Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

Syman

I gave flower a bit of a look over and i think she may have had a minor prolapse? looked up on t'internet and followed the instructions and it popped back in. She did not seem in any way poorly and did not cause a fuss when i massaged her bottom (oo-er missus lol)

Syman

***UPDATE***

Well after some research it looks like Flower had a prelapsed vent:(. Following several suggested remedies on t'internet i donned my surgical gloves and with the gentle insertion of a finger:eek: and a very generous dollop of haemmerroid cream:eek: she has layed this morning with no re-occurence :T. Will continue to check every couple of hours as it is something that can easily recur.

RacyRed

Well done! :T

RacyRed

ionahenor2 wrote: »

No Racey her abdomen is still swollen but she has started eatng a little so I am giving her lots of treats and trying to make her as happy as possible. She was out digging for worms with OH yesterday. He was moving some wood with the JCB and the gang were helping clear the tracks he made in the soil of worms/slugs. They had a great time. I don't think there is anything that can be done for her but if she starts to suffer I will have her put to sleep.

I was looking up plastic hen houses other than Omlets Eglus/cubes (I have an eglu but want more chickens) and came across these site. They have some interesting stuff.

http://www.solwayrecycling.co.uk/recycled-shop/pig-poultry/hen-houses/solway-mini-hen-coop

http://www.regencypoultry.com/chicken_coops/index.htm

Following one of the links given in the links you gave led to these fruit cages, which look pretty decent to me. Does anyone else use a fruit cage to keep their chooks in? If I try DIY it would never get done

Fingers crossed for little hen.

spadoosh

Sorry to jump in but NEW MEMBER, WHOOP WHOOP!!!!

Wanted chickens for a good couple of years now but girlfriend has a bird phobia! Anyway got home from work on sunday to find parents were round with the g/f, thought it was a bit odd but my birthday yesterday so thought they were coming round for a social. Went to let the dog out in the garden and guess what.... A shiny new coop and 2 gorgeous hens in there! My g/f decided she was going to surprise me for my birthday (apparently she didnt enjoy the drive home too much eek!).

Always thought it might be a bit of a pipedream or at least have to wait until we have a big enough garden to put them miles away from the house before the g/f would accept having them.

She got the birds from a woman i work with who keeps quite a lot of chickens, so dont actually know too much about them (breed and age) untill i can speak to her at the weekend but looking at them would say they were pretty young but full grown. Also from what ive seen on the internet i think (probably wrong here) that they are speckeldys hens. They certainly look like them anyway, will try and get a pic up soo hopefully one of you pros can identify them.

Anyway, so far, so good! The dog doesnt seem bothered by them (very quiet dog likes a sniff every now and then) and whats better the chickens dont seem bothered by the dog! They were a bit wary at first retreating in the coop when he went near but now theyre standing there ground and not backing down! Had them out all day in the garden yesterday and think they were enjoying their fresh grounds, lots and lots of pecking and scratching and generally quite curious!

Sorry for the long post, but don't know wether you can tell but im chuffed to bits so waffling a little bit! Anyway gonna try and get the pictures up now (just want to show them off!!)

O nearly forgot, they're called betty and boop. G/f didnt approve of Beebop and Rocksteady and i didnt think her naming them chick and hen were that good. So Betty and Boop it is!

Gigervamp

Spadoosh, what a great birthday present, especially given your gf's phobia.

It sounds like your girls are at point of lay. I've noticed, looking back at pics of our first hens, that although they look fully grown sizewise, their combs were a lot smaller than they are now.

When they're ready to start laying, their combs will go red rather than pink. They might also act a bit funny. When Daisy first laid, she was in and out of the coop like a yoyo, bokking away and when in the coop, making a right old racket like she was doing some DIY! :rotfl:

Happy Birthday. :beer:

spadoosh

http://i1069.photobucket.com/albums/u464/spadoosh1/IMG_0387.jpg

http://i1069.photobucket.com/albums/u464/spadoosh1/IMG_0390.jpg

here we are managed to do it. So any opinions other than speckledys?!?!

Gigervamp

Possibly. Here's a pic of Daisy, our speckledy when we first got her:

spadoosh

Cheers Gigervamp, i know im absolutely made up! And already promised to do the washing up for a year to try and make up for it. She's actually not been too bad (the g/f that is) she was out in the garden with them yesterday (a good 10-15 ft away though) but still she seems to be getting more and more intrigued!

Their combs are very small! One of them seemed a bit on edge (pacing around a bit) last night and thought she might be wanting to lay but nothing so far, (not expecting anything for a while though yet) Also noticed about half an hour later a cat sat on the run, so thought the cat might have upset them a bit?!?!

1st potentially silly question but cats dont pose much threat do they?! I know cats dont like birds but thought hens are big enough to intimidate a cat?! Obviously not too much of a problem when theyre in their run or coop but what about if theyre free ranging?!

spadoosh

Seem to be struggling to thank your posts. So ill do it in text, Thank you!

They do look very similar. My g/f went to my co-worker with the request for quiet, good layer and fairly comfortable with being handled. And those characteristics seem to fit the speckledy breed (or at least what ive read in my book and on the net).