Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Cheery_Daff

No advice from me either I'm afraid - we made our hen house from an old rabbit hutch someone was throwing out at the tip and the door we took off the bottom of our stairs :rotfl:

I'd definitely be happy with something wipe clean though - and next time I won't be making a lip on the front unless ir's an easily removable one!

edwink

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

No advice from me either I'm afraid - we made our hen house from an old rabbit hutch someone was throwing out at the tip and the door we took off the bottom of our stairs :rotfl:

I'd definitely be happy with something wipe clean though - and next time I won't be making a lip on the front unless ir's an easily removable one!

Cheery makes a very valid point here about being happy with something that is "wipe clean". That is something we have here now thankfully and it does make cleaning out so much easier and much quicker.

So whatever hen house you choose for yours I'd definitely line it if you can. You can buy that very sticky plastic stuff that you just peel away from the backing paper and stick on to a surface (not sure what it is called, maybe someone on here will know). It would definitely stick to wood because I covered the top of an old wardrobe with some. I've used that as my sewing table for ages now and it has never peeled off anywhere. Not sure though if it were to get wet around the edges. Maybe if you went down this route you could staple with a staple gun all around the edges to make sure it sticks properly and won't lift over time.

Hope that is of some help. I'll explain a little about using a shed as a hen house in another post.

Edwink

edwink

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Naughty Maud gave Mr Cheery the runaround yesterday when I wasn't here. First of all they al came in the house, and she wouldn't go out, so he had to chase and catch her. Then he put the others in the run later and she just refused to follow him, so he had to chase and catch her again. Normally he's quite persistent but he's currently got shingles so is in rather a lot of pain and not at all impressed! :eek:

So I'm on all hen-keeping duties today and young Maud had better keep her head down... :eek:

edwink wrote: »

Some years ago my poor mum had Shingles and OMG she was covered and itched all over, literately, well almost anyway. I kept putting cream on her so it was more bearable for her and even then it drove her mad. Does Mr Cheery have cream for his?. I know my mum's doctor prescribed hers. OUCH poor man especially over the festive season too and with naughty Maud giving him the run around I'm sure he wasn't best pleased about that.

Probably best you are on hen duty then, I guess. Edwink x

How is Mr Cheery now.? Is he getting over the worst of his Shingles?. Wasn't sure if you saw my post from the other day about the cream you can get so have copied it here to save me typing bits of it again. You might be able to get the cream over the counter now but to be honest I'm not sure if you can.

Edwink x (hugs for Mr Cheery x)

Cheery_Daff

Thanks edwink, Mr Cheery is fully dosed up with anti virals prescribed by the doc so is slowly getting better, thank goodness.

Ladies had to be shut in from lunchtime yesterday because of the fog - could barely see to the garden gate! I took them some bedtime treats at about 4pm and Rusty tried to come back out, bless her. Had to traipse around earlier when I put them in as she wasn't there - eventually found her laying an egg in the back of an outbuilding on some hay :rotfl: there were 5 eggs there, so it's clearly a new favoured laying spot. We often don't find them until we hear a chicken there :rotfl:

edwink

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Thanks edwink, Mr Cheery is fully dosed up with anti virals prescribed by the doc so is slowly getting better, thank goodness.

Ladies had to be shut in from lunchtime yesterday because of the fog - could barely see to the garden gate! I took them some bedtime treats at about 4pm and Rusty tried to come back out, bless her. Had to traipse around earlier when I put them in as she wasn't there - eventually found her laying an egg in the back of an outbuilding on some hay :rotfl: there were 5 eggs there, so it's clearly a new favoured laying spot. We often don't find them until we hear a chicken there :rotfl:

I see that your Easter Egg Hunt has started early then. There was meant to be the roll on the floor laughing smiley at the end of this but I am now on my new laptop and struggling to get them on to my posts at the moment.

Not sure if I have ever mentioned this on here before but when we stripped a load of overgrown Summer Jasmine off the top of our chicken coop we found 2 piles of eggs up there. Yep nicely nesting on to of the chicken wire roof which is about 10ft off the ground. How one of our hens or maybe a few of them where getting up there goodness only knows. Can't remember the exact amount that were up there but it was something like 11 in one pile and 6 in the other. No idea what year they were laid either although it wouldn't have been the first couple of years we kept hens because the Summer Jasmine had only started to climb up there once we had put the chicken wire roof on in the very first year. Finding some up there was quite a shock to be honest.

We have found many piles of eggs around the place too. Under a stack of sloping paving slabs, under my seedling tray stack which are on a shelve about 6 inches off the ground. Eggs have been found in large empty flower pots, in a few of the flower beds, in the raised herb garden tucked in to some tall growing mint. Numerous amount of eggs have been laid here there and everywhere around the chicken coop and several laid and buried in some of the greenhouses. Those are the ones that spring to mind but I am sure they have other hiding places here too.

