Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

edmund_blackadder

lostinrates wrote: »

Be wary of starter kits: there is very little proper you need. Our chickens hate the plastic chicken waterer we bought and prefer to drink from ....anything else! We use litter trays that came free in catliter bags, but also, and there favorite, are shallow metal large dog bowls. I do think a proper hanging feeder is worthwhile: no point feeding the rats, but then I also scatter some corn/scraps - chickens are designed to scratch and eat from ground level (I apply the same principle to my horses who eat from the floor). As everyone has said, bedding is best bought in bales for horses (and line with newspaper makes thing much quicker and easier) but I tend to use straw, especally outside summer months. Its harder to find undusty straw but its warmer and they love it in the nesting boxes.

Dustbins in a shed/space for feed storage and a scoop or two (although MSE style, a scoop can be made from a large plastic milk bottle easily)

Thanks ... There are a lot of places that sell chicken feed - Any recommendations as to suppliers or brand of food? (any I should avoid?)

Frugaldom

Edmund there are basically 2 types of feed - medicated and unmedicated. The medicated one has coccidiostat added as a kind of vaccine against coccidiosis. As long as you stick to the same type then it's up to you if you prefer using grain, mash or pellets. Layers' pellets would be most suitable as that way you know the hens are getting a perfectly balanced diet, but if the hens are getting to freerange, hence having access to vegetation, grass, grit etc, then you might prefer to use grain supplemented with household vegetable & grain based scraps. Raw potatoes, potato leaves and rhubarb leaves can be poisonous, so best to avoid them, although I do feed cooked potato peels to mine and they love them. I'd recommend you do a bit of reading up on stuff just to establish how you want to go about looking after yours. Katie Thear's books are good and can probably be borrowed from your nearest library.

keigcf

We've got 46 hens in a railway carrage. They are let out in the day and go in about 10 at night. They are really lovely characters and I love them. Only one is a real pet and gets out of their field and today got in my kitchen. But they eat all my scraps. We have stuck to the same feed all the time which is important, and chuck a handful of corn down every day just for them to scratch at. Very low maintenace and excellent eggs, double yolkers sometimes

lostinrates

As a student I did a tiny bit of animal nutrition. Its complicated and changing science and hard to keep on top of. W supplement our birds' diets with scraps (which unbalances the diet somewhat) but I'm hppy to pay extra for a proper bought mix food.

An idea might be to buy a magazine like smallholders' magazine and read the adverts: see what they say and think about what claims are important to you, e.g. organic.


Huge leap forward here today: my little marans, who have been in with thr grown up hens but keeping close to the house and self segregated through the day...well today they joined the group, tentatively and came right in to our garden. They ar still very cautious and in awe of the big world. ne o the cochins is keen to keep them in their place, but he rooster is doing a good job of keeping tempers in check and taking care of these new young wives.

edmund_blackadder

nykmedia wrote: »

Edmund there are basically 2 types of feed - medicated and unmedicated. The medicated one has coccidiostat added as a kind of vaccine against coccidiosis. As long as you stick to the same type then it's up to you if you prefer using grain, mash or pellets. Layers' pellets would be most suitable as that way you know the hens are getting a perfectly balanced diet, but if the hens are getting to freerange, hence having access to vegetation, grass, grit etc, then you might prefer to use grain supplemented with household vegetable & grain based scraps. Raw potatoes, potato leaves and rhubarb leaves can be poisonous, so best to avoid them, although I do feed cooked potato peels to mine and they love them. I'd recommend you do a bit of reading up on stuff just to establish how you want to go about looking after yours. Katie Thear's books are good and can probably be borrowed from your nearest library.

Blimey I never knew raw potatoes or rhubarb leaves can be poisonous to chickens! :shocked: We have rhubarb growing in the garden so I suppose I'm going to have to cover that up somehow.

I think I am going to go with the Layers Pellets (as these seem universally available and provide a balanced diet) and then obviously provide them with cooked kitchen scraps as and when they are available!

edmund_blackadder

I've just ordered my henhouse/coop!

Marigold123

edmund_blackadder wrote: »

I think I am going to go with the Layers Pellets (as these seem universally available and provide a balanced diet) and then obviously provide them with cooked kitchen scraps as and when they are available!

I did the same when I had hens, but when feeding kitchen scraps bear in mind that chickens will gobble up most things with the greatest of delight, but you shouldn't feed too much that is low in protein. If they fill themselves up on that they won't be getting enough nourishment to produce many eggs. Avoid large quantities of vegetable peelings, etc, although by all means give small amounts as a treat. The exception to this are cooked potato peelings and raw greens. They'll also eat a lot of grass. I never cut mine in all the time I had chickens. (Unfortunately, in the Winter the lawn was virtually non-existent - I had to fence off portions of the garden to reseed it in Spring - as hens do a lot of excavating, scratching for insects, creating dustbaths for themselves, etc.)

Also avoid feeding lettuce, as most people seem to find this gives their chickens the runs.

As well as worms, flies, caterpillars, and other free-range fare, I found mine were also partial to the odd dead mouse that the cat had left behind. :eek: They would get very excited and run round shrieking hysterically after whichever one got to it first. Sounds disgusting, but I suppose it's all protein.

Something I learned was that if you feed your free range chickens from the back door, just tossing out scraps as they become available, you will never have a moment's peace and you won't be able to ever open the kitchen door or go outside without being harrassed and possibly pecked. Having chickens assaulting you for kitchen scraps is cute at first, but after a while it can become a pain.

I'm sure lots of this has been said before, but it's late and I haven't read back in the thread, so apologies for any duplication.

lostinrates

Marigold123 wrote: »

As well as worms, flies, caterpillars, and other free-range fare, I found mine were also partial to the odd dead mouse that the cat had left behind. :eek: They would get very excited and run round shrieking hysterically after whichever one got to it first. Sounds disgusting, but I suppose it's all protein.

Gross but true. Slow worms, though, brought back by the cats, are even more popular.

The only thing is to be wary about this, and NO meat from the kitchen.. the taste for meat: and thats what even mouse and slowwrom is, is powerful once aquired: and you know what all these odd meats are described as?....a little bit like chicken. It won't take a more aggressive chicken long to find this out for themslves. :eek::eek: Its never happned to us: and chickens are not vegetarian, but IMO, pasture found 'meat' -worms, the odd cat brought mouse/slowworm, flies, slugs- is more than sufficient.

The only thing is, mine will not consider large slugs. I've been told ducks might b the answer, but we aren't set up here for ducks: when we move we can have them. Having lost a good 70% of veg plot to rin rot and slugs this year I'm feeling pretty grumpy about this.

ETA: a nioce note from yesterday is my oldest cochin, who owes us nothing and rarely lays now, gave a little egg yesterday. She looked very proud of herself and suffered a cuddle from me.

supersunshine

lostinrates wrote: »

The only thing is, mine will not consider large slugs. I've been told ducks might b the answer, but we aren't set up here for ducks: when we move we can have them. Having lost a good 70% of veg plot to rin rot and slugs this year I'm feeling pretty grumpy about this.

We have chickens and used to have ducks. We used to have small ducks which are called call ducks. They loved living in our garden and used a kiddies solid paddling pool as their pond (which they loved diving in). They are fab for getting rid of slugs and can be left out in the garden all the time as they don't wreck the lawn or plants. Might be worth thinking of getting some of them. Ours were taken by a fox whilst we were on holiday and I still miss them :-(

maytaurus

Just saw this thread & wondered if this would be of interest to anybody?
Chicken Coop and Run - RS 711

http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/invt/rs00006