Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

angelavdavis

nykmedia wrote: »

Angela, did the wire cage work for your broody hen?

Reporting back on progress.

Day 1: left Ms Broody in the wire cage all day and night.
Day 2: same as day 1
Day 3: Allowed Ms B out during day after other hens had laid eggs and shut access to hen house off so she could run around and play with her buddies but not take over the nesting box.
Day 4: Allowed Ms B to spend evening with her buddies in hen house. I opened up the hen house last night when I threw in a cabbage for them to have a nibble on, she immediately went into the hen house! I left it a minute, then opened the nesting box door, she froze mid-step into the nesting box. I then said to her: "you have a choice here young lady, you know what the consequences are!" She then promptly turned round and left the hen house and joined her buddies outside!!!

I went out this morning and she was out playing with them (her crop is also getting redder which is a good sign). Am keeping a close eye, but fingers crossed it has worked!

So, she seems to be OK, but I have left hen house open and will go out in about ten mins to feed. If she has been tempted to sit on the eggs, I will shut off access again and she will be back in the wire cage overnight.

Katharine

The chicks have been freerange for over a week, and I'm still not certain about the sex of two of them. All my hens are broody, so Lyall is hanging around with Kiera and the chicks, who were scared of him tho he gave them no cause to be, is was the hens who would tell them off when they were being cheeky.

Maybe foolish but I've just responded to an add for 4 free hens near(ish) me. I was thinking that all my current chickens could now share a kennel and the new ones could be confined to the other one to acclimatise and socialise with the others for a bit before being let out. Then they can all move to the new house at the end of the month hopefully all happy where there will only be one chook house. Would this work, and how long would I have to keep them separate?

The other advice I've read is just to just put them in at night with the others.

Frugaldom

Angela, sounds like the cage has worked. Out of interest, did they eat the cabbage? Mine are so fussy! They will peck at absolutely anything in the garden, I'm fed up trying to fence off all the veg and they keep attacking the potato leaves, too. (Poisonous or not, mine find a way of getting at them.) However, they completely ignore any veggies I actually feed to them!

Katharine, the chicken bug has got you and it's chronic! :rotfl:I just wanted half a dozen little hens for freeranging in my garden. Pretty soon, I caught up with the compulsory registration numbers for DEFRA! (50+) It started when I gave a good home to 6 free broody hens, complete with eggs and then I got more eggs and they made even more chickens. :rotfl: Then ducks and quail and pheasant...

angelavdavis

nykmedia wrote: »

Angela, sounds like the cage has worked. Out of interest, did they eat the cabbage? Mine are so fussy! They will peck at absolutely anything in the garden, I'm fed up trying to fence off all the veg and they keep attacking the potato leaves, too. (Poisonous or not, mine find a way of getting at them.) However, they completely ignore any veggies I actually feed to them!

Yes they have stripped it down to the stalks! I also had hung up an old cauli - bit high so they have to jump up to peck it, and that is looking half its size.

I usually find that they initially ignore anything that isn't cooked, however, if they are left to their own devices, they eventually succumb!

I know what you mean about the veg garden, I have had to turn mine into colditz to stop them getting in, and they still manage to bust through from time to time. Mine have eaten rhubarb leaves - poisonous or not they don't seem to care one jot!

Well, Ms Broody has been fairly good today, so we will see how they go.

Frugaldom

Snap on the rhubarb leaves, but I usually know the culprits by whoever has 'the runs' next day. LOL Just gave Captain Beaky some pasta with tomato & herb sauce, he tends to eat anything that goes in his run, so we may change his name to 'Garbage Disposal'. He's also the only one that seems to like layers' mash. All this and then he ignores his pellets. I'm considering just feeding mixed grain and leftover veggies once the last bags of mash & pellets are finished. Don't know why they won't eat the stuff.

lostinrates

Hi nykmedia: no not Scotland, but the Southwest/Wessex area.

At the moment, sadly, we seem to have a lot of predators about, our badger population locally is tremendous, but at risk of out stripping what can reasonably provide. We have a very bold vixen locally, but in general I don't see many foxes: although last year the loss of poultry was dificultto tke: some of my favourite birds.

We'd love to keep ducks! We're trying hard not o acquire too much ATM, but ducks are a must when we move.

re pets, despite their size I always recommend cochins. They are such docile birds: easy to handle and have really never given us any issue at all with behaviour. The one small gripe is keeping the grass trimmed for those feathers in spring and autumn can be a bit of a bind when we might not be so fstidious ith the non feathered leg breeds, but then you'd have to do the same with bantams I guess.

I was very tempted by some lavender pekin bantams recently, such pretty little birds, but really we don't need them, and I don't want to put up yet anouther house for them here, and am unsure about housing them with the ''big birds''.

We've had a sad weekend actually: a broody decided she was broody but not the mothering type. So unlike a cochin hen: they are generlly such great mothers.

Katharine

You've got my Nykmedia I've become a chicken bore! Is it 50 chickens or 50 birds ie once I get to 49 can I expand into ducks.

I picking up my free chickens tomorrow, 1 light sussex who has a penchant for laying double yolkers, 2 cuckoo marans and a black araucana, blue eggs yay! All happy healthy layers and 12 months old, shame chicken bed time is so late this time of year, I have to catch them! So which do you think is the best option for them joining the other Nyk? Option C would be keep my chicks separate as well to be on the safe side.

skiTTish

Well ...dunno about chicken but I ended up being lumbered with 4 newly hatched ducklings yesterday:eek:
Dont think I fancy Mallard eggs so I wonder if they will fill a pancake eeked out with a bit of plum sauce ?!?

Katharine

Don't forget the spring onions and cucumber!

I do have very good reasons for getting these hens, 1 they are free, 2 I need more hens as I intend too keep one than one cockrel, and 3 they are free!

As far as peacocks are concerned I hate them with avengence, I lived on an estate with far to many peacocks. I was really concerned this week as three appered younguns from nowhere in my drive one morning and roosted here the same evening, luckily they moved on. People think cockrels are bad they are quiet, try being woken up at first light by numerous screeching peacocks just outside your window! There were hoards of them that hung around our house (our neighbour fed them!) making a huge racket and perching on our cars leaving deep scratches with their huge talons! Doesn't matter how many times you scare them off they are back in minutes, even the laird got fed up with their unchecked breeding and asked up to reduce their numbers which we did with gusto!

Primrose

I enjoy reading this thread (frustrated potential chicken keeper because garden is too small - it was a choice between vegetable patch and chickens) but I'm curious about what chicken owners do when one of their birds die. How do you dispose of them? Bury? Put out for the fox? Dispose in a black bin bag? I'm just curious.