Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

chocolate_buttons_2

ionahenor2 wrote: »

Jmurph and Chocolate Buttons please don't be put off by our discussions about chicken illnesses.

Chickens are a delight to have and as so many people have said they are funny, chatty, and full of character. They get ill like any pets might.

I've had chickens for 3 years now and I only wish I had kept some sooner. I love hearing them shout after laying an egg. I also love coming home and seeing 3 bobbing heads as they dance in front of their gate waiting to be let out.

Glad to hear Marybelle is much better STEEL.

Oh don't get me wrong, I am just trying to know any pitfalls before I jump? I'm so tempted to say yep, we must do this.

Steel_2

chocolate_buttons wrote: »

Oh don't get me wrong, I am just trying to know any pitfalls before I jump? I'm so tempted to say yep, we must do this.

Well some of the pitfalls for hubby and I have been:

1. Love them so much we want loads more (one or two of every good breed) and branch into other fowl, like bantams, ducks and turkeys, but not sure what to do with all the eggs. And poo. And the inevitable taking over our lives that will go with it.

2. Love them so much we want to overhaul the garden to have a big pond for ducks to go with the old second world war air raid shelter we have bought to refurb into a duck house.

3. Now thinking about rearing our own.

4. Talking about poultry at every opportunity, making us sound like sad geeks.

All joking aside though, I'll be honest about what I've tackled over the last three years.

• Four bouts of sour crop in two chickens, both ex-batts who just didn't get the whole concept of eating grit and oyster shell to grind their food up. Not sure whether that's a product of the battery farming industry. Olive oil and crop massage solved it on all four occasions. When I bought four new hybrid point-of-lay girls, the ex-batts started eating it fine because (I think) they saw the others automatically eating from the bowl of grit and thought they should be too.
  
• A few poo-ey rear ends until I understood that worms cause that. Once wormed it clears up.
  
• Red mites.
  
• Scaly leg. Easily solved, just not pretty until they moult.
  
• A small cut on the face of one of them.
  
• One ripped off one of her toenails.
  
• Overgrown beaks that need clipping on the ex-batts. Ex batts will have part of their top beak cut off which can sometimes cause food problems as it 'squares' their beak up and they have problem picking stuff up. I got my vet to teach me how to gently clip their beaks at the sides to get them a bit pointy. Every now and then the sides of their beaks grow out again into a 'square' and every now and then (maybe once or twice a year) I clip them back.
  
• This weeks prolapse in Marybelle (who is doing very well and the prolapse has not appeared this morning. Last night's raspberries and strawberries gave me a start when they came out of her other end though as I thought it was blood in her poo! Doh!)
  

If you get some chickens, handle them often so you can check them over once or twice a week for pests and problems. I can honestly say that some of the issues I've experienced has been because of my lack of vigilance on this score. Chickens will hide problems until they become so ill they suddenly look bad, but if you spend time with them, understand what is and isn't normal behaviour, and have a system for worming, bedding changes and feeding the appropriate foods then your problems should be few and far between.

That's not to say they won't ever get ill though. They may have a genentic predisposition to something or something unexpected may happen (such as the ripped off toenail or cut on the face). That's no different from keeping pets though and you just have to deal with those as they come up.

jennyjelly

I'm also a noob to this, but unlike choc buttons I've always wanted chooks, it's my OH who has been dragging his feet, but now he is well on board and has been happily building a run.

I'm prepared to do whatever is needed to keep them happy and healthy or, should the need arise, make a quick, painless and stress-free end. The run frame is up and the roll of mesh is sitting in the garage waiting to go on this weekend, as is the flat pack coop (this one). I haven't yet bought feeders, drinkers, layers pellets, corn, straw etc etc, but as our nearest agricultural place is 15 miles away and this is also the nearest place to buy chooks we'll be doing all that in one run when their home is ready.

I've done an awful lot of reading and found this book to be excellent for our situation (village semi by the sea with a 10m x 10m garden). I also know that this one is coming for my birthday on Friday (it says so on my wish list!)

I'm thinking I'd like Black Rocks as from all that I've read they are quite robust, good layers, friendly and not too big. We really only have space to 3 or 4 so I want to make the right choice first time, but with no experience of chickens and only books to go on I'd really love to hear anyone's comments on what breed would be best. The four qualities I've just mentioned are the most important.

Thanks!

JJ

PS - Steel, I've been following the Marybelle saga and I'm so glad she is getting better now. I'm hoping this is something I won't have to deal with too soon!

