Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

3v3

:j:j:j:j:j My broody hen, who I used to hatch 5 eggs, has finally laid her first egg of the season. It's taken 16 weeks from when she first went broody, hatching and rearing her chicks. For a silkie, it's quite a big egg too :rotfl: and boy did she Bwark her little head off to tell me!!

Did wonder how long it would take for her to go back to production, now I know

I feel a poached egg on toast coming on

RacyRed

Nice one 3v3, I love the way they announce when an egg has been laid

Georgie, there are some great coop deals on Ebay and Amazon at the moment, I got an 8 foot cocoon with intergrated run on ebay recently, the coop and the service were great.

Fencing is giving me a headache at the moment, I need to fence off part of the allotment for the girls and am thinking of using fence pins and mesh so that I can move it when needed, but panels look easier to handle.

It is doing my head in, does anyone have any suggestions for moveable yet secure fencing please?

Gigervamp

Several people I know, use Heras panels. They're the large metal wire panels you see around building sites. I've suggested them to hubby, but he doesn't want the field to look like a building site!

kayl

Very sad day yesterday, as I lost my first hen to a fox. I let my 4 girls out at 7.30am as usual, and heard a fearful racket from 3 of them at 8.30 - no sign at all of poor Rosie, and I just saw the fox disappearing over my back fence ( 6 feet tall!)

When I got the first 2 last year, we were very cautious, and only let them out of the Eglu run when we were watching them. We have gradually got more relaxed, and have since Easter been letting them out whenever we are in the house. This has taught me a sad lesson, and I am afraid that I'll have to go back to curtailing their freedom. They were very subdued after it, and kept within a couple of feet of me all day.

The worst bit is that my duaghter went off to camp on Sayurday, and I'm going to have to break the news to her next weekend!

RacyRed

Gigervamp wrote: »

Several people I know, use Heras panels. They're the large metal wire panels you see around building sites. I've suggested them to hubby, but he doesn't want the field to look like a building site!

Mmmm, I can see his point. I looked at those but was worried about the gap at the base and their ability to stand up in very high winds - no doubt there are ways of addressing both of those points. They may well be the best option for me for now though

Gigervamp, I've just been watching your youtube chook vids, what a gorgeous bunch of girls you have! And Sebastuian and the Araucanas are so sweet! Thanks for posting them, I know how I'm going to be spending my spare moments for a while

RacyRed

kayl wrote: »

Very sad day yesterday, as I lost my first hen to a fox. I let my 4 girls out at 7.30am as usual, and heard a fearful racket from 3 of them at 8.30 - no sign at all of poor Rosie, and I just saw the fox disappearing over my back fence ( 6 feet tall!)

When I got the first 2 last year, we were very cautious, and only let them out of the Eglu run when we were watching them. We have gradually got more relaxed, and have since Easter been letting them out whenever we are in the house. This has taught me a sad lesson, and I am afraid that I'll have to go back to curtailing their freedom. They were very subdued after it, and kept within a couple of feet of me all day.

The worst bit is that my duaghter went off to camp on Sayurday, and I'm going to have to break the news to her next weekend!

Oh Kayl, I'm so very sorry

3v3

kayl wrote: »

Very sad day yesterday, as I lost my first hen to a fox. I let my 4 girls out at 7.30am as usual, and heard a fearful racket from 3 of them at 8.30 - no sign at all of poor Rosie, and I just saw the fox disappearing over my back fence ( 6 feet tall!)

When I got the first 2 last year, we were very cautious, and only let them out of the Eglu run when we were watching them. We have gradually got more relaxed, and have since Easter been letting them out whenever we are in the house. This has taught me a sad lesson, and I am afraid that I'll have to go back to curtailing their freedom. They were very subdued after it, and kept within a couple of feet of me all day.

The worst bit is that my duaghter went off to camp on Sayurday, and I'm going to have to break the news to her next weekend!

Oh that is so so sad!

I know how you feel, I lost 5 back in April, Mr Fox got them by punching up the floor underneath the roosting area of the coop - never heard a squeak!!! There were signs he had tried the door of the coop and there were even scratches on the Eglu pop hole (and, as you know, that is pretty strong stuff!)

I have never let mine free range unless I'm in the garden with them (and the coop floor has now been re-enforced).

Good luck with breaking the news to your daughter.

3v3

RacyRed wrote: »

....
Gigervamp, I've just been watching your youtube chook vids, what a gorgeous bunch of girls you have! And Sebastuian and the Araucanas are so sweet! Thanks for posting them, I know how I'm going to be spending my spare moments for a while

Oooo, where did you find the link for those (fancy a nosey myself )


ETA: Finally found it

Gigervamp: great snippets!!! Loved the football games

Gigervamp

Here's the latest video of the araucanas. And here's one of Sebastian.

Belle and Sebastian now wander around with the others. We kept them separate for a while because being so small, we didn't know if they'd get bullied. However, they kept hopping over the fence and there didn't seem to be any problems so we let them mix.

It's quite funny that one of the girls who's a bit of a bully is scared of Sebastian, even though she's 3 times his size!

Gigervamp

Kayl, I'm so sorry to hear about your girl.