Keeping hens and ducks chat.

suki1964

We just have the pair and the male duck is the noisiest.

His quack is pathetic but he protects the female so as soon as we go out he starts

He is very protective and runs at us at times but he’s also a wimp cos he only runs at us when our backs are turned. Turn to face him and he runs the other way lol

Actually his protectiveness saved the hens two weeks ago. I heard him yap on and on and on, so stuck my head out of the window and a hawk was sat on the shed eyeing up the hens

Alias_Omega

Thanks,

The youngest is now 8, and we have this space free. The playhouse is just a storage place now for stuff that we probably need to throw away..

Currently the drainage from the garage roof runs into the water-butt. I thought i could create a pond (plastic tub) and run the guttering into it. It will provide a turn over of water, but also allow us to steer it away from the garage.

Before


Now

edwink

My poor little man has got mites again for the 3rd time now. Gave him a good Diatomaceous Earth dusting yesterday so hopefully that will get rid of most of them and will dust him again early next week to hopefully get rid of the remainder of the little blighters because there are always a few left hanging on. It is only him that gets them whereas the hens for some reason don't. He has got them twice now when they have been made to stay in their coop when we had threats of Bird Flu in the UK. Not sure why he has got them again though. Trouble is he doesn't like going in to the temporary dust bath we made for them when they are not allowed to free range in the garden. So I suppose that would explain the other two times but why this time I don't know because he has definitely been dust bathing in the garden because I have seen him. He always sleeps on his own in the nesting box at night now whereas the hens always perch on the bars maybe because of that the girls are not getting them but he is, I don't know. Have given the nesting box a good dusting today too and will clean it out everyday now. Every little helps eh?

Found out that the sweetcorn at Aldi is part of their veg Super Six veg this week @ 35p so plan on nipping down there to get some as that is one veg we don't grow here. We have tried but it never does much so not worth bothering with. Our girls love it as does our little man bless him!

How is everyone else getting on? All harmony in the camp I hope.

Edwink

Cheery_Daff

Sorry to hear your fell has mites again edwink :eek: Most distressing all round

I'm getting excited now - hen collection next Sunday :j :j Also :eek: :rotfl: We have all the materials for the coop and Mr Cheery has been both drawing and sawing I rebuilt a dry stone wall behind the area where the coop will be yesterday, but it's proper raining today so my plans for levelling the ground for the structure have been rained off...

Instead I'm sat inside doing some chicken-related shopping Gosh it's confusing :eek: So far the only thing I've actually bought is a Chicken Keeping for Dummies book :rotfl: :rotfl:

Currently in my basket are

* British Hen Welfare Trust 'thank you for adopting me' bundle (1 bag of crumble, 2 bags of pellets, 1 bag of mixed corn)
* bedding - can't decide between BHWT dengie' stuff (straw-based with eucalyptus) or easichick recycled wood fibre (or aubichick which I think is hemp - too many choices!)
* disinfectant for coop - BHWT has Bio VX or something?

Also need to investigate

* red mite powdery stuff
* feeder and drinker
* metal bin to keep food in

Not cheap, is it?! :eek:

jac99

Hello, built the hen house and just about finished the run as well. Planted some mint around the outside, thought it worth giving it a try as I really don't like the idea of rats!

I have also been rained off this afternoon and so have been browsing some chicken keeping books I got from the library and writing my list for chicken stuff shopping tomorrow to get ready for their arrival next week.

Just done a barter with someone who gets a organic delivery fruit/veg box but doesn't like vegetables to swop the things she doesn't like with some of my surplus - currently tomatoes and courgettes overflowing the veg patch and think my neighbours have started pretending they are out before I can offer them any more. Hopefully this will help me give the hens (and children) a wider range of things I wouldn't normally buy.

Managed to get another compost bin from Gumtree Freebies as I had a panic about what I was going to do with the used bedding and poop!.
Was hoping to find a freebie metal bin on there as well but looks like I might need to add that to my shopping list.

Definitely not cheap...

Cheery_Daff

I've been looking for a freebie metal bin for weeks now jac and not found one Hey ho.

