Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Pyxis

suki1964 wrote: »

I don't have room for flamingos

Isn't it the feeding grounds that turn flamingoes pink?

Yes, it's the carotenoids in the stuff they eat.


Look at this for a serious hen coop.......

edwink

Pyxis wrote: »

Gosh, Edwink! You're an expert! You should write a hen-keeper's manual! Seriously!

Awww bless you Pyxis what a lovely thing to say.:)

It is just that I care so much and I am extremely passionate about how hens are cared for, in fact how all animals are cared for. Its just the way I feel I suppose. Been a veggie for nearly 40 years now and if there is one thing I can not abide it is animal cruelty in any shape or form.

Edwink

Money_maker

dizzybee wrote: »

wow thank you, where quite lucky have a large garden that is split so one side for the hens and the other for us, i was thinking of getting some thing like this

https://www.aosom.co.uk/pet-supplies/pawhut-wooden-cage-chicken-coop.html

Roughly speaking, thats 3'long and 2'wide as the run. Probably do a couple of bantams but way too small for standard hens.

edwink

GwylimT wrote: »

We got four flower chickens two weeks ago, they seem to be settling well as we are already getting some eggs.

We had a decent shed in the garden, so I have insulated it, made various perches, boxes etc, and while we don!!!8217;t know if we will need it, I have connected electricity to it incase we need a heat lamp, we do have a camera hooked up to check them on days when snow stops us opening their front door. Our garden isn!!!8217;t enclosed so we have made an enclosure for them around the shed, I haven!!!8217;t measured it accurately, but it!!!8217;s about 8m by 6m, when the weather is better we are going to expand it and plant it up a bit more.

Welcome GwylimT to our hen friendly thread

Sounds like you have given them a fair bit of space. The more the merrier I always say. Have you given them names yet? We do like to know who we are talking about on here :rotfl:

When we got our very first hens, many years ago when it snowed we opened the door to let them out. and as the roof overhung their hotel there was not any snow immediately in front of it. So my girls came out one by one hoped off of the ramp and literately walked sideways so they stayed on the dry area of ground that didn't have any snow on it. I had all my 12 rescue hens who had never seen snow in their lives lined up under the overhang of the roof just staring at it wondering what it was. Within so many minutes they were stepping in it, eating it and playing in it. They loved it. The funniest thing was the hens were lifting their little feet up really high as they walked in it because the snow was quite deep. I will never forget that day and if I think about it even now I can still see them now all lined up wondering what they were supposed to do. So you can let them out but I would leave the door open or ajar for them as we do so they can go back in if they are feeling uncomfortable and cold. Bless them.

Edwink

Pyxis

I am now imagining goose-stepping hens!



Is that allowed? :rotfl: :rotfl:

dizzybee

edwink wrote: »

Awww bless you Pyxis what a lovely thing to say.:)

It is just that I care so much and I am extremely passionate about how hens are cared for, in fact how all animals are cared for. Its just the way I feel I suppose. Been a veggie for nearly 40 years now and if there is one thing I can not abide it is animal cruelty in any shape or form.

Edwink

wow its people like you we need on fresh start for hens, never considered keeping hens until i started helping to re home them,

dizzybee

Thanks for all the replies think i'm going to get a large shed and build a run around it, measured the space and its 23 ft long and 10 ft wide so plenty of space will go look at sheds at the weekend, got some chicken wire from work just noticed next door neighbour got some guttering in is skip so will pop round later,
really enjoying reading all your tales.

Cheery_Daff

Thank you for the lovely welcome :hello: I love threads like this - the LPG one made me not scared of buying a house with an LPG tank, the waiting for a mortgage and waiting to exchange ones made me understand the process of moving house more so I felt able to get on with it, and now you lovely lot are introducing me to the day to day practicalities of lovely chickens :j :j

I strongly suspect Mr Cheery would like to build a chicken hotel very much We have various bits and pieces lying round and he is an expert scavenger (with the help of Freegle and Gumtree and the like) - I am in charge of chicken-related decisions (in fact, all outside decisions - he is in charge of inside decisions, and having just acquired 11 acres I suspect he has the easier job :rotfl: ). I will just need to design us something and he'll build it - so I shall read back through all your suggestions and look at your examples and get on the case this weekend - might submit my plans here for approval :rotfl:

Not decided where they'll go yet... I'd like to be able to see them from the house, but the ideal place is behind the house I think, and there are no windows in the back. Hmm. We do have plenty of room though so there's nothing to stop us starting in one place and moving elsewhere.

Just got today and tomorrow at work then I'm off for a fortnight and can start thinking about it properly

suki1964

dizzybee wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies think i'm going to get a large shed and build a run around it, measured the space and its 23 ft long and 10 ft wide so plenty of space will go look at sheds at the weekend, got some chicken wire from work just noticed next door neighbour got some guttering in is skip so will pop round later,
really enjoying reading all your tales.

If you or partner or anyone close is handy with their hands, look on local buy and sell or free cycle and see if there's any sheds free , you just need to take down and remove yourself

Our home build is also insulated and has a rubber covering on the floor for easy cleaning. We also have electic to it which is really useful during the long winter months. Not that we give them unnatural light, just easier to do the head count if you can see them

Don't forget, the chicken wire needs to be sunk into the ground quite a way to stop foxes digging in. Now we have been very fortunate that we haven't had a fox kill as next door did. We rely on the fact we are on raised land - we look down on our neighbours roofs, and that there's two massive dogs lose between his land and ours which offer us protection. Also we are on farm land and any sign of foxes in the area the gun club come out. We actually don't see many foxes at all, mainly badgers, but other areas are not so lucky and have huge fox populations

edwink

Thank you so much for all the lovely replies and the added advice from others on here.

There are a couple of other ways to help if you do get foxes sniffing about. You can save up male urine (not female) in a bucket or bottle and the use that to pour around the boundary of your chicken coop and beyond. We regularly get foxes close to our boundary at the back so this is what we do especially at times when we know there is a fox up there like last night:eek:. Another way is also using male urine by collecting it and soaking a towel or some thick material in the bucket and then hanging the towel/material on and around your immediate boundary fences. It is the hormones in the male urine that will put foxes off because foxes are very territorial and normal will not step foot on another male foxes territory. Also if you are really concerned you could also place a soaked towel/material on top or hanging from the side of your hens coop just to doubly made sure the fox gets the message about another male being in that territory.

Another thing you can do is hang a male t-shirt or similar that has been worn for a few day or more somewhere along the boundary because the male scent on it will put foxes off. Always need to remember though that when it rains this scent or the urine will gradually be washed off so these will need replacing. Hope this info is of help to some on here.

Right off out now to muck out and see who needs or just wants a cuddle from their mum today.:)

Edwink