Keeping hens and ducks chat.

edwink

Karmacat wrote: »

Delurking to thank you for the photos, Edwink. The third one is very sad in some ways, but lovely to see all the same.

Aww thank you Karmacat.

Yes the third one is very sad in some ways, but lovely to see them how they were and not as they were on the night of the fox attack that I witnessed. I have a very good memory and relive that day everyday at the moment and when I saw that photo this morning I thought long and hard about posting it on here then decided yes why not they were beautiful girls especially my handsome little man. I saw the pic and it made me smile for them that they were free range, could do what they wanted to, be proper happy hens and enjoy their retirement with us. My handsome man was a rescue boy also, which I was aware of his fate if I didn't take him in, but he had nearly 5 lovely enjoyable years with us.

OMG I do miss them so much but that was one of their nicest pics I took and when I saw it I thought bless them they were so lovely to have around but equally I felt sad too that they are no longer here but didn't want to hide the pic away and thought I'd show it so they will always be on here now on our hen thread.

RIP my little feathered friends, my handsome man and my 4 ducks x

Edwink

edwink

Its spoiling time here for my two ducks. We got them some of their favourite mealworms and have been throwing a few handfuls in to the pond when the Pingu and Hoppy are in there and they go mad trying to gobble them up quickly. Because meal worms are so light they just float and Pingu and Hoppy just chase them everywhere. Lovely to see them enjoying themselves and I'm sure it takes their minds away from what happened.

Because Hoppy doesn't walk as quickly as Pingu the fairest way is to throw the meal worms in the pond and not on the grass or the ground so that way Hoppy can get as many as Pingu does. They don't stop rushing about in the pond until everyone of them has been eaten, bless them.

Don't know why I didn't think to get some sooner now but saw them the other day at the Poundshop online so got them 10 packets so that should last them quite a long time. As a rule meal worms are quite expensive if you buy them in a pet shop but its a good sized bag too from the Poundshop so was very happy to spot those for them. They deserve a nice treat and have plenty now.

Seeing the fencer again on Thursday with price etc. so hopefully moving in the right direction with that although it has been a bit slow but we have had the Bank Holiday in between. By all accounts he isn't expensive so looks as though he will be a lot cheaper than the £6,700 from the first quote we got.

How is everyone else getting on? All ducks and hens doing well I hope. With lots of tasty eggs being laid now the weather has warmed up.

I do miss my favourite egg and chips but flatly refuse to buy shop bought eggs or local farm eggs because I hate to think of the conditions those hens have been kept in and don't trust what I read on the box. I mean have you ever seen a hen roaming around in a wood? Woodland hens eggs are sold and labelled as such, yeah right!!

Edwink

SisterAnna

I'm another who doesn't keep poultry but just lurks and pops on here from time to time as love reading about everyones hens.


Edwink I am so sad for you at your huge loss. How sad for you and your husband. Must have been a terrible time for both of you and on your birthday of all days. Nice to see that you have now posted and said you will be getting some more rescue hens. These poor hens need people as caring a you as you really do give them the very best in their retirement.


It made me smile when I read your post about getting another 20. Well done to you for thinking ahead of these poor hens that need good homes such as yours. I know you are not ready yet as working on new fencing and more security but once that's done you will be surround by them once again which you love. So that is something to look forward too.


Oh and the pictures you posted were all so lovely. Pingu is adorable isn't she?. I've seen her picture before because she is your avatar but the picture you posted of her is more of a close up and can be seen clearer. Your other duck is so very sweet too.


Love and best wishes to both you and your husband x

edwink

The blooming fox is back!! Luckily Pingu and Hoppy had already been locked securely in to the coop early at 5.30pm last night. But, in the day light still at 7.30pm Pingu started quacking and didn't stop. We heard her as we keep the back windows of the house open downstairs. My husband ran out to see what was happening and the fox had leaped over a double height gate between the coop and the allotment area which was locked. My husband chased it and it ran across the allotment beds and literately leapt over a 6ft fence and through an 8ft tall hedge sending all my stacked flower pots flying. Poor Pingu and Hoppy. But the main thing is they were safe in the coop with it being locked up.

We are now going to need to net the 8ft hedge from the 6ft fence in front of it upwards. Doesn't look as though I will be getting my new rescue girls anytime soon now. Its just become too dangerous for them and I don't want them all left in the coop all day. Now we are going to have to put up more netting that we thought once the trellis fencing has been replaced. The new fence will be 6ft 6 and with 18 inches of netting above that that should be ok. But, now the blooming thing is leaping through a another area thats never been netted due to it being 8ft high but if the blooming fox is going to leap through it we will need to net or even chicken wire that too now.

Not worth thinking about getting anymore girls until all the extra security is in place and it is going to take a while to get all the extra netting up. We don't have acres of land but our garden is blooming huge and it looks as though we are going to need to fix double black netting everywhere now. The hedge is so dense and where the fox leapt through you can now see through it. Never thought a fox would ever be able to do that to that dense hedge in all honesty. We are still not sure how it is getting in which is a worry as we have looked everywhere we possibly can think of. Where the sly bu**er got out when he killed most of them we have boarded that fence another 2ft higher. So we know where the fox has exited twice now but not how it gets in.

Looks as though we are going to have to have a good old look around tomorrow again and see if we can find any obvious place he is getting through. We searched and searched before and couldn't find anywhere that obvious.

This is not going well here I'm really upset knowing the fox has been here again 5 weeks after he attacked and killed last time.