However, I have made a few decisions...

* I'll buy the 'thanks for adopting me' bundle this time (partly to support BHWT), but then I can get feed rather cheaper from a local place that I can collect from :money:

* Bedding, again I'll get from BHWT this time (mostly for simplicity) but then I'll experiment with others next time and see which I (and the ladies) prefer)

* feeders and drinkers - going to go with edwink's suggestion of just a heavy container for water (rather than buying a special drinker thing), and I'm ordering the cheapest of the dome feeders (about £5) and I'll see how we get on. Can always upgrade if necessary.

* disinfectant - done lots of reading this afternoon, and going to start off with general cleaning regularly and using white vinegar, rather than paying a fortune for special disinfectant. Again, will review decision later if necessary.

* red mite stuff... going to buy a smaller poofy container of diatomaceous (spell check wants to change that to 'semiautomatics'! :eek: ) earth to get us started and probably buy a larger one next time.

And that it. Oh, worming... but that won't need doing straight away so I can investigate at leisure - head is exploding now and I REALLY need to stop and have my tea :eek:

Oh, a metal bin! Darn it, I forgot!

edwink

Just a quick post from me tonight but will be back on here in the morning.

Don't forget you can easily make a feeder for your hens by using a length of guttering (plenty found it skips) screwed on to blocks of wood or a small log on each end. Might save those with hen shopping lists a little money. Easy to make. We have 3 of those and the little hens line up in the mornings and eat their breakfast like good little girls :cool:

Back in the morning.

Edwink

edwink

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

I'm getting excited now - hen collection next Sunday :j :j .
Instead I'm sat inside doing some chicken-related shopping Gosh it's confusing :eek: So far the only thing I've actually bought is a Chicken Keeping for Dummies book :rotfl: :rotfl:
Currently in my basket are
* British Hen Welfare Trust 'thank you for adopting me' bundle (1 bag of crumble, 2 bags of pellets, 1 bag of mixed corn)
* bedding - can't decide between BHWT dengie' stuff (straw-based with eucalyptus) or easichick recycled wood fibre (or aubichick which I think is hemp - too many choices!)
* disinfectant for coop - BHWT has Bio VX or something?

Also need to investigate

* red mite powdery stuff
* feeder and drinker
* metal bin to keep food in
Not cheap, is it?! :eek:

Great start buying a book as that will be a big help to you as you are new to hen keeping.

If you buy the adopt me bundle you should have enough feed to tie you over until you buy a larger amount maybe a sack to store in a metal bin which will be the cheapest way to buy it in future. Great you are supporting them in the process of buying your first lot of feed.

Difficult to decide on the bedding when they have that amount of choice. If you get the one with eucalyptus that will smell nice and a good start but you may want to think about buying a huge bag of straw shavings when that one runs out. You could buy something like unibedding which people buy for horses and other animals as it comes in a great big plastic sack bag and will last you ages and ages and only costs around £11, here it does anyway. We use a bedding that has pine in it and that smells really nice. Can't remember the name off the top of my head but will post it later once I have been back up to see my girls.

Disinfectant for the coop you could just buy disinfectant and really, really dilute it down so not too strong for their little nostrils. Some of the products labelled for use on chicken coops are little more that household products with an added ingredient or two and to top that they are quite pricey. We use an Ecover type multi purpose spray in fact our one is from the Aldi eco range and smells of pomegranate. You can think about a coop style disinfectant to give the girls hut a good yearly wash out at a later date so no rush to buy that at this stage. Yearly wash can be done when the weather is really hot so then the hut will be dry before your girls go back to bed. We jet wash our girls hotel fully once year and clean it out weekly or before if needs doing.

Mostly when you clean their house out you will just take the roosting bars outside and scrape them with something like a wall paper scraper to get all the night time poo off of them. If they need washing just use lightly soapy water and a stiff hand brush to get all the dried poo off and leave them out to air dry and When dry you can give them a light dusting of mite powder especially the underneath and put them back before the girls go back to bed. Job done. Ill explain why the underneath side is important later.

