over the last two years when they have been free ranging in my garden. All at seperate times I might add. The foxes live at the bottom of my garden, just over the hedge boundaries. This may sound weird from a hen keeper but I love them. I also...dare I say it....feed them:eek:I don't let my hens out to free range anymore as the foxes spend most of their time in my garden. But I don't worry because my hens are in a secure run with paving around the outside and inside and weld mesh and wood protecting them. I check it regularly for any fox activity and so far so good. We built it with foxes in mind and it has a perspex roof. Photos on my blog archives March 2009 of when we first built it.

coldstreamalways

Why do you feed the foxes? I find feeding wild mammals encourages disease and poor health. If they are healthy they are more than capable of feeding themselves. If they are not healthy, well, nature will take it's course. Do you find that you encourage other, less welcome species of mammals like rats?

oldandhappy

We do all we can to protect our Hens and one really important point is 100% not to feed the foxes anywhere near your Hens surely... makes sense not to... and not put any food down in your garden anywhere...we have had lots of foxes over and close to our fence in the past through feeding....now any left overs get placed as far away from gardens as possible. Dianne

LolaLemon

meggielo wrote: »

I've just found this thread:j That's abeautiful hen bexbex, is she an ex batt? I have 10 hens, all ex batts ranging from hens that were rescued from March 2009, to two seperate lots that have been rescued in 2010. I love them all.

Readng over the last couple of pages of the thread about egg production being down it is totaly normal for ths time of year like all ready mentioned. I am getting two, sometimes three eggs a day from my 10 hens! Two of the old hens from 2009 don't lay any more anyway and are in retirement:D

There are quite a few pictures of my hens on my blog for anyone that is interested. I am an ex batt co ordinator for the south east:cool: We bring the hens ordered for our area down from a pick up point on the day of the rescues from the farms.

I have lost three hens to foxes over the last two years when they have been free ranging in my garden. All at seperate times I might add. The foxes live at the bottom of my garden, just over the hedge boundaries. This may sound weird from a hen keeper but I love them. I also...dare I say it....feed them:eek:I don't let my hens out to free range anymore as the foxes spend most of their time in my garden. But I don't worry because my hens are in a secure run with paving around the outside and inside and weld mesh and wood protecting them. I check it regularly for any fox activity and so far so good. We built it with foxes in mind and it has a perspex roof. Photos on my blog archives March 2009 of when we first built it.

Can u share your blog address please? either on here or pm me please so i can see your fox proofing.
(i have in the past, helped out the local foxes, and so has the wind by blowing over my black bin, infact most of my area generally looks after the foxes and deer that are near) I dont leave food lying around on purpose, do not want to encourage rats, but animals are creatures of habit, so i tend to throw the food over the school fance at certain times (the school is across the street and the foxes live at the end of the football pitch and across the burn) by the time i get in home and upstairs to the window, the foxes are already on their way to the food.



Thank you to all the replys to my initial question, i now im going to have to pay between £100-£300 for a good sturdy, reliable coop, but i would rather pay the higher price if it is from a great company witha great repretation and that the product is going to last (that to me makes it 'cheap' as it will make it cheaper the longer its in use, like pay for its self by x time etc...), whereas if i make my own (or more likely, get my dad to make it for me hehehe) it wont last 2 minutes never mind 2 months lol.
again thank you for your help

Money_maker

meggielo wrote: »

There are quite a few pictures of my hens on my blog for anyone that is interested. I am an ex batt co ordinator for the south east:cool: We bring the hens ordered for our area down from a pick up point on the day of the rescues from the farms.

Had a look at your blog as you're local to me. Got my ex batts end of august - didn't realise there was a sussex co-ordinator, had to go to Biggin Hill (BHWT).

I had mine separated for several weeks but all together now bar one, have a piccy of her a few pages back. Very bald but now better feathering than the others.

Don't understand the fox thing but still have memories of streaking naked through the back garden when a child as the fox (or badger!) stole my pet hen and left a gaping hole in the crop of another pet.

meggielo

Hi, the fox thing....I don't know why I love them so much but I do. I had never seen a live fox before until I moved to East Sussex from Hants. When my parents come down to stay they are gobsmacked to see foxes in my garden LOL. They too have never seen a live fox before. I know alot of people won't understand why I like them but they fascinate me, I think they are gorgeous. A Mum and baby visit me every day. I have only fed them for the past two days because it was cold and I felt sorry for them looking for food. If I feed them it is normally in my front garden totally away from the hens at the bottom of my back garden, although this week when I fed them I put the food up on my decking by my back door. They are always in my garden anyway as they live just behind my bottom hedge, hence why the hen run had to be so fox proof. When I first got my hens and they used to free range alot the foxes never came into my garden ever. But now they do (before I fed them)as they like the trampoline and sleep on it. Unfortunately for them we took it down last week!! I know alot of people hate the foxes but I don't have a problem with them at the moment anyway LOL. I lock my hens up at night in their eglu as well as the big outside run so I don't worry bout them at all at night.

My husband calls me a 'tree hugger' as I love everything that is wild life and nature. My friends laugh at my dedication to feeding the birds etc etc LOL. I just enjoy seeing nature I suppose. My husband actually said to me yesterday that the fox with the baby needs to be shot as it has bad mange...I was actually horrified at that suggestion as I feel no one has the right to make that decision. Like somebody else mentioned...nature will take its course naturally.

The link to my blog is in my name (meggielo)click on the drop down bar saying visit homepage.

The reason you might not have known about me being a co ordinator in your area is because I pick up hens for HRUK not BHWT, although thinking about it, maybe I should volunteer for them too.

We have a rat that we noticed last year that visits the coop at night but haven't seen him for about a year now. I have three cats that caught two rats last week and left them outside the back door:eek:So no problems really with hens attracting vermin as such...gotta go and let the hens out.......

LolaLemon

meggielo wrote: »

The link to my blog is in my name (meggielo)click on the drop down bar saying visit homepage.
.......

Thank you, im new to this and didnt know how to see that, i will need to add my crochet one to mine soon

kjmtidea

I completely forgot that there was a chicken thread on here! I got my chickens back in the summer, 3 rhode island reds and 1 columbian black tail. We are still getting eggs everyday, I thought they would have stopped by now? We had 4 yesterday and 3 today, not complaining though!
We have been giving them some warm food every day lately and now I have just read on another forum that this is a bad idea?! What is everyone else doing to keep their chickadees warm at the moment?