Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

HeatherintheHills

Wow! Spirit they are gorgeous :j

How old are they? And can I borrow your naughty car please :rotfl::rotfl:

pinkpixie_2

Hello all, another newbie excited to announce our 3 arrivals:

Hannah Elizabeth - a Speckledy
Harvester (Harvey) Gilbert - a Columbine
Chuckie Egg - a Goldline

They're 16 weeks old and we got them on Saturday. They've settled in really well and even seem able to tolerate my excited 3 year old shrieking at them without running into the house now!

I do have a quick question - we were told by the poultry centre to put some grit down for them to eat as well as their food/drink, but they haven't touched the grit at all - is this normal? are they too young to want it? Or should we have put it in with the food maybe?

Such naivety...

happymum2010

Annaeliz, spirit and your hens are lovely and Welcome. Welcome too to Pinkpixie. I have found great support and advice here. PinkPixie I put the grit down in an old clean flower pot and mine go for it ok, they are 14 weeks old. Maybe it will take them a while to settle in their new surroundings. I have the fine hen grit i got from the pet shop, they were not too interested in the oyster shell grit, I think it was too big for them.

Annaeliz I like the solar lighting, might come in handy in the winter. I Will have to look for some in the sales.

Giger how are the chicks doing?

Ljonski do you think you will get some more hens?

ionahenor2 how did you get on with making your hen house? Can we see a picture…pretty please.

MoneyMission hope you got you hen loft assembled ok and are pleased with it.

We have ordered the carefree coop as it is the only one I could see before I buy. Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow. Our hens are spending the night in a large lidded plastic container (lots and lots of holes drilled out) and in their sheltered run in the day.

ionahenor2

They will eat it when they need it. Mine have it in the pen but hardley touch it but they do pick bits up on the drive and soil when they free range.
Welcome to chicken keeping.

Fingers crossed Heather. Hope they all hatch.

Spirit what a lovely girl.

Happymum will do. It's still in the planning stage as other more pressing things get done. (It's my top of the list but not OH's)

Digger jumped off the bank yesterday so back to square one. She is all swollen again poor thing. I really wonder if we are doing the right thing for her or should we be thinking of having her pts.

oldtractor

ionahenor2 wrote: »

Whats a chicken tractor?

a coup on wheels with an attached run. you wheel it about to fresh grazing as required.

pinkpixie_2

Thanks for the advice. We have the grit in a plant pot saucer, the grit does look quite big to me though... if they don't take to it, I'll look into getting something finer!

spirit

HeatherintheHills wrote: »

Wow! Spirit they are gorgeous :j

How old are they? And can I borrow your naughty car please :rotfl::rotfl:

They are stunning aren't they. I saw them when I got my Fenton roses a few weeks ago but they were too young to know which were hens. the c0ckerels are just as stunning but i can't really have one here.

they are 15 weeks old - and yes, you can borrow the naughty car anytime HH

spirit

pinkpixie wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. We have the grit in a plant pot saucer, the grit does look quite big to me though... if they don't take to it, I'll look into getting something finer!

i've got mine in coop cups which hook on the run mesh. you can also roast egg shells, crush them up a bit and then put that out for them.

ionahenor2

If you microwave clean washed egg shells you won't have the awful smell. Mine also raid the plant pots that have home made compost from the compost bin looking for bits of egg shell. They like small squashed snails shell and all.:rotfl:

never_too_old

morning all
I know im probably being impatient but my girls are about 20 weeks old.I think one of the white ones might be older as her comb and crop have been fully developed for weeks.
None of them have started laying yet ..a friend got her pullets from the same small holding and they were a bit younger than mine and started laying at about 17 weeks old.Am i doing something wrong?:D