Good idea with the mite powder to buy a small red mite powder in bottle that will puff the powder out and when used up buy a large tub of diatomaceous earth which can be bought online and refill the puff type container ready for the next use. I got our current large tub on e*ay with free delivery. Looks expensive but seriously will last for months and months and months. We purchased ours over 18 months ago and still have loads left. Plus you can dust your girls with it if they have mites.

We couldn't find a metal bin on one of the free sites either years ago so had to buy a metal dustbin. Just remember when splashing out for one it is the only one you will ever need to buy so really they are not that expensive when you look at the years and years you will get out of it so actually well worth the cost.

Don't forget WORMING for your girls. We use Verm-x pellets as you do not need to withdraw the eggs as with some products you can not eat the eggs for around 2 weeks. Verm-x are tiny little pellets that you can give with one of their morning feeds then job done. I worm mine every 3 months although some say should be every month while others say should be every 6 months. You can buy Verm-x layers pellets with the wormer in it but that is quite expensive and why worm your girls every day?. There are various products out there to choose from so have a look to see what will suit your needs best.

Just to say don't panic when you get your girls. You will love them and I am always here to help.

Hope that helps

Edwink

edwink

jac99 wrote: »

Hello, built the hen house and just about finished the run as well. Planted some mint around the outside, thought it worth giving it a try as I really don't like the idea of rats!

I have also been rained off this afternoon and so have been browsing some chicken keeping books I got from the library and writing my list for chicken stuff shopping tomorrow to get ready for their arrival next week.

Just done a barter with someone who gets a organic delivery fruit/veg box but doesn't like vegetables to swop the things she doesn't like with some of my surplus - currently tomatoes and courgettes overflowing the veg patch and think my neighbours have started pretending they are out before I can offer them any more. Hopefully this will help me give the hens (and children) a wider range of things I wouldn't normally buy.

Managed to get another compost bin from Gumtree Freebies as I had a panic about what I was going to do with the used bedding and poop!.
Was hoping to find a freebie metal bin on there as well but looks like I might need to add that to my shopping list.

Definitely not cheap...

Great idea to have a hen keepers book which will give you loads of advice. I started with one many years ago but now have several after picking them up at car boot sales.

Great idea with the veg swop, I love that idea! Oh and hens love courgettes. You can give it to them in chunks the same as cucumbers and they will happily peck at them until they have all gone. Will keep them amused like corn on the cob does. You can just put it on the floor of their coop or for added interest you could hang it from the coop roof and let it dangle as that will keep them amused too. You could hang some old CD's/DVD's up too as they like anything that is shiny and will keep busy pecking those too. If you were to hold your hand outface down in front of a hen if you wear rings they will automatically go for your rings as they are shiny. It always amuses me when they do that.

As said in my last post re a metal bin they are actually well worth the cost if you have the money to splash out on one as never wear out.

Good idea re the compost bin for the chicken poo/bedding. Don't forget to add paper and other compostable items otherwise it won't compost down properly and will just clump together. If you end up with too much used bedding to go in your compost container have a look at your council waste/recycling collection as ours allows pet bedding in with our garden waste wheelie bin collection.

Don't forget WORMING for them as mentioned in my post to cheery daff above. But, don't panic about that as no rush to get that yet.

Hope that helps.

Edwink

edwink

Following on from my previous post earlier today the bedding we use is Dengie Fresh Bed which we pay £11 for a huge 100ltrs. You can also buy it in a 50ltr size but I'm not sure of the price of that size.

With regards to making sure you dust underneath the hens perches.... Make sure you always do this as Red Mites hide/sleep under the perches amongst other places/nooks and crannies within the hens hut and come out at night and live off of hens blood whilst the hens are sleeping . They will then go and hide under the perches until they decide to help themselves to some more blood.

If you are ever worried that you MAY have Red Mite just go to the hens hut when it is dark and the girls are a sleep and run a white piece of kitchen towel/paper under a couple of the perches. If the paper is red you definitely have a Red Mite problem. The red you will see is the hens blood from squashing the mites that have fed from your hens.

Hope that helps

Edwink