Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

artichoke

Hi all

today i unexpectedly gained a small chicken house and run....

I now need to quickly get all the other gear we need before i get 3 hens....

any recommendations as to what to buy that is fit for purpose but not too expensive....

is there a list somewhere of what 'starter stuff' i need?

can i make do? or do i need to buy the proper stuff?

thanks for any advice

art

KAAT_LADY

edmund_blackadder wrote: »

We've now had our 3 chickens for just over 2 weeks (and were told they are about 20 weeks old at the time) ... We've still not had a single egg from any of them (and they have all settled in very well and they are very much enjoying the freedom!)

I know I'm just being impatient but I hope we get some soon!

edmund what sort have you got ,,some times they mature later,,,like our orpingtons they took ages to mature and lay

angelavdavis

touch*my*food*feel*myfork wrote: »

we have a broody chicken

i have read lots of info online and also looked through this thread, but still have a couple of questions if i may.

I move her out of the box in the mornings, into the garden and close the house off so she cant go back in (but then obviously neither can any of the others) - i am still getting an egg from each of the other two daily at the mo.

She is quite happy and is running around and eating within the garden, but as soon as i reopen the house at the end of the day she is straight back into the same position.

My question is

a - am i doing the right thing
b - how long will this last - currently starting the fourth week

I did this for two months and it made no difference. In the end, the other chickens were being prevented from laying (she actually started laying on any eggs she could find outside the nesting box) and stopped so more drastic action was definitely needed. I found out about the broody cage (see links) and so made one and found it did the trick, but I left her in there permanently within view of the others (in fact within the run). The isolation from the others is part of the therapy apparently.

http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=25
http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=289

I now have four layers again!

Frugaldom

Katharine, any chance of some piccies if your babies?

I've had my first tiny egg from one of my little Pekins but then we'd to move their house and there have been no more since that one solitary egg over a week ago. Nothing yet from Araucanas, but I think the 2 Wyandotte x bantie chicks I kept may have started laying as there were 2 extra eggs in a nest box that normally has none and they were too big to have been Silkies. I MUST get cooking with eggs again, I'm getting a backlog as I've run out of decent jars for the lemon curd!

edmund_blackadder

KAAT_LADY wrote: »

edmund what sort have you got ,,some times they mature later,,,like our orpingtons they took ages to mature and lay

Hi KAAT_LADY,

My 3 are all hybrids. I have 2 Rangers (Rhode Island Red hybrid) and 1 Amber Star.

edmund_blackadder

artichoke wrote: »

Hi all

today i unexpectedly gained a small chicken house and run....

I now need to quickly get all the other gear we need before i get 3 hens....

any recommendations as to what to buy that is fit for purpose but not too expensive....

is there a list somewhere of what 'starter stuff' i need?

can i make do? or do i need to buy the proper stuff?

thanks for any advice

art

Well I'm new to it all too but since you already have the house and run, I then got the following:

• Straw for laying box
• Newspaper and straw for main hen house
• Layers Pellets (food) and Corn if you want (I do as mine love it mixed in)
• Grit (I don't know if you definitely need this as they can get a lot of it from the ground but I got some anyway and mix it in)
• A drinker
• A feeder

I've since bought some Red Mite powder too ... but haven't got round to using it yet!

I dare say there'll be people to offer further advice and/or correct anything that I've said that may be wrong!

Good luck!

nik0510

Hi Kaat Lady,

No only one hatched, it's so sweet, she is a good mum and touch wood the chick is fine, the little feathers have just started to appear on the wings, i am really praying that it isnt a boy
Best wishes

Nik

Janebo12

Hi again - I posted a couple of weeks ago asking advice because my chickens weren't laying - turns out that one of them started crowing the other morning . This is our first attempt at keeping chickens, so we are complete novices, but we did think it nice that they had lovely greeny-black tail feathers! lol!

DH rang the farm, who are extremely confused because they get their chickens from a breeder and they only get females (or so they've told us!) - anyway, we've got to take our girls, I mean boys, back to the farm today - we can't keep them because we live in an end-terrace with lots of houses around us and I don't think the neighbours would take kindly to all the noise that is likely to start.

We are going to get some new FEMALE chickens now in November when we come back off holiday. Thanks for the advice I received on here and I hope at least I managed to make somebody smile today.

ClootiesMum

turns out that one of them started crowing the other morning

Ooops :rotfl::rotfl:

edmund_blackadder

Janebo12 wrote: »

Hi again - I posted a couple of weeks ago asking advice because my chickens weren't laying - turns out that one of them started crowing the other morning . This is our first attempt at keeping chickens, so we are complete novices, but we did think it nice that they had lovely greeny-black tail feathers! lol!

DH rang the farm, who are extremely confused because they get their chickens from a breeder and they only get females (or so they've told us!) - anyway, we've got to take our girls, I mean boys, back to the farm today - we can't keep them because we live in an end-terrace with lots of houses around us and I don't think the neighbours would take kindly to all the noise that is likely to start.

We are going to get some new FEMALE chickens now in November when we come back off holiday. Thanks for the advice I received on here and I hope at least I managed to make somebody smile today.

Mine haven't laid anything yet either ...... :eek: