Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

ljonski

Good morning Mrs Baggins. chickens do take a lot of looking after but they are worth it for the fun and entertainment. basically they need to be let out early in the morning and locked up at night. They need to be contained securely in an area and have access to food and water at all times. You also need to consider when they need to be wormed and what common illnesses to look out for and the treatments. Be careful about the type of bedding. I used to pick their poo everymorning and scrub out approx every month Hth

Syman

Hi Mrs Baggins,
I work in split shifts,so my routine for my girls is:-
Daily
Open coop pop hole about 6:30 and refill water and food t
Let the out to FR about 11.00
Collect eggs, Poop pick the run, coop and particularly the nestbox. (my girls sleep in the nestbox).
top up straw and woodchips (if needed)
put them back in the run about 2PM before i go back to work. bribe them with mixed corn!
Close pop hole when they go in to sleep, the time varies as the days get longer.


Weekly
Change the straw and wood chip in the coop, i put it in the run if it's relatively clean.

Monthly
Complete clean of run and coop. giving both a good scrub.


I have been lucky not to have been troubled by foxes. I know there are some about but so far have let us alone.

When i go away, i have a neighbour that lets them out in the morning, and then pops back to put them away. She gets the eggs, and a small gift.

Sammy-Jo_2

I have been lurking on this site for about 3 years! Finally, we have decided to buy chickens - now I need your help. We are looking at 4 hybrids. They would be in their enclosure most of the day - apart from weekends when we would be able to let them have the run of a large space in our allotment/garden. Do you think this house/enclosure would be suitable?
We visited a poultry centre today but the price of their enclosures were horrendous! (£459) its the XL model.

Syman

he integral runs in these type of coop are rarely big enough if you use the recommended space per bird. usually about 10 sqft per bird.

Gorgeous_George

After much research, I have chosen the greenfrogdesigns small Chicken Loft and will soon be buying 5 or 6 POL chickens.

I'm not allowed a dog but I might get away with a Labrachicken.



GG

toni_

anyone have a problem with rats in the chicken run? we have some living under the shed now, bloomin pain, they come off the farm next door but when i lived in the city we still had this problem with them eating the food, does anyone else?

Eliza_2

I did last year. I had to do a double take on one occasion - a great big rat and one of my bantams hospitably sharing the food bowl! I moved the hens to the other end of the garden for around 8 months, demolished the house and removed all logs, and as many other hiding places as possible, not easy as a great big tree grows in their run and the rats were obviously hiding in the roots, Then when it started getting cold again, moved them back to their run - new house on a solid paved base. No more rats!!

Once I moved a log in the run and this huge blind baby rat squirmed around trying to get underground again - not a pretty sight.

spirit

In the winter time I tend to get them. I've never actually seen one but the hole under the fence is a giveaway! I have a rat bait box which I keep baited all winter. I check it each morning and top up the bait if needed.


I put their food away in the shed overnight too.

ionahenor2

We've had trouble with rats too, eating the grass seed we had stored.

I also saw one climbing the stone wall on the front of the house during the day!!!!:eek: :eek:
We now have bait down but the squirrels keep eating it.I thought they would ne too big for the tubes but they manage some how.

I have a mouse that visits the girls pen when they have gone to bed. We've made each other jump once or twice when I've gone in to collect their food:rotfl:

poohbear59

We had rat problems. With them, the rooks and the pheasants helping themselves to the feed it disappeared really fast. It is too expensive now to be feeding all and sundry.

We called R3ntokil who sorted out the rat problem. Then we got two barn cats from a rescue centre. We have to pay to feed the cats but we now have no rat problem. And the cats are cute, still wary of humans but becoming more friendly.