All for now

Edwink

edwink

Still not good here as fox was about again last night on the other side of our boundary fence in next doors. As my husband crept out to check he heard it leap over their low fence which backs on to the woods. So obviously it is trying to get in from the other side now. Can't do much to that fencing as it is being replaced but some areas are already netted anyway. On the other side we have put up some more netting today but made it a double layer thick. The ivy that is growing up that fence will soon cover that netting and raise the height to 8ft. There are quite a few areas like this now with the extra high netting. That's about all we can keep doing until the new fence is in and then we will increase the height of that with netting too.

The guy who is going to do our fencing sadly lost his mother last week so now has a slight build up of work for his clients wanting their work done including us. I know there are other fencers out there but this guy has very reasonable rates and we have seen his work as he put up next doors fence a couple of weeks ago and it looks really good and sturdy. So we are just going to have to be patient with his I guess.

Where is everyone? All busy out with your hens, ducks and turkeys I guess. I know myself that as soon as the nicer weather is here there is always so much to be getting on with when you keep poultry as there hotels need cleaning out more often etc.

I do miss having little hens around my feet, the place looks so empty without them . After 10 years of having 30 at one time to now having none I find it so hard being outside and not having little hens follow me everywhere and get under my feet.

We are not going to let that fox beat us, we are determined.

All for now

Edwink

Cheery_Daff

Aw edwink, so sorry the fox has been back again must feel like you're under siege. You're doing all you can. I can't imagine being without hens now and we've only had them, well, it'll be 8 months tomorrow since we got ours.

All good here, ladies are sprightly and cheerful and pesky. Rusty has discovered that Mr Cheery is a good source of apples - she went very determinedly after a whole one he was eating the other day and very nearly got away with it :eek: since then at any sniff of an apple she's up on his knee, and even his shoulder if necessary :eek:

Should probably discourage her really but it's quite amusing :rotfl: :rotfl:

Mr Cheery is making plans for alterations to the hen house - just raising it higher off the floor so they can get underneath it which will give them a bit more floor space in the run, and putting in a few more ventilation holes (it's fine now but will need more in the summer I think, and especially if we end up getting this cockerel too).

So all good :j but I do need to remember to order some more diatom earth stuff tomorrow!

edwink

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

So all good :j but I do need to remember to order some more diatom earth stuff tomorrow!

Cheery the best/cheapest place I have found to buy Diatomaceous earth is eBay. You can buy a huge 5kg tub for example by Smite which is £27.99 free post and it's organic. That size would last months and months. I've had mine over a year now. We used to purchase it in the small containers for around £5 each. The round containers where you just took the lid off and could puff the powder out when needed. So we kept one of those containers and we refill it with a spoon from our huge 5kg tub. They sell the round containers on eBay for £6.99 for 350g. If you buy the 5kg tub You will end up with around just under 15 refilled containers. So if you were to pay £6.99 each for them it would cost you around £105 to buy around 5kg's.

It comes in a huge white rectangle tub with Smite on the front and DE Earth. You can reseal the tub as the white lid fits back on really firmly which keeps the earth fresh.

Maybe just have a look at it and see what you think. Definitely will save you a lot of money in the long run as it has done for us.


HTH

Edwink

Cheery_Daff

Thanks for the info edwink :j we actually bought it from eBay last time but i have no idea what i was thinking (as usual :rotfl: ) and bought 500g bag of food grade stuff for £6.99 :eek:

Not this time though :j went for a 10kg bag for £16.96 with free delivery :money: we've very fortunately got plenty of storage space and also plenty of the that can be repurposed and it seemed cheaper in a bag. Should be here in a few days.

Had to leave the chickens in the run this morning when i went to work as it was so misty - they didn't seem impressed even though Mr Cheery let them out an hour later when the mist had lifted.

This evening after work e sat in the run with them for a while and two of them got up onto Mr Cheery's knee and just settled in for a nice rest. Most cute :j

SunMoonStars

Hi folks,

May I slightly take the thread off-topic for a wee bit of advice?

I have always had a notion that I would get hens one day, but never got round to it. A friend has offered us the chance to re-home their hens, which is lovely, but because I am a keen gardener I am wondering what to expect in terms of mischief to plants in the garden when they are out and about, which sorts of plantings they tend to prefer etc. I have a large garden which also backs onto fields, so I am thinking that with plenty of space to roam they should be ok.

Any advice / thoughts appreciated.

Many thanks in advance 😀

Cheery_Daff

Hi sunmoonstars :hello: welcome!

You're not taking us off topic at all - you're talking about hens, which is perfect! :j

I've only had hens since September myself so you might not want to rely wholly on my experience but...

Yes, they will likely dig up some of your garden :rotfl: In my (admittedly limited) experience they go for exposed earth the most, and tend to ignore more mature planting. Ours have been an absolute nuisance when I was trying to plant some bedding plants - jumping in the whole I'd just dug etc :rotfl:

However, they quickly move on to something else. With the bedding plants, when I'd just planted them, I put a ring of short sticks around them, facing outwards at an angle, to discourage the hens - and they have left them alone completely.

I think it probably does depend on the space you have. Our actual chicken run (which is probably 4x2m) has literally no grass - that was destroyed very quickly. However ours are free range most of the time, and we are surrounded by fields with no fence to the garden, so they have plenty of space and so the garden itself is fine.

They have managed to dig a couple of bare patches on the lawn - mostly where one of them spots a worm, and then gets stuck in trying to find another one and the others join her and they create a bare patch in half an hour :eek: However when they've done that, once we've spotted it, we've just stuck a bit of mesh over it (or some sticks round it) to encourage them to move on while it grows back.

I think with a more confined space it's likely they'll dig up everything in it, but if they have plenty of room, they'll probably just create the odd bare patch. Try to discourage from bare soil if you've just planted something, but once plants are more mature, they tend to leave them alone.

Having said that, we've only had ours since September and so it's quite possible that once I get a load of veg in the ground they'll completely destroy it so... :rotfl: :rotfl: