Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

zippychick

ive merged this with our thread on keeping chickens.

Mojisola

Eliza wrote: »

Oh ok then. I was just trying to minimise the amount of salt/sugar etc. They're not impressed by the lovely goo I've given them, still if they're hungry enough they'll eat it I suppose.

As it's only going to be a temporary blip in their usual diet, I wouldn't worry. If they were getting fed high salt stuff regularly, that could cause problems.

steady__eddie

"Thanks. No I haven't got weetabix or sweetcorn but have got sardines in tomato sauce. If I scrape as much tomato off as poss that might keep them happy? Have got tuna, tinned and frozen."

This has jolted my memory cells back into action, many years ago I was exiled to a backwater in the Middle East doing my bit for queen and country. The local farmers on the coast used to use thousands of tiny fish as fertiliser on the land. Some of the food grown was scavenged by the chickens with the result that the eggs tasted fishy to say the least. Bacon and egg sandwiches were out of the question for religious reasons, no tomatoes for logistical reasons so anyone who desired a good old fashioned high cholesterol breakfast had to settle for a fishy egg sarny. :rotfl:

annie_d

We had three chickens and our last one died yesterday. Boooooo. We now have a huge purple Omlet house sat forlornly in the garden. We may or may not get more chickens but am i right in thinking it would be better to wait until Spring?

Mojisola

steady__eddie wrote: »

This has jolted my memory cells back into action, many years ago I was exiled to a backwater in the Middle East doing my bit for queen and country. The local farmers on the coast used to use thousands of tiny fish as fertiliser on the land. Some of the food grown was scavenged by the chickens with the result that the eggs tasted fishy to say the least. Bacon and egg sandwiches were out of the question for religious reasons, no tomatoes for logistical reasons so anyone who desired a good old fashioned high cholesterol breakfast had to settle for a fishy egg sarny. :rotfl:

This used to happen with some of the chicken feed mixes that contained fish meal for protein - very strange taste and not very pleasant!

Syman

annie_d wrote: »

We had three chickens and our last one died yesterday. Boooooo. We now have a huge purple Omlet house sat forlornly in the garden. We may or may not get more chickens but am i right in thinking it would be better to wait until Spring?

my bold.

Apparently it is spring

You can get POL hens now. My local supplier has them in at the moment.

annie_d

Hahaha true! It IS Spring.

ionahenor2

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

We still have snow left but the last few days have been sunny enough to melt a patch of grass so my gang are very happy:j They are soooo fed up of cabbage leaves that they even ate some sprouts off a stalk they unearthed in their pen.:rotfl:

rubys_mummy

hi, i've just "acquired" 3 chickens....someone had moved out of their house and just left them....long story but there were originally 24 and the fox got them,but we managed to rescue 3....

anyway, i've got them in a lovely big section of the garden, fenced off, and they've been settled a few days with me now...however, even tho they're laying pretty well, its at odd times of the day lol! one lays about 11am, one lays around 3pm...never first thing in the morning!

however, they've eaten their own eggs twice now and i don't know how to stop it....obviously i know i have to collect the eggs as soon as they're laid, but with them having a silly body clock,i never know when that will be! and they dnt really make much noise when they ARE laying to give me a hint!

i'll probably be on here a lot now, looking for advice,so thanks in advance!

Gigervamp

How could anybody do that? Makes me mad, those poor chickens.

With regards to the egg laying, mine lay throughout the day, so we collect them in the evening when we go to give them their corn. Not many of them lay first thing.

I'm wondering if the egg eating was brought on by being left (with no food I presume?) and that was all that was available to eat.

I've heard that some people cure this by blowing an egg and filling it with mustard, then putting it back in the coop. They go to eat it and don't like the taste and it's supposed to put them off egg eating. Worth a try.

Also, make sure they have plenty of layers pellets for them to eat throughout the day and give them some treats. Mine love grapes and cherry tomatoes.

Good luck with your new flock and do keep us updated.