Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

ljonski

You are currently letting your chickens sleep in a cupboard in your house??

i live in a flat with space on the stairs outside the door .
yes, the cupboard is on its side and opens fully at the top . i line the bottom with old newspaper. After i take them to t he garden , i quickly muckout and shove the residue in the compost bucket.

Frugaldom

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:I probably shouldn't laugh but I am amazed at where some hens sleep! Mine aren't allowed in the house at all but they do bask in the sunshine outside the door (when it's sunny) and they probably would come in if given half the chance.

Today I got a blue egg in the henhouse! :T:j That means that the lavender Araucana I have freeranging with the others has started to lay, despite the snowy weather. My lot hate walking on the snow, I need to clear paths for them and have their feed and water dishes on non-snowy parts. I bring the dishes in at night so they can get washed and then fill them each morning. The hens also have feed and water inside their house but I need to make sure all the dishes get topped up with the same mix of cider vinegar and their grapefruit seed extract. What amazes me is that, despite the freezing temperatures and snow, my silly ducks are still going into their bath as soon as the water gets changed. Just as well they are waterproof!

I think I'm getting through 5kg of feeding a day at the moment, their bedding and nesting needs changing most days, so they certainly don't pay for themselves during winter when kept naturally as opposed to additional lighting provided. Shortest day now past so I guess we've had our longest lie of the year as far as the cockerels are concerned! Mine are still awake and crowing before dawn. :rolleyes: Who said they don't crow in the dark?

angelavdavis

Hi all, some advice needed if possible.

I think one of my hens is on the way out. She is very low, keeps her head low and tonight we found her under the henhouse on her own when we went to shut the others in for the night. She has been a bit reticent to come out in the cold weather to feed lately although has always managed it. I have brought her into our (unheated) conservatory to keep an eye on her.

The run is covered with a poly plastic roof and I have been checking that their water, etc is OK every day. They are fed kitchen scraps as well as layers pellets and the occasional sprinkling of corn as a treat. I am still 1-2 eggs per day from the hens (there are four hens).

I got the hens in February this year, from a lady who previously got them from the battery hen rescue. She had had them for a year, so I guess the hens are around 3-4 years old.

I can't see anything else wrong with her, although the other hens are steering clear of her.

Do you think she is simply dying of old age? Are there any symptoms I should be looking out for?

Thanks

xnatalie81x

My 3 girlies are still laying every day and they have a bog for a run lol - it is a mud swamp even though i bought 80litres of playbark for them lol - they have buried it! Will try and get a tarpaulin to put over the roof - i do FILL their hutch with sawdust but they refuse to go in there until dark - they can get under it to get some dry and shade during the day but they prefer to get wet. I leave them to it cos they are still laying so must be happy - o and i give them warm water every morning but it freezes overnight lol

mummyslittleboy

Hi all need some advice we used to have chickens and lots of them then we had to move and am no longer with hubby who did everything for the chickens and the kids really miss their chickens so thinking of getting them again but only got a tiny garden and need a coup and run for them but needs to be cheap any advice please?

edmund_blackadder

nykmedia wrote: »

I'm just using the usual cider vinegar in water each day but have started adding Citricidal (grapefruit seed extract) in the mornings. Worst problem we have is the hens refuse to shelter when it rains, prefering to get soaked, then they go in at night and their straw gets damp. They're free ranging, so no place to shut them in completely, but they seem lively enough and we're still getting a few eggs from them and the ducks. Extra thick layer of shavings in coop plus extra layer of straw in their nest boxes is about all I've done so far, plus using hot water in mornings, which they seem to like.

By the way, what's the purpose of putting cider vinegar in the water?

How much do you put in?

Frugaldom

Hi Edmund_B, the cider vinegar just acts like a general health tonic and is supposed to help prevent dietary upsets and sour crop plus any number of speculative magic properties. You can get it in most big animal stores, chemists or health food stores or even in supermarkets. I put a couple of tablespoonfuls into each 5 litre water feeder in the mornings. I'm using warm water whilst it's so cold. It's recommended dose seems to be 10ml per litre maximum (less than a teaspoonful per pint).

HariboJunkie

Anyone have any ideas why my hens like roosting 30 feet up a tree at night? They have a lovely little house and they free range but got locked out of the house one night by mistake and headed up the tree at dusk. Since then, unless I lock them up early in the afternoon, they head up the cliff and over to the tree. We have clipped their wings repeatedly but they can still get out of their run so we need a roof on it ideally but I'm having to round them up earlier every day. The tree also overhangs next door's garden and I really don't want them to complain about the mess below.

Any ideas anyone?

Penelope_Penguin

HariboJunkie wrote: »

Anyone have any ideas why my hens like roosting 30 feet up a tree at night? They have a lovely little house and they free range but got locked out of the house one night by mistake and headed up the tree at dusk. Since then, unless I lock them up early in the afternoon, they head up the cliff and over to the tree. We have clipped their wings repeatedly but they can still get out of their run so we need a roof on it ideally but I'm having to round them up earlier every day. The tree also overhangs next door's garden and I really don't want them to complain about the mess below.

Any ideas anyone?

Possibly a daft question, but are you clipping both wings on each chook

Penny. x

pickledtink

They are shut in a safe roomy foxproof run with a large coop to go into at night and free range a fenced off part during the day when I'm around.
Everybody went to bed looking fine last night but Today one has no tail feathers or any down the front of her neck just kind of quill stumps. They don't look as if they've been plucked out so I'm stumped.
Can anyone make a suggestion? Could one or some of the others have attacked her and just ripped off her softer feather parts. It literally looks like someone's taken the shears to her in those parts. It looks awful and she was looking very good yesterday.
everything was locked up as normal when I went down to let them out so nothing's got in at them.
She has stopped laying over the last couple of weeks pretty much but the others have slowed down to around half the usual weekly amount too so I wasn't worried given the weather and less light each day . They all seemed fine although a bit grubby with the weather until this happened today.
Any experienced people out there who can advise me? They've been tip top happy hens until now laying an egg each every single day.