Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Cheery_Daff

Aw orangecrush, your son sounds like he properly loves those chickens! How very cute. Hmm, yes definitely need a solution for the doors though if he can open them. I completely sympathise with your husband saying no more though! 

Bessie's getting worse rather than better, so I'm very glad we're at the vets tomorrow. She's still eating and walking round, but definitely slower and her comb is all flopping over and going darker, never a good sign. She's perked up a LOT last two times she's had all this fluid drained though, so fingers crosse - and if nothing else the vet will be able to check her foot too. 

I do wish our local vet was more chicken-aware though - this one is 1.5 hours drive each way and while they're lovely, it's rather a nuisance! Next time we have an issue (which I hope won't be for a long while) we'll try the one 40 mins away (they were on holiday when Bessie was first ill). Hope they're just as nice, because this trek is rather ridiculous... 

orangecrush

Hello hen keepers!  How are you all doing?

@Cheery_Daff how is Bessie?  I hope she perked up, I've had fingers crossed for her.

I think Buffy has retired from laying, bless her She hasn't had a particularly productive year, but she is 5 now so I guess she's earned her retirement!  Ginger is still laying well, but a lot of her eggs have large blood spots in them, which is a bit yucky looking.  Google suggests some hens just do that...

It's been so wet here for the last month we haven't had much chance to sit out with the henny chums, I think they miss the company!  It's dry(er) today so we've let them out for a dust bath.

It's funny they have their dust bath spot - it is the same spot they always return to, even after we had the garden landscaped, they went back to the same spot although it looked different!  And had a nice new lawn on it (not any more)

Cheery_Daff

Aw bless em orangecrush - the Chicken Map does get rather ingrained. Your poor lawn though! 

All fine here - Bessie seems to be on the mend, thank goodness. Dose of diuretics is decreasing (final one today) and no signs of the swelling returning. Comb is looking more upright and a better colour - not perfect, but she's certainly not acting like an ill chicken (in fact she's being a bit of a monster, chasing the new ladies!) 

New ladies settling in nicely, they're starting to all hang round together as a bit of a flock (together with two young Robin's and two young blackbirds who have clearly also decided they're chickens 😂 ). Still a bit of chasing from the older ones, and Bessie has been seen pulling feathers on occasion which I am NOT impressed with... the anti-peck spray has been out, Bessie (pecked by Beaky) and rusty (pecked by Bessie) are growing feathers back on their heads now, the new ladies aren't looking bedraggled but do get pecked so they've been sprayed too.

Spend half my life being chicken peacemaker these days!

C_J

I am shortly to return to keeping chickens - we had them for many years but took a break after we lost the last of the old flock, and have been without them for the past three years. I've really missed having them, and am excited to be getting my new girls although I hadn't foreseen how difficult it would be to get them this time. It seems that the whole country wants to keep chickens and there has been a lengthy waiting list from the place I usually buy them. Mine are due at the end of August so we have been using the time to re-do the chicken run and give the coop a service and new coat of paint. The coop is looking very smart now - it's cream with a sage green roof - and we have added green metal roofing sheets over approximately half of the netted  run. One of the problems I had before was the run getting so muddy when it rained, so I am hoping this will help. I've tested the electric fencing which surrounds the entire outfit, and it is still working (we are rural, and have foxes and badgers everywhere).

The coop will easily house 20 birds, but I've only ordered 9 birds as there are only two of us at home now and that's plenty of eggs! Usually I would sell a few boxes at work (or barter them for other things) but I doubt I will be back in the office until next year. I read that it is possible to dehydrate beaten egg to store in screw topped jars, so that is something I will be trying.

Apologies for the ramble - I'm excited about returning to hen keeping!  My question is this : have any of you tried growing trays of fodder (wheat or barley, maybe?) for your girls to give them more greens over the winter?  If so, where do you buy the grain from? I was going to try sprouting and growing grain in trays in the garage or the polytunnel and would be very grateful for any advice please.

orangecrush

Hi @C_J !  How exciting you're getting new hens!  I would really miss having them now I think.  Though wouldn't miss cleaning the coop!

We grow a lot of brassicas over the winter, that the hens tend to help themselves to - chard, perpetutal spinach etc.  It wasn't intended for them of course, but they do get so excited to jump in the veg bed in winter when I let them out for a potter around!  Have never tried growing wheat or barley though... if you try it, let us know how you get on!

Cheery_Daff

Hi C_C, sorry, missed your message before! 

How exciting you're getting some new chickens! I know what you mean about finding them though, it seems lots of people took up chicken-keeping in lockdown! (and cycling, and bread-making - all good and worthwhile pursuits in my book). Glad you've found some now though. 

I've not tried sprouting or growing anything specific for our hens for over the winter. We're rural too, and ours have free run of the place (except if we're out all day and won't be back til after dark) so plenty of grass, dandelions etc for them to forage, although I've been trying to keep them out of the veg patch this year (and on the odd occasion I do let them in, they're more interested in digging dust baths between the cabbages...). Do let us know how you get on - sorry, I realise that's not much use to you! 

C_J

Thanks orangecrush and cheery daff   Things are moving on with the revamp of the chicken coop - Mister CJ has now built a climbing frame (a low A frame of logs bolted together) for the girls to perch on, and has suspended a log from heavy rope from the roof to create a lovely swing for them. Yesterday he installed the "salad bar", which is a wooden frame hammered into the ground, about 6 inches deep, and topped with some Twilweld mesh under which I have sprinkled some compost and rye grass seed. The plan is that the grass will grow up through the mesh and theoretically the hens will just graze off the top greenery and not scratch everything up. I have no idea whether this will work, but we'll give it a go!  I have also started sprouting several seed trays of soaked wild bird seed, and if they grow well I'll put this under the mesh of the salad bar too - I think I should be able to keep trays of this growing in the polytunnel for at least part of the winter.

I have beds of kale, chard and perpetual spinach which I will share with the chickens (although the cabbage whites have decimated the kale this year, and I need to sow some more). I also plan on sharing some of the squashes with them (my previous girls loved them) and am growing butternut squash, pumpkin, uchiki kuri and lots and lots of courgettes.

In the past I used to use spare (non-electrified) electric fencing to cordon off an area for them to roam under supervision in the garden - they can't be left alone because they could easily escape from the garden, and we have daytime visits from the fox - but I used to fence off parts of the garden which I wanted cleared after veg had been harvested, and they were very efficient at that.

Only about two weeks until I get them now. and I am bursting with excitement. It will be three Oxford browns, three Oxford greys, and three Black Sussexes (I had wanted Neras as I think they're beautiful, but I really don't mind!).  Beware, there will be photos

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, we love hen photos C_J!! Your salad bar sounds BRILLIANT, so yes to photos of that too, yay! 

Where's @edwink these days? Edwink, are you here?? Hope you and your feathered friends are well xx

Lizbetty

Hello! Sorry to gatecrash but I know MSE is a fountain of knowledge and so I come here instead of Google!  I've been trying to follow the thread in-between keeping the kids busy.

My husband mentioned getting a couple of ducks, we have had hens for a long time but never had ducks. I understand choosing the right breed will be important as we live in a residential area (everyone is noisy here mind you, haha!). My Mum wanted to buy him an incubator and eggs but I would prefer females really so that's out. I'm just wondering what age you can usually tell the sex? I'm hoping to get them as young as possible without risking getting it wrong 😃 

Thanks for any advice I'm so glad I found this thread! 
Lucy x

Cheery_Daff

Hi Lