Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

Shortie

HeatherintheHills wrote: »

Nykied, are you sitting down? there is something really important we have to tell you.

There is this condition that hens infect their humans with, it is called i-want-more-chickens-itis. Sadly, it seems to affect us all, and there is no cure. Once you have it you are pretty much done for.

:rotfl::rotfl:

I don't yet have space to be infected by this as I still have all of my 8 rescue hens. I got 8 expecting to lose a couple, originally planning to have 5 long term, LOL - that's me all over, ending up with more than I intended! And it would appear that My Shortie will not be helping to cure the infection if it does take hold...

... We went to see a property last week (we're looking to move) and we were talking about the garden and where the chooks could go and a veg patch. There is a decent sized shed (might have been a 10x8?) in the garden and I was forgetting we wouldn't need it as the property has a garage too. Anyway... Mr Shortie mentioned about converting it to a chook home, and I laughed about how they'd rattle in all the space. I then joked about needing to get som emore to fill the space.

'Could do..' came the reply :doh:

HeatherintheHills

never_too_old wrote: »

evening all

i recently purchased a netting run from Omlet, i read up on it and phoned them regarding some of the negative reviews of chickens escaping.I was told that if a hen has plenty of food they wont try and escape. So when i first put it up and one escaped over it i blamed it on them launching off the nesting box.Today we moved the coop an put it central in the run.one still escaped.
now to my question wing clipping,i have read and watched tutorial and am nervous in case they bleed .how likely is this?
or is my netting just rubbish and be sent back as not fit for purpose.

I have Omlet netting and to be honest, I love it. Haven't had any girls jump over it yet, but I do have to watch the gate, where it fastens at the base there is a gap and my bantams have no trouble walking straight through it. I keep a chunk of brick tucked up against it now and that stops them. I also put extra tent pegs round the bottom, at least 2 between each upright as they did dig underneath at first. If they are getting out don't automatically assume they are flying out, check where the little madams have made their innocent looking dust baths

The other thing that helps is not having the netting pulled too taut. If it sags a bit at the top and sways in the wind it puts them off trying to get over it (works on cats too).

When my girls are free ranging they can and do jump onto wooden fences higher than the Omlet netting, but they don't attempt jump onto the netting itself.

Follow the vid guides on wing clipping and you should be ok, I did it for the first time last year and was terrified, but you can see quite easily which bit is safe to cut and which isn't. You don't need to cut a lot, just enough to knock them off balance if they try to fly.

As for them not trying to escape, mine will leg it the first chance they get out of sheer curiosity! They were racing around like mad things yesterday and I thought they had all gone loopy, until I realised they were chasing a bee :rotfl:

happymum2010

HeatherintheHills – your chick is gorgeous – I want one too. What are you going to call him/her? Thanks for your vid, there is something so calming about chickens.

Giger – how old is your crowing chick? So cute. How are your other chickens? I have a suspicious looking chicken, Feathers is much bigger than the rest and has a pronounced red comb and wattle whilst the others comb and wattles have not really developed yet - all our hens are supposed to be the same age. Also Feathers does that gaping thing, no sound – I wormed the chickens last week with Flubenvet.

Hello kirsty822001 :wave:– Hope you are enjoying your crash course in chicken keeping – they are just sooo funny.

ionahenor2 that is so sweet that you have a biccy with your hen. It's lovely Digger is so tame.


I am starting to worry that we have the beginning of morehensdisease, there is a bit of I-want-more-chickens-itis going about. We are already thinking of dismantling the run we have and building a lean to against the garage. We only got it in May!! Think ahead before you buy Nykied it could prove to be costly if you don’t, could you borrow a coop for a short while? We didn’t count on the chicken bug getting us. Does anyone know if you can mix bantams with large chickens?

Does anyone have a low run? Ours is 3 ft high. How often do you clean it? We have the run on grass again and we are lifting the run, raking the poop off and replacing the run every evening – we are doing more damage than the chickens?

daisy_darling

Anyone got any idea how to stop this pest ?