Don't forget to check your coal shed Cheery because I know you have said that has been one of their hiding places too.

All I can say is, if they can stick their fluffy knickers in it they will lay an egg in it.

Edwink x

edwink

Quick update from me as had a rather busy couple of weeks trying to get the greenhouses back up since the 2 bases were done. Still have one more base to do though before we put the final greenhouse in its new place. Also been sorting wood in preparation for building the 4 raised veg beds. It's taking ages to sort because they are all being built from 2nd hand wood, left over from builders jobs mainly so although I say 2nd hand, strictly speaking it isn't because it is brand new, but I am sure you know what I mean. All this wood would have been thrown away in skips but we have made friends with several builders that are happy to drop it off at ours, which is really handy. The usable good stuff gets put it various piles around the place for using as and when needed and the other bits are cut us to use as kindling or wood for either of or stoves. So nothing is wasted from what the builders drop off at all. Just hate waste in this house (smiley face) Had to enter the smiley face myself because I can't get the hang of copying and pasting on my new laptop yet.

All going well here with my ginger hooligans. Most have now put on a good amount of weight and most have grown their feathers back too. Just a few with some feathers still to grow on their backs and on their bottoms but besides those this lot are a real feathery bunch. It is so heartwarming to see them progressing all the time both weight and feather wise. Clever little cherubs they are, bless them.

Still going through extra large bags of mealworms like there is no tomorrow plus dried and fresh corn which helps them to keep warm this time of year. It is surprising actually that if you pick a hen up even on a really cold day she will feel warm. Hens are known for being good at keeping their body temperature so there is never any worry if the weather suddenly turns really cold.

How you going with yours Cheery?. All harmony and good health in the Cheery Camp I hope.

Will update again soon and by then I might have got the hang of copying and pasting again. It might be nothing to do with this new laptop come to think of it but might just be that I am now using Windows 10 instead of Windows 7 like I was using before. Does anyone know if this could be the cause. Maybe copying and pasting is done differently on Windows 10. Can anyone give me any suggestions please because I do miss my smiley faces on my posts?.

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Excellent work on the greenhouse edwink and I'm so pleased your new ladies are fully feathered!

As for copying and pasting, I confess I wouldn't know. I've been hanging round on these forums so long I know the shortcuts for all the smileys I use regularly and just type them out

So eg (without the spaces)

: o
:eek: : eek :
:j : j
:wall: : wall :
:mad: : mad :

Etc :rotfl: : rotfl : :rotfl:

All well here. Been SO windy that we ended up shutting the ladies in their run for most of the afternoon as all five of them were just standing in our tiny porch to stop their feathers being ruffled. At least in their run they have more space and food and water! Pesky things

edwink

rofl

: rofl :

https://images6.moneysavingexpert.com/images/forum_smilies/laughing-smiley-014.gif

Just trying out Cheerys suggestion on how to get my smileys back in to my posts. It might take a few goes so you might need to ignore me for the next half hour or so.


Edit:- Great, well none of that worked so I'll try something else. Just read your post again Cheery and it says without the spaces which I forgot about, so here goes.

:rofl:


Edit again:- Nope that doesn't work either. Now I could do with the bang ones head on a brick wall couldn't I? Mmmmm!! What to try next?

Did you use your phone in your last post on here Cheery? or maybe a tablet?. I'm on a laptop so I am wondering if that will make a difference.

I'll have another go later on my tablet to see if that makes any difference.


If I Drag and Drop it I get this:-

https://images6.moneysavingexpert.com/images/forum_smilies/biggrin.gif

and if I copy and paste it I get nothing at all whereas with my old laptop it copied over easily.

I'll have another go later on. I'm not going to give up because I do like the emojis in the posts.

TO BE CONTINUED

Edwink x

Cheery_Daff

Edwink - you're missing the t out of :rotfl: - it stands for Roll On The Floor Laughing - : rotfl:

Not obvious I know! Good luck!

edwink

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Edwink - you're missing the t out of :rotfl: - it stands for Roll On The Floor Laughing - : rotfl:

Not obvious I know! Good luck!

Oops as you say I missed the "t" out. I know it is roll on the floor laughing though.

So ok here goes again for the 2nd time today.

:rotfl:

Edwink x

Edit:- YAY!!! it worked. Have I got to do that each and every time? OMG there must be an easier way surly. You must have the patience of a saint Cheery that's all I can say.

Ok so I'll try another

:wall:

and another

:mad:

Brilliant it works, thanks Cheery x

Ed
Wink for Edwink. Now I'm showing off :rotfl: