Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

sunflower76

It looks like myy ladies are settling in well as we've had 10 eggs in two days so I don't think they've been put off by each other. They had a few scuffles yesterday when Violet launched herself at the newcomers :wall:. I'm really wondering whether her name should have been VioleNt. They all happily put themselves to bed last night too.

Top hen has always been Rosie but Daisy, the lowly picked upon hen, seems to be being very bossy and I'm not sure whether she's trying to become boss of all ten. She's probably my favourite so I'll be quite proud of her if she does manage it :rotfl:.

The originals are pretty much sticking together and are still coming in for cuddles, where the newbies don't want to know. They've clearly had a differnt life as they are happy to sit indoors, or in the run at best whereas my girls are more like roaming lapdogs and are out wandering most of the time.

We're at capacity now so I couldn't possibly get anymore without a bigger coop...... :cool:

sunflower76

Does anyone have their food and bedding delivered from an online company? I'm currently paying £7.99 for 20kg of garden mix, which is an all in one mix of pellets, grit etc and they bed down on eucalyptus shavings and hay. Just wondering if there's somewhere I can go online to get it all cheaper?

ionahenor2

Just been out to give my girls their treat (grapes with Flubenvet) and saw a fox running up the bank in next doors garden. Guess I will have to go back to supervised freeranging again.

Mine have shredded paper in the nest which thanks to the phatom pooher is changed every morning. I pay £6.95 cor pellets but I collect them from the seed merchants.

lillibet_dripping

I have 5 girls whom I love dearly!

Watching them scratching around yesterday, I got to pondering - with the cost of feed going up, what did people in WWII feed their chickens? They can't have bought sacks of feed like we do now?
I think they were just fed on scraps - does anyone know the answer?

Gigervamp

Yes, they were fed on scraps. Can't do that now (legally) as it's against the law to feed chickens any food that's come from a kitchen. Having said that, I can't see them being able to police such a law when you consider that most backyard chicken keepers do feed scraps.

Gigervamp

Argh, I have 2 poorly girls. I think Gracie might have sour crop. She's currently in the kitchen. I've managed to get her to eat some yoghurt and drink some water with ACV, but she's not happy. Tried massaging her crop but not much came out.

And this morning, I noticed that Petal is walking like her bum's too heavy. Funnily enough we saw a video on youtube the other day of an eggbound hen that was walking exactly the same way, so I need to get Petal down to investigate. Not looking forward to sticking my finger in her vent!

ionahenor2

Hope all goes well with Petal and Gracie, fingers crossed.

lillibet_dripping

Gigervamp wrote: »

Yes, they were fed on scraps. Can't do that now (legally) as it's against the law to feed chickens any food that's come from a kitchen. Having said that, I can't see them being able to police such a law when you consider that most backyard chicken keepers do feed scraps.

I had a feeling that there was something illegal about it. I suspect now is not the time to say that the school kitchen keeps leftovers, veg peelings etc. for me to take home:o

I can see why large scale poultry farms need to be careful with their food chain, but for backyard 'pets' scraps can't possibly be dangerous?

jennyjelly

lillibet_dripping wrote: »

I have 5 girls whom I love dearly!

Watching them scratching around yesterday, I got to pondering - with the cost of feed going up, what did people in WWII feed their chickens? They can't have bought sacks of feed like we do now?
I think they were just fed on scraps - does anyone know the answer?

My mum remembers that when my grandad kept chickens during the war you could use your egg ration coupons on chicken feed instead. She says they had far more eggs using the coupons that way than they would if they used them for eggs.

rowsew

Mine get kitchen scraps, b*gger the government and their regs. They only get veggie stuff though, no meat items. Unless they find themselves a worm of course ;D. I buy my feed and corn direct from an animal/smallholders kind of store, and Aubiose to bed them on. I know the feed prices have gone up, but I'd still rather have my hens in the garden giving me eggs than buying them at the store. And the more scraps they get, the less pellets go in the bowl!
I am looking forward to replenishing some of my stock this year, I have two girls both over 4 now who have definitely stopped laying; the other three are much younger and mostly all laying every day, thank goodness. Let's hope we don't have another Broody Hen Crisis like we did last year, 6 weeks of no eggs from a POL pullet - aaaaargh! I am going for some less hybridised versions for my new girls, maybe Legbars (I fancy green eggs to add to my white, pink and brown speckled ones). Have to see what the farmer's got in stock.