Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

ionahenor2

mardatha wrote: »

I've got the red plastic 3L water thingy - how much ACV should I be putting in that ? Am currently putting in half a capful from the vinegar bottle because am scared to give them too much.

I think I used to put desert spoon in but not sure how much water is in the glug. I don't think it works for worms anyway. I give mine raw grated carrot every day which is supposed to help and then worm them every 3 months with flubenvet.

Mojisola

We've always put some garlic bulbs in the water and very rarely have problems with worms.

RacyRed

I love this thread but it is taking me ages to read it, and I want to get in the queue for some rescue girls to go on my enclosed allotment plot, so please forgive my impatience - I've wanted to keep hens for years and am sooooo excited!!!.

I'm new to keeping hens and no good at DIY, so am thinking of getting THIS coop to keep 4 or 5 ex battery girls in.

I'm in the Durham hills, wind and extreme cold are more of a problem than foxes up here.

What do you experienced hen keepers think? Would this be ok or should I be looking at something else?

Thanks

ETA - or maybe this New Barn coop would be better? I have space for and would like to keed 10 to 12 hens eventually.

Gigervamp

That second coop is like my one, but I think mine is a bit smaller and I have 8 girls in mine. They do have another coop and originally were split between the coops, but they all decided one night to sleep together and have stayed in the one coop!

The only thing that I've had a problem with, is the door of the pop-hole. When it's wet, it swells up and is hard to shut (and equally hard to open the next morning-I have to let the girls out the back door and use a broom or spade to shove the pop-hole door open from the inside).

Other than that. it's a good coop and the slide out floor makes cleaning out easier.

RacyRed

Thanks for your reply gigervamp

Those coops come in different sizes so it may be the same sort. How sweet that your girls decided to all live together

I live in a high rainfall area, so the pop door swelling in wet weather would probably make quite a difference to my choice of coop. Did the manufactures suggest anything you could do to ease the problem?

susyrosy

An indelicate question: do hens fart? I was digging the garden just now, with six of the little darlings over and under and between me and the fork, so I know they weren't pooping, but there was a definite intermittant poop smell .... and I just wondered ...

Treacle_Toes

Hello,

I'm seriously considering getting three chickens and I'd like your opinions as to whether this area would be suitable to put their coop.



Sorry it's so big - can't work out how to make it smaller!

It's in a quite shady area, on top of slabs, next to a fence which has a footpath the other side.

I'd be getting a coop with a run attached.

Any opinions would be gratefully received!

TT
x

ionahenor2

susyrosy wrote: »

An indelicate question: do hens fart? I was digging the garden just now, with six of the little darlings over and under and between me and the fork, so I know they weren't pooping, but there was a definite intermittant poop smell .... and I just wondered ...

Yes they do. Sometimes they can be quite loud. The first time I heard Daisy I think I got the blame!!!! All 3 hens looked at each other in surprise then looked at me.:rotfl:

(I was shutting them in for the night and had the pop hole opened on the side)

Gigervamp

RacyRed wrote: »

I live in a high rainfall area, so the pop door swelling in wet weather would probably make quite a difference to my choice of coop. Did the manufactures suggest anything you could do to ease the problem?

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.

I never asked as I bought it from an ebay seller and they're no longer trading on there.

It's a pretty good coop apart from that problem.

Gigervamp

Treacle Toes,

That area looks fine. I'd take away some of the slabs so the hens have somewhere to scratch around in and make a dustbath.