Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

magicbunn2106

i have heard of putting glcerine in ur water but i heard in galvenised drinkers it makes them rust quicker.
someone told me just to do warm water but put a little sugar in(1/2 tspn) and that will just make the water last a little longer. i put luke warm water out at 730am this morning and i have just gone out now at 13.30 and it just had a very very thin bit of ice on top. the temp clock has not rewad above 0'c all day so its not too bad. mine have just got the remians of DD dinner/breakfast: blended up froaties, milk, yoghurt, apple, and pastry from the quiche, all warme slightly in teh microwave they love it. !!! YUM YUM

Rotwein44

I went out this morning to feed the chucks, only to find one of my gold pencilled Hamburgs had gone to the big chicken coop in the sky, to be an eternal free ranger RIP little twinny!

jeanmd

Rotwein44 wrote: »

I went out this morning to feed the chucks, only to find one of my gold pencilled Hamburgs had gone to the big chicken coop in the sky, to be an eternal free ranger RIP little twinny!

I'm so sorry. RIP little twinny. x

Gigervamp

Oh, I'm so sorry.

LolaLemon

does anyone have an eglu?
I've been put off having hens as 'they are a magnet for rats', so ive been told, so im thinking that these might be better for me to work with.
Any info would be greatly recieved thanks

Gigervamp

We've had rats here in the past, before we had chickens. I'm sure there are still some around, but I've not seen any, or seen evidence of them despite the chooks occasionally leaving some corn or pellets on the ground.

oldandhappy

Just a point of view no long term knowledge yet...Saw one at a local school my hubby was replacing for a large pen, wood built construction. I think the wood pens can be made higher and to any size you have room for...the egloos are not going to rot and hard to clean out owing to the low height... but then you could move the whole egloo as they are lightweight,... fairweather months they would be really useful for moving around the garden although I have seen lightweight wood pens that are portable too for change of grass etc...Dianne

meggielo

Hi, I have an eglu. I was lucky enough to 'win' it off my local freecycle earlier this year. I had a beautiful wooden house to start with that I painted, I was so proud of it (pictures on my blog archives March 2008 or was it 2009?). Then this year we had an outbreak of red mite and omg it was so bad. We burnt the house and in between every slat of wood were clusters of baby redmite. The were alwful used to climb all over me LOL.

Now the eglu in my opinion is fantastic. It is easy to take apart to clean. Is all plastic so just hose it down and if any redmite did appear, you will see them and just wash them out and diatom the house and bedding. They are insulated too which has been a blessing in this weather lately. My girls come out every morning in a fog of heat that I can feel as they charge out LOL. I would really, really love a cube, but my DH is never going to spend that sort of money on my hens. I don't like the runs that come with the eglu. Mine came with the run and the extended run but in my opinion they are not very big, although it was a godsend in the redmite crisis as I could house the hens up the other end of the garden until the infestation had been cleared. So eglu are brilliant, the runs are great for emergencies but not long term.

BTW I looked on the website and saw that the eglu is supposed to house two to four hens I think it was.....well I have 10 in mine and could probably happily get another two in there:eek: they pack in tight and huddle up close to keep warm. Definately go for it, peace of mind knowing they are predator proof means a happy hen keeper:D

Rats are around wherever you live you just don't see them. When you have hens you occasionally get to see one because of the dropped food. If you bring the feeder in before dark and let the hens clear up dropped pellet before bed, you probably won't ever see a rat anyway. If you leave the food out at night you will maybe attract rats. Hope this helps.

Edited to add: You can sit an eglu on a sercure heavy duty shelf with a ramp up it for the hens to make it even easier to clean with no bending down. I aim to have mine raised off the floor, that way there is more floor space for the hens.

Kimitatsu

We have chooks and live on a farm so have always had rats - they come out of the ditches when it rains, they chew through doors to get to the warm and to be honest the only way to keep them down is some good ratting cats (or terriers) and an air rifle.

This year for us has been especially bad due to the wet we have had and now the accute cold but I am hoping that since some of them have been snowed in that will give us a head start.

Hope everyones chooks are ok, ours are (so far) depsite temperatures of -15 for the last couple of days, but I am hoping the weather warms up soon!

LolaLemon

oldandhappy wrote: »

Just a point of view no long term knowledge yet...Saw one at a local school my hubby was replacing for a large pen, wood built construction. I think the wood pens can be made higher and to any size you have room for...the egloos are not going to rot and hard to clean out owing to the low height... but then you could move the whole egloo as they are lightweight,... fairweather months they would be really useful for moving around the garden although I have seen lightweight wood pens that are portable too for change of grass etc...Dianne

I was thinking that i could move it around, i dont have a big garden, so was thinking it would 'save' my garden lol

meggielo wrote: »

Hi, I have an eglu. I was lucky enough to 'win' it off my local freecycle earlier this year. I had a beautiful wooden house to start with that I painted, I was so proud of it (pictures on my blog archives March 2008 or was it 2009?). Then this year we had an outbreak of red mite and omg it was so bad. We burnt the house and in between every slat of wood were clusters of baby redmite. The were alwful used to climb all over me LOL.

Now the eglu in my opinion is fantastic. It is easy to take apart to clean. Is all plastic so just hose it down and if any redmite did appear, you will see them and just wash them out and diatom the house and bedding. They are insulated too which has been a blessing in this weather lately. My girls come out every morning in a fog of heat that I can feel as they charge out LOL. I would really, really love a cube, but my DH is never going to spend that sort of money on my hens. I don't like the runs that come with the eglu. Mine came with the run and the extended run but in my opinion they are not very big, although it was a godsend in the redmite crisis as I could house the hens up the other end of the garden until the infestation had been cleared. So eglu are brilliant, the runs are great for emergencies but not long term.

BTW I looked on the website and saw that the eglu is supposed to house two to four hens I think it was.....well I have 10 in mine and could probably happily get another two in there:eek: they pack in tight and huddle up close to keep warm. Definately go for it, peace of mind knowing they are predator proof means a happy hen keeper:D

Rats are around wherever you live you just don't see them. When you have hens you occasionally get to see one because of the dropped food. If you bring the feeder in before dark and let the hens clear up dropped pellet before bed, you probably won't ever see a rat anyway. If you leave the food out at night you will maybe attract rats. Hope this helps.

Edited to add: You can sit an eglu on a sercure heavy duty shelf with a ramp up it for the hens to make it even easier to clean with no bending down. I aim to have mine raised off the floor, that way there is more floor space for the hens.

Thank you for all that, i did think the enclosure looked on the small side, but would mean i could leave them out when im not their, and when i am i will let them out to roam the garden (and probably my neighbours too hehe)

Kimitatsu wrote: »

We have chooks and live on a farm so have always had rats - they come out of the ditches when it rains, they chew through doors to get to the warm and to be honest the only way to keep them down is some good ratting cats (or terriers) and an air rifle.

This year for us has been especially bad due to the wet we have had and now the accute cold but I am hoping that since some of them have been snowed in that will give us a head start.

Hope everyones chooks are ok, ours are (so far) depsite temperatures of -15 for the last couple of days, but I am hoping the weather warms up soon!

What kind of cats are good ratting cats? I was hoping to get a kitten for christmas (i know a cats for life not just christmas hehe) but im half way through fixing up my house adn dont want the cat to be stuck between walls (got my son a £10 fish tank instead, will be a nice suprise for him:T), but i fully intend to have a kitten or 2 by the summer time. Ive been promising my son (3yrs)one for over a year now, i have everything in ready, just waiting on a kitten to use it all hahaha

I stay in a ruralish area between to towns, across the street from me is a school, so i am used to the knowledge that rats are near, just not wanting to encourage them any more than normal. Plus i live in a wooden house, have had mice once before, omg never agian! lol