For the last wek I've been finding most of the eggs cracked or smashed in the big birds cabin. I was initially blaming Hinge and Bracket my big coloured Jerseys because they've been known to eat the occasional egg that I've dropped when collecting. It wasn't them though...... I caught a magpie flapping round in the cabin this morning !

Has anyone had this problem before and how did you tackle it ?

happymum2010

Daisy_darling - hope you get your problem sorted out soon. I did a quick google search and it suggested leaving a radio on as magpies would stay away from human voices. Don't know if this works as I have no experience of this.

We've heard our first crow today . Couldn't see who it was, but suspect Feathers. Unfortunately we can't keep a rooster here so they are all off to the chicken breeder to take a look at them all. She says she can tell a rooster at 16 weeks, time will tell.

daisy_darling

happymum2010 wrote: »

Daisy_darling - hope you get your problem sorted out soon. I did a quick google search and it suggested leaving a radio on as magpies would stay away from human voices. Don't know if this works as I have no experience of this.

We've heard our first crow today . Couldn't see who it was, but suspect Feathers. Unfortunately we can't keep a rooster here so they are all off to the chicken breeder to take a look at them all. She says she can tell a rooster at 16 weeks, time will tell.

A radio ! That would never have occured to me. Thank you

I'll put a little battery operated one in the cabin this afternoon, and let you know how we get on.

kirsty822001

Flubenvet arrived this morning, so have mixed it ready with 2 kg of food and will feed her from that until all done. She decided to come out once rain stopped a bit, walked about a bit and then took herself back in. It has stopped again so am expecting her to come out.
Do i give grit whilst worming? I know I dont give treats/corn/anything apart from pellets and let her free range but not sure about grit, cant seem to find an answer. Also she poops in her nest box, has never pooped in perch area, and mostly poops in run area with food or in garden. I know some poop in nest box but just wanted to make sure that is normal? Under the perch area is clean and dry!
Have found out where to get more chickens locally !! Need to call make appt then u can go and choose ur chicken, I need to find out what is best to get, I mean if there is a 'type' she will get on better with or an age' if u see what i mean, i understand there is a pecking order and wondered if a younger hen might be better,,not a clue really! Friend i have said she has some stuff u can paint on (horse hoof stuff?) to stop them fighting and ripping out each others feathers!? I really want to get her a friend asap and hope they get on!!

HeatherintheHills

Happymum, a radio is a great idea :T

At the moment the chick is called "Hopefully Henrietta". I'll probably wait until it crows or lays to give it a proper name. I've a horrible feeling it is a boy though, hope I'm wrong, I often am.

Kirsty, get a couple more. Is yours a hybrid (large brown hen)?

ETA, they poop wherever they are nwhen the need takes them, so don't worry, sounds as if she sleeps in the nest box and not on the perch, many do that.

ionahenor2

I hope he isn't a boy Heather after your long wait. Has anything happened with the other egg?

Oh Happymum thats a shame. Will the breeder swop it?

Yes Kirsty get a couple more because if anything should happen to one of them you will be left with a single again. I think she can have grit with the wormer. I think the only reason they say no treats is so they eat all the food that has been treated. I give mine sprinkled on half a grape that way I know they have all had some.But it is not recommended because they are supposed to eat it all through the day. If mine are FR they rarely go back for their pellets just in case they get shut in again.

Gigervamp

Well, tonight was the night that Petal left her chicks. She had tried for the last couple of nights to do it, but we were able to stop her going in the main coop. Tonight, she'd gone in the main coop before I got up there and the chicks were in their coop calling for her, bless them.

So, we herded them out and across the field and into the main coop where they joined mum and were happy again.

They've been free ranging with mum and all the others for a few days so I'm hoping they'll be ok in the main coop with the others.

With the broody coop empty, we'll be playing musical coops tomorrow and will move Mirabelle and her two into that, freeing up the catbox. The catbox and the run we made to put it in, will then become home to the indoor chicks who are now getting cramped in their rabbit cage.

I gave them some lettuce for the first time today and they didn't know what to make of it at first. They shrieked and ran the other way! :rotfl: They got over their fright eventually and then started fighting over who got it! Will be interesting to see what they make of grass. And rain.

New duckypoos video here.