Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

RebekahR

We are in Winchester. Were thinking of late April/June so you never know!

TrulyMadly

Hi everyone,
We have a chicken with a bare tummy. It looks sore and is red raw. Can anyone advise?

Thank you

happycrafter_2

mardatha wrote: »

My god those things are noisy ! Mine are very very quiet. Like a brass band just starting to tune up away in the distance.:)

I only notice the noise (and its only from one of my ex bats) after its laid an egg. It is like she is telling me "I done it!!! come see!!!" :rotfl:

chickens are funny things, mine are getting brave keep wandering in to the kitchen even with the dog and cat sitting there, the dog runns up to me and looks at me to say "its in here again what do I do???" he wont chase them as the ex bats started chasing him and he is a bit of a wuss.

jumblejack

mardatha wrote: »

Can I ask if anybody has had an experience with red mite ? Is it as huge a problem as they say on the poultry forums ? My coop has a felt roof but its glued on and I can't take it off.

Hi mardartha. I have had a massive outbreak last year.

I have got round it by creosoting the coop. I know it isn't sold anymore but I was given some off freecycle and I used it responsibly. There are alternatives which work but not quite as well.

I stopped using bedding in the coop sp that I can clean it more easily and I spray jeyes solution in there regularly.

The VERY best preventative and curative solution however is DE (diatomaceous earth). You can buy it from the bucket on eBay. It is completely safe and natural. It kills mite and lice by attacking their exoskeleton and they dehydrate and die. It can also be mixed in with the chicken feed as it eliminates worms. It even acts as a natural deodoriser. You can puff it onto the chickens directly, puff it into all the nooks and crannies of the coop and dust bathing areas and mix with the feed.

Please google it. You will be completely blown away.

mardatha

I got some JJ, but stupidly didnt get the puffer bottle. Am just sprinkling it around the floor and nest boxes. Will that be enough ? Somebody in another forum said add it to water and paint on as a paste, I might do that if the rain ever stops !

rachbc

Ok I am a totally noob to this so please bear with lots of daft questions.

I have a smallish back yard (about 18ft by 12ft) currently paved with stone - we want to keep 2/3 chooks out there - I am hoping we can 'free range' them during the day in the yard and get a small coop for sleeping and laying (this sort of size http://www.amazon.co.uk/COCOON-CHICKEN-COOP-HOUSE-POULTRY/dp/B000YWVUQM/ref=tag_dpp_lp_edpp_img_in. What is the best surface to lay instead of the stones and what height will I need the fences to be to keep them in the yard. it currently has a 8 ft fence one side, hedge the other (removing and replacing with more fence) and a wall about 4 ft at the back - thinking this will need to be higher?

Don't want to lay turf so am thinking gravel or something. Would this work or would they be happeir on grass/ earth?

RebekahR

I await the reply to Rach's qu's which are also my own! Esp the fences. I am scared of the jumping and flapping and bye bye birdy over the fence! How high can they jump when clipped? And when not clipped?

susyrosy

rachbc wrote: »

Ok I am a totally noob to this so please bear with lots of daft questions.

I have a smallish back yard (about 18ft by 12ft) currently paved with stone - we want to keep 2/3 chooks out there - I am hoping we can 'free range' them during the day in the yard and get a small coop for sleeping and laying (this sort of size http://www.amazon.co.uk/COCOON-CHICKEN-COOP-HOUSE-POULTRY/dp/B000YWVUQM/ref=tag_dpp_lp_edpp_img_in. What is the best surface to lay instead of the stones and what height will I need the fences to be to keep them in the yard. it currently has a 8 ft fence one side, hedge the other (removing and replacing with more fence) and a wall about 4 ft at the back - thinking this will need to be higher?

Don't want to lay turf so am thinking gravel or something. Would this work or would they be happeir on grass/ earth?

You will have to start from the fact that all hens will destroy a landscape. Once you're happy with that, you will love having hens and a no-maintenance garden! You also have to know they're not cheap (cheep), well, at least their food isn't, and with a garden the size you mention, they will always have to be fed. Don't think they will survive on household waste, because they're fussy little things. They will probably produce the most expensive eggs you ever eat.

I would suggest getting bantams - they're smaller (obviously!), so their claws are smaller, so they don't cause quite so much destruction as full sized hens. (Their eggs are smaller, but this isn't a problem.)

Hens have two favourite pastimes, apart from eating and screeching - scratching and dustbathing. I would suggest you take up some of your paving stones, to give you an outside-the-coop area of earth. They will then make a bomb site and will love you for it. Leave the stones where you site the coop and you can put fairly thick straw or wood shavings (not bark) on the stones, when you want them enclosed.

If you can put down a few pieces of replaceable turf (let it grow longish first) in their pen/your ex-garden, their beady dinosaur eyes will light up!

Always provide water and food, and shelter from rain and sun. They will form an escape committee, whatever you do, so the hedge will be an easily-overcome challenge, as will the 4 ft fence. It's amazing how well a chicken can fly when she wants. I don't clip wings as I always want my hens to have a sporting chance in the face of predators. They can also tunnel out of captivity, which is why I suggest keeping the paving stones under your coop. It's like keeping a flock of miniature Houdinis.

Mine are always escaping and are now a feature of the local neighbourhood. Mothers hold their children up to look over my fence to see the fowlies, and if I'm around, and the girls are laying, I'll give the kids an egg. Whether it gets home intact, is another matter.

Have fun!

gillian62

My chickens love a layer of wood chippings (not bark chippings) so if you can get hold of some of those they will have hours of fun, plus it is good for drainage if we get a lot of rain.

I have the top part of the garden fenced off for them - 7ft fence. It is soil (well it is now!!) with layer of woodchips, which they dig in to their heart's content.

I have a mixture of large chickens and bantams - no preference really. Haven't clipped any wings this year as haven't needed to. But you may find that when you get new chickens they are flighty anyway to start with as they are nervous. Get 2 or 3 chickens at the same time, it saves a newbie getting bullied.

I feed layer pellets from a chicken breeder (cheaper than shops). Later in the day they will get veg and perhaps corn too. They love to do through a bucket full of weeds if you are gardening too - just be careful with grass. I tend not to give them too much if at all.

Costs have risen for food, but the quality of the eggs you get are worth the costs - certainly no dearer than buying free range from supermarket.

The chickens have a coop at night - a shed with some nest boxes and some perches - nothing elaborate. I use chopped straw for bedding - don't use hay.

I have kept chickens for 1 year now, and wish I had started earlier.

rachbc

ok so if I leave the slabs where the coop is but put staw or chips down and just have soil area for them in the yard with an area of something green for them - maybe a raised bed that I can keep puting new stuff in for them to peck and scratch about it. There is nothing planted out there at the mo so no worried about destroying anything - I just want to create somehwere they wil be happy!

Do you leave the little house bit open during the day for them to come and go and then just shut it at night?