ALIBOBSY

One of ours is a blackrock and she is clever and friendly-can hear her crowing outside now to say she has laid lol.

she is bigger than the others and seems to be the boss. first out in the morning and last in at night.

Re the illnesses we had nothing for 18 months then one poor chickie had died overnight for no apparent reason.

My friend has had 12-15 birds for about 6 yrs (lucky lot live in an old farmhouse-they have room to be a small holding but don't use the land really except for the horses-would love their house lol). She reckons she has never had any illnesses, just a few foxy losses and a few unexplained sudden deaths overnight.
We do like they and the breeder recommended-that diaot... earth stuff in the bedding and on the chucks on a regular basis and in the drink for worms.
They are cute tho and the more you watch them the more you will be against those horrid cages. I still eat chicken, but would rather have a veggie meal than eat non FR chicken. My sister is mostly vegan and worries about FR birds on mass farms so she loves that she can have eggs again.
OH just arranged for the kids to have a new kitten, he obviously thought 4 kids(13,8,3 and 1),3 chickens a cat and hamster were too easy lol. Off to feedher and have a cuddle.

Ali x

chrissyxx

Steel wrote: »

I have heard of people rigging eggs.

They blow the contents of it out (just like you used to at easter when you were a kid) mix the contents with some raging hot chilli pepper or oil of cloves, then inject it back in, seal the hole up (no idea how; tape? Wax?) and put it back in the nest box.

Doing that a few times might work?

I had problems with one of mine eating eggs too. A farmer told me to blow an egg and fill it with mustard, then replace it in the nestbox. I felt so sorry for the poor chooks, until I saw them all tucking in like it was the chicken equivalent of steak and chips! Tried adding chilli powder to the mix the next day, and again, they loved it! (I have very strange chickens obviously!). I then saw on the internet about the golf balls in the nestbox, and also giving them a bowl of milk to drink. Not sure which of these methods worked, but the problem seemed cured within a couple of days. I will say that my old chicken does tend to lay soft eggs, which get trampled if I dont rescue them quickly which may have started the problem.

Steel_2

chrissyxx wrote: »

I had problems with one of mine eating eggs too. A farmer told me to blow an egg and fill it with mustard, then replace it in the nestbox. I felt so sorry for the poor chooks, until I saw them all tucking in like it was the chicken equivalent of steak and chips! Tried adding chilli powder to the mix the next day, and again, they loved it! (I have very strange chickens obviously!). I then saw on the internet about the golf balls in the nestbox, and also giving them a bowl of milk to drink. Not sure which of these methods worked, but the problem seemed cured within a couple of days. I will say that my old chicken does tend to lay soft eggs, which get trampled if I dont rescue them quickly which may have started the problem.

Sometimes I see a few yolky beaks around and it's always usually because my old ex-batt has laid a very thin-shelled egg. The rest of the eggs are usually so tough it's hard to crack them with a knife so the gang never manage to break any others.

You know, my cat like chilli too. You have to be very careful with her when there's a bag of chilli crisps or a chilli con carne around. They must like the sensation on their tongues??

jennyjelly - great to hear you're getting some! I'm not sure which breeds are the most friendly unfortunately. I have two light sussexes, one who is skittish, yells a lot and totally hare-brained (Lulu) and the other who is a bit of a bruiser, very mouthy and sends the rest flying when there's food around (Dusty); two rhode rocks who are sweet and shy and chirpy (Marybelle and Georgiabelle); and my ex-batt dominant Isa Warren (Oxo) who was friendly and confident when she came and used to being handled. She is also a tea stealing moo.

Just been in to see Marybelle and she is totally clean and tidy with no sign of that prolapse. She's must have spent the whole day grooming because she looks superb.

RebekahR

What are the types of chickens that don't fly? Or can't get over a fence.

Steel_2

RebekahR wrote: »

What are the types of chickens that don't fly? Or can't get over a fence.

Most (if not all) breeds of chicken (apart from bantams) can probably get over a 4ft fence after a few tries, and some of the more powerful leaner girls could do 4.5ft - 5ft. You have to clip the flight feathers of one wing so they are unbalanced and can get very far if they attempt it (and remember to reclip the same wing after they moult and grow their flight feathers back - ask me how I know )

RebekahR

Experience! LOL. I'm wondering about going down the bantam route. Do they need any special care that standard chickens don't?

ionahenor2

RebekahR wrote: »

What are the types of chickens that don't fly? Or can't get over a fence.

oven ready?:rotfl: