Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

RacyRed

splodger_seedswapper wrote: »

i went up to the woods today to see my dad - and an old broody hen that had been sitting for a while - has just "delivered" 10 lovely chicks - beautiful balls of fluff they are :T:T:T

anybody keep guinea fowl ? we have 3 - and i think they are hilarious :j

Awwwww, the chicks sound lovely

What are gunea fowl like to keep then?

splodger_seedswapper

RacyRed wrote: »

Awwwww, the chicks sound lovely

What are gunea fowl like to keep then?

guineas are very noisy (our were to start with anyway) but as they have matured - they have quieten down - thankfully

we hatched some eggs under a regular broody hen (chicken) so for the first 6 months or so they were running around with the other birds - but they seem to prefer their own company now

they are very territorial - and are quite good as guards (against fox etc) as they make an awful racket when they are upset in any way

i am back up the woods on monday - so will try and take some pics if you like

smileyt_2

Help, I've found a mouse! I went out tonight to put the hens to bed and a mouse ran out from under their house :eek: I'm not scared of mice (I actually think they're quite cute), but I am scared that I will have to get rid of my hens if the neighbours get mice and blame my hens - the housing association will make me get rid of them. This means they will have to be pts as they are both marek's disease carriers and I can't rehome them.

Other neighbours have had mice in the past, before I got my hens, so it's not necessarily my hens at fault. They do spill their food, though, and it must be this which attracted said mouse. Does anyone know of any spill-proof feeders on the market where the hens can't flick the food out?

I think it was a field mouse cos it seemed a bit bigger than the house mice I have seen in the past (I had to go and rescue a neighbour from a dead housemouse once) and it seemed to be a more chestnutty brown than grey brown. I haven't seen any evidence of mice in my house at all.

Suggestions? Please!!

3v3

smileyt wrote: »

Help, I've found a mouse! I went out tonight to put the hens to bed and a mouse ran out from under their house :eek: I'm not scared of mice (I actually think they're quite cute), but I am scared that I will have to get rid of my hens if the neighbours get mice and blame my hens - the housing association will make me get rid of them. This means they will have to be pts as they are both marek's disease carriers and I can't rehome them.

Other neighbours have had mice in the past, before I got my hens, so it's not necessarily my hens at fault. They do spill their food, though, and it must be this which attracted said mouse. Does anyone know of any spill-proof feeders on the market where the hens can't flick the food out?

I think it was a field mouse cos it seemed a bit bigger than the house mice I have seen in the past (I had to go and rescue a neighbour from a dead housemouse once) and it seemed to be a more chestnutty brown than grey brown. I haven't seen any evidence of mice in my house at all.

Suggestions? Please!!

If your concern is that the HA will force you to get rid of your chooks, the best thing to do is to call in a professional to lay traps. Mind you, don't see how you can protect the whole of the great outdoors from rodents

Even the cleanest of people have had mice in their houses, so that isn't an indication of anything really.

Spill proof feeders? The nearest I've come to them are Omlet Grubs but even they aren't foolproof, depends what you fill them with (I know you use the Omlet forums so you'll know what I mean ) Good luck in your search though!

ionahenor2

Smileyt I wouldn't worry too much about the mice they were probably there before the hens, just unseen. I found a dead one in the girls glug a few months ago and they have a regular visitor at bedtime. It runs into the pen and back out again with anything it can ( usually pellets from the grub).

Pickledtink Sorry to hear about the badger. We have a sett half way up the drive but have only seen the badgers twice in 3 years. I used to have my eglu very close to their entrance, I suppose I was very lucky we had no visits. They have broken the fence in a few places though.

NoahsPennilessMummy

I have been asking about spillproof feeders as my girls kick theirs over and trample the pellets everywhere! have been advised to get the metal galvanised troughs which i am going to give a try.
Have only had our 3 girls for a fortnight and we love them to bits:j
We have 1 White Star and 2 Lohmanns
White star started laying 2 days ago to great excitement:D
Other 2 still a while off as they still have small pink combs.

abwsco

Galvanised treadle feeders are good but dear. Also, your chickens have to learn how to use them.

If you're not doing it already store your feed in metal bins as mice will chew through plastic and another option is to take the feed in every night but then in summer that means you'd have to be up really, really early to put it out for your girls.

pickledtink

smileyt wrote: »

Help, I've found a mouse! I went out tonight to put the hens to bed and a mouse ran out from under their house :eek: I'm not scared of mice (I actually think they're quite cute), but I am scared that I will have to get rid of my hens if the neighbours get mice and blame my hens - the housing association will make me get rid of them. This means they will have to be pts as they are both marek's disease carriers and I can't rehome them.

Other neighbours have had mice in the past, before I got my hens, so it's not necessarily my hens at fault. They do spill their food, though, and it must be this which attracted said mouse. Does anyone know of any spill-proof feeders on the market where the hens can't flick the food out?

I think it was a field mouse cos it seemed a bit bigger than the house mice I have seen in the past (I had to go and rescue a neighbour from a dead housemouse once) and it seemed to be a more chestnutty brown than grey brown. I haven't seen any evidence of mice in my house at all.

Suggestions? Please!!

I have just had to deal with this as last year rats gnawed into the coop and the shed next to it where food, hay, litter is kept. Although the ratman came and got rid of them I got mice this year but as the pellets are in a galvanised bin they had to go into the coop to nick food. At first I didn't mind as seeing one little mouse scurrying off away from their feed hopper in the coop didn't seem so bad but then there were mouse droppings in their food and the pellets going down at an alarming and expensive rate!
Only when I went rummaging for BBQ stuff and found a whole lot of startled little eyes peering up at me did I realise I had a whole colony.
Traps it was. i hate the 'humane' ones. Having tried them I think they are far crueller. Mouse is caught but aware and traumatised then you have to drive them off alone somewhere and dump them somewhere unfamiliar where they probably die anyway.
Old fashioned wooden spring ones are a struggle to open and set so I got a 'Bayer garden' plastic trap which is easy to use and works. Once I baited it with peanut butter it got 6 mice in as many days and as you smear the PB right around into the back it snaps their back quickly and cleanly. Here on sale: http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/advanced-mouse-trap-p-6355.html?utm_campaign=googlebase&utm_medium=comparisonengine&utm_source=google

Also here: http://www.hayesgardenworld.co.uk/product/bayer-advanced-mouse-trap


Not nice but better than the hen's food and water getting contaminated and maybe making them ill!

QueenieB

We've had no problems with rodents at all despite living on a farm and keeping all sorts of poultry (ducks, geese, guinea fowl, hens, turkeys,quail). I think it's because we made sure to build all of the houses except the duck house on legs, so the heat from the floor isn't so likely to attract rodents- the duck house is just on a base of concrete slabs and nothing has chewed its way through so far.
We also don't ad-lib feed, ever. The birds get about as much feed as they can hoover up in 20 minutes in the morning, and scratch corn as a treat in the afternoon, plus the occasional cabbage hung from a post somewhere in their field. We've found this minimises costs as well as being less attractive to rodents and seagulls, and none of my birds has ever been accused of being too thin!

RacyRed

Does anyone elses chooks grab hold of your jeans and hang on with their beaks while you are trying to walk?

Do they think I'm the chook version of Alton Towers or something? It isn't the food, they will run away from the feeder towards me to play this game.

This morning after I'd let them out I went back with fresh water for them. There I was in my wellies with a couple of chooks dangling off the hem of my dressing gown. It's a good thing the neighbours already know I'm nuts :rotfl::rotfl: