Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

Frugaldom

Your hens should all mix fine once they have established their pecking order. Just make sure you introduce them all to the house at the same time, so there's less chance of bullying. Some people close them all in together after dark for the overnight so they are accustomed to one another by daylight, but make sure you let them out fairly early if there's a window in their house, just in case of squabbles over food & water.

GOOD LUCK! It's really exciting getting your first feathered friends and better still when they start to lay you eggs. Don't forget to double check any poultry feed you buy isn't of the medicated variety.

KAAT_LADY

hi there ,,I am halfway through reading this thread and am loving it ..i have 3 buff orpingtons ,,one ex batt,,warren ,,and 2 lohmans,,very nice chooks

wow there is a lot of information here to digest .

.My DH has kept chickens before but i havent so will have fun finding out all about them ,,the orpington cockerel we have ,,at the moment thinks i am his Mum i think as he follows me all over and sits btween my legs when i sit in the garden ,,

shelley_crow

I have had 5 ex batt chickens for three days now and they are amazing.

Considering what they have been through they are really friendly and are raring to go outside. Most of them aren't as bad as i thought they were going to be but one is missing a lot of festhers on her wings.

They have given me 8 eggs so far.

The only thing i wonder is why i didn't get chickens before.

Frugaldom

I love keeping chickens and was lucky enough to grow up in a house on a farm, so my mum had bantams - that was the start of it. I'm desperate to build up some quail breeding stock but they are nowhere near as interesting and entertaining as the chickens in the garden. I have another broody hen on eggs that should hatch later around Thursday and last week these hatched from eggs I got given from a friend on a nearby farm. I had them in an incubator



My feathered menagerie is growing but I haven't had to buy breakfast eggs for quite a few weeks now.

Shelley, your hen's wing feathers will soon grow back in - they're probably just moulting out quicker than the new ones are growing back in. I hope you get loads of enjoyment (and eggs) from keeping your hens.

Kaat-Lady, your Buff Orpington cockeral sounds like a lovely character. The Pekin cockeral we have here is a bit like that and my Silkie (in avatar) just doesn't seem to realise that she's supposed to be a chicken.

Frugaldom

I'm apparently a little bit [STRIKE]mad[/STRIKE] [STRIKE]eccentric[/STRIKE] egg-centric, according to several friends, colleages, acquaintences, but I don't care - I'd love to see pictures of everyone's hens, ducks, geese, quail, pheasants, peacocks, guinea fowl, turkeys - anything, as long as they are frugal feathered friends, please share your photos.

Badger_Lady

nykmedia wrote: »

I'd love to see pictures of everyone's hens, ducks, geese, quail, pheasants, peacocks, guinea fowl, turkeys - anything, as long as they are frugal feathered friends, please share your photos.

Oo, OK! Here are two of my three ex-batts - the one in the foreground is Fred (she has no fear of people / cameras and usually comes running up for a cwtch)... and in the background is Sheila, shortly after her moult so she's looking all posh again

shelley_crow

nykmedia - thanks for the reassurance, she is feathered in most other places but her poor wings ( Having said that she is a fiesty one, i opened the shed to feed them and she was looking at me as if to say, "what do YOU want?" i have christened her Godzilla )

My other half and our neighbour converted our large shed for them to go in, they've got a massive run to so in all it cost us next to nothing to set up, i'll get pics asap.

I just know i'm gonna be one of those converts that tries to get everyone to keep chickens x

Badger lady - your hens are lovely.

KAAT_LADY

KAAT_LADY

this is my cockerel ..CURLY

sorry its so big
havent done this for ages

will try to get smaller

this is him between my legs,,when he was younger

this is gerti my ex batt warren

Penelope_Penguin

KAAT - how old is you cockerel He doesn't appear to have much wattle and comb - I'll post a pic of mine (if I can get him to pose) and we can compare

Penny. x