Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Cheery_Daff

Sadly after much deliberation and gnashing of teeth I think I am unfortunately going to have to say no on this occasion, much as I REALLY don't want to It's my own stupid fault for putting off getting my act together I admit I thought I'd get more than 5 days notice...

And five days would be enough, if it wasn't for the fact that I'm away all day tomorrow (early morning til midnight), then I'm at an event leaving 7am on Friday to Sunday morning. And that event also involves an assessment for a course I'm doing, for which I've taken Thursday off work to prepare because I am SO not ready for that either :rotfl:

God I need to sort my life out

Mr Cheery reckons he'd be prepared to spend time sorting out the coop, but he's also in the middle of about three other projects at the minute so they'd need to be ditched (one of them is building *us* a bed :rotfl: :rotfl: )

Aaargggghh! I SO much want to say yes!

However... I am on the list for TWO collection points, and as far as I know only ONE of them is collecting this weekend, so if I say no to this one, then the other one might not be too far down the line - hopefully I wouldn't have to wait for this same one again. I'm going to ring them in the morning to check...

Urgh. This feels like the sensible decision but I'm quite hormonal today and my goodness I'm grumpy about it

edwink

Don't get all stressed about getting them Cheery. They do these rescues throughout the year so there will be plenty more happening so hopefully you will be ready for one of those. If you have other things going on you need to do those things first and only when you are ready to get hens you should get them. Not worth getting stressed about them and wearing yourself out now is it?;)

So if I were you get all your important things done first, enjoy building the coop another time, phone up and find out when the rescue is, go and collect them and enjoy being a responsible poultry keeper like us lot on here. Oh and please don't worry I will be with you every step of the way and others on here too so anytime you are worried about anything when you finally have them just ask on here and we can help I promise.:)

With regards to their feed maybe ask around where you are and if others keep hens find out where they get their pellets from. Heygates pellets I have found are always pretty reasonable price wise for a 20kg sack. Normally it is quite costly to have pellets delivered so worth looking online to see if anyone in your area sells it or another brand. A 20kg sack should last you a fair amount of time but this will depend on how many hens you get obviously. Also you will need straw or cut straw so maybe worth asking around or looking online for that too. Don't get them hay as the bugs love it and it can be rather dusty for the hens so best avoided We use Unibedding which is in a 20kg big plastic compact bag which goes on for ages. I always find that extremely clean to use and use it for both my hens and ducks here. Straw is good too especially if you have somewhere dry to keep it. For a water container you can use just about anything as long as the container is not too lightweight where they can keep tipping it over.

Edwink

Cheery_Daff

Aw, thanks edwink :kisses3: you're right of course, no use getting stressed I'd just wound myself up as the last one at this place was early April andI didn't have to wait another three months for the next one!

But as Mr Cheery said, if I'm SO desperate and there's no sign of a rescue we could always just BUY some :rotfl: although knowing my luck there would then be a rescue straight after and I'd have a giant flock of them :rotfl: :rotfl:

Most vexing that hay isn't advised - I literally have an entire acre lf hay meadow outside the back door and nothing to do with it :rotfl: :rotfl:

edwink

How is everyone? Enjoying this warm or should I say hot weather I hope. I am not keen with it being this hot tbh because like others I find it so tiring and having so much to do here I have now got behind with things. The girls hotels have just all been cleaned out and now have fresh shaved straw in the nesting box and in the ducks hotel. Lucky feathered friends that's all I can say as we have not had a clean bed change this week yet. On the cards for doing tomorrow actually so must not grumble.

Lots of sunbathing with feathers fanned out here which is so lovely to see especially from the rescue girls. Only problem we have is that our beautiful Cockerel keeps giving food away to his girls and only when he has done that will he eat something. I gave them some chopped strawberries and grapes yesterday and he didn't eat even one piece. He was picking pieces up but then dropping them and chirping at the hens to go and eat it. I know he wants to look after them but I wish he would eat more himself

How is it going for those that are in the process of making their coops and those that have recently got new hens?. All going ok I hope! Don't forget we do like to see photos of your feathered friends if you get the time to post them that would be great.

That's all from me for now.

Edwink

Pyxis

edwink wrote: »

How is everyone? Enjoying this warm or should I say hot weather I hope. I am not keen with it being this hot tbh because like others I find it so tiring and having so much to do here I have now got behind with things. The girls hotels have just all been cleaned out and now have fresh shaved straw in the nesting box and in the ducks hotel. Lucky feathered friends that's all I can say as we have not had a clean bed change this week yet. On the cards for doing tomorrow actually so must not grumble.

Lots of sunbathing with feathers fanned out here which is so lovely to see especially from the rescue girls. Only problem we have is that our beautiful Cockerel keeps giving food away to his girls and only when he has done that will he eat something. I gave them some chopped strawberries and grapes yesterday and he didn't eat even one piece. He was picking pieces up but then dropping them and chirping at the hens to go and eat it. I know he wants to look after them but I wish he would eat more himself

How is it going for those that are in the process of making their coops and those that have recently got new hens?. All going ok I hope! Don't forget we do like to see photos of your feathered friends if you get the time to post them that would be great.

That's all from me for now.

Edwink

Oh wow! How selfless!

Now, all we need is a Good Fairy to come along and turn him into a human, and I'd snap him up!
And I wouldn't mind if he's up at 4.30 in the mornings, either! :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

:rotfl: pyxis :rotfl:

Much excitement here - next batch of rescue hens is being released on 2nd Sept and we have said YES! :j :j Six weeks away which is a decent amount of time to get our acts properly together :j :j These are ex barn hens, so not battery but they still won't have been outside. So exciting! :j :j

Rather annoyingly I've got two weeks off BEFORE that - good for getting ready but it would be nice to have more time to play :rotfl:

Pyxis

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

:rotfl: pyxis :rotfl:

Much excitement here - next batch of rescue hens is being released on 2nd Sept and we have said YES! :j :j Six weeks away which is a decent amount of time to get our acts properly together :j :j These are ex barn hens, so not battery but they still won't have been outside. So exciting! :j :j

Rather annoyingly I've got two weeks off BEFORE that - good for getting ready but it would be nice to have more time to play :rotfl:

Ooooh! :T :T :T :j.:j :j

Do you know what sort they'll be?

How many will you be getting?

Must have pics!

Cheery_Daff

No idea what sort they'll be - 'chickens' is good enough for me :rotfl: :rotfl: We're getting four - that seemed like enough that they'd be a little gang of pals, but not so overwhelming for our first lot.

Very excited :j :j

There will definitely be pics :j :j :j

Pyxis

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

No idea what sort they'll be - 'chickens' is good enough for me :rotfl: :rotfl: We're getting four - that seemed like enough that they'd be a little gang of pals, but not so overwhelming for our first lot.

Very excited :j :j

There will definitely be pics :j :j :j

The Gang of Four! :rotfl:

Politichickens!

edwink

I have to confess to totally spoiling my hens today in the way of a huge ice lolly between them. OMG it didn't even last a minute. I couldn't take a picture as it ended up all over my hands with them pecking at all they could get in their tiny mouths. Aww bless their little feathered socks they really, really enjoyed it. Will get hubby to take picture next time.

Besides the above the ducks have all been in the pond more than a few times each today and are now sitting and snoozing under the fruit trees in the shade whilst the hens keep waiting for me at the gate with the hope of another ice lolly.

Edwink