Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

Syman

happymum2010 wrote: »

My poor chickens had a tough week last week with all the wind and rain and no house. We were catching the hens at night and putting them in a cardboard box in the garage. We finally got our chicken coop, the man we bought it off gave us a nice discount too. Not too sure what I think of it so far.
Oh by the way, whatever the vet sprayed on my chickens backsides seems to have worked – no lice.:j:j

We went to our first poultry fair just over a week ago – how would you know who is reputable and who isn’t. A lot of people were taking chickens and ducks away in large brown paper potato sacks. Is this the way it is done?

Last night I had a little visitor in the kitchen, who left me a little present on the floor. A few minutes after shooing her out, I had two little visitors and another present. I would like to say that the present was an egg, but not yet.

Giger – I love your ducks. I am so jealous.

Spirit – Your new auracanas are lovely.

Syman - Have you decided what hens you will get?

daisy_darling – Sorry to hear about Lemon RIP. He was a real looker + he knew how to pose alright. Was he a show bird?


Pakkun -I am so sorry for the problems you are having with your neighbours, I hope things get sorted out for you.


Sorry about the lack of thanks, my computer is playing up and is removing my thanks from posts. I have know idea how or why.

Happy Mum,
we have not decided what chooks we will be going for as yet. we will see what is available at the time.

May go for ex-batts. we're not in any hurry at the moment though.

daisy_darling

Thanks posters for the kind thoughts regarding Lemon.

Happymum, I never showed Lemon or indeed any of my birds because i'm a bit too worried about them catching anything from the shows. He was a right poser though

steady__eddie

I was about 7 when my first bantam went to the big Iglu in the sky and I cried my eyes out for a day or two afterwards.
I am forced to admit that I have been tempted to shed the odd tear at some of posts on here but please don't tell anyone has I might lose some of my image. :cool:

ionahenor2

Sorry to hear of your loss daisy.

Happymum how is the new coop? Is it one of the plastic ones? My girls used to like coming in and sitting on the doormat looking out. I used to have newspaper on the floor but one of them always used to miss it.

HeatherintheHills

Daisy, I'm so very sorry about Lemon, he sounded like a really nice boy (((hugs)))

Well I've solved the problem of how to house both my big girls and mini rooster separate from, but within sight of, my bantam girl and her hoped for chicks. I bought a big, walk in, dog kennel and run second hand.

I've ground to level and slabs to lay before it arrives. I then need to assemble it, scrub and treat it then sort out roost bars, nest boxes and a door for the rather large "pop hole".

I have about a week before the chicks are due to hatch.

:eek: :eek:

happymum2010

Afternoon all,
Ionahenor2, I’m not to sure what I think of the plastic coop yet. In my mind the bars inside the coop are the wrong way round. The chickens seem to have trouble with them and end up slipping and straddling the bars. Maybe with time they will get used to them. The chickens also seem to huddle in one corner which means that they all poop in one of the nesting trays, so we have removed it. The coop itself seems nice. It is about 15cms off the ground and the main parts can be taken apart easily by removing some pins for cleaning. It doesn’t take long to dry out either. The main thing is that it is waterproof. I will post some photos when I get a chance. Because of the wet weather we have moved the house and run on to the patio and to give the chickens somewhere to have a dustbath, I put in a large shallow plant pot full of sand. Well, my chickens must be daft, they have done everything but dust bath in it. They seem to like to eat it. Well, combining that with the purple cabbage that I gave them to eat they have been producing blue sand poop:eek:. Has anyone else given their hens purple cabbage before – does it affect the colour of their eggs? Can I join the impatient club too– I can’t wait to for my hopefully hens to lay.

Gigervamp

Lol at the blue poop! Egg colour is genetic, (passed on by the father, I've read) so it won't be coloured by the cabbage.

Sad news here today. Belle died this morning. Some of the chooks have got mycoplasma. We took one of them (Lilibet the pekin) to the vets because they won't issue a prescription without seeing one of them. (She's currently living in the living room and sleeping in a box in there at night.) Anyway, the vets didn't have the antibiotic we need so they rang around and would you believe it, in a rural area, no-one had any! :mad: So they've had to order it from the company that makes it and it should be in tomorrow.

Unfortunately, it was too late for Belle. She didn't seem quite right yesterday, but she didn't seem to be as bad as Lili otherwise we'd have brought her indoors too. Hubby went up to see to them this morning and he said she looked like she was fitting, so he picked her up and brought her down and she died in his arms. Looking in her throat, it was full of mucus, poor thing probably couldn't breathe.

So, we're hoping the meds are at the vets tomorrow so that we can treat the poorly ones and hopefully not lose any more. This wet weather doesn't help either.

Good news is the chicks are doing well. And little duckypoos is getting big! I let the eldest 2 chicks out into the field with their mum the other day and they really enjoyed exploring in the long grass.

daisy_darling

That sounds awful, Gigervamp. I'm gutted for you

ionahenor2

I do hope you can get the meds soon. Fingers crossed you don't loose any more.

Gigervamp

Here's the latest video. Hasn't little duckypoos grown! They grow up so fast. <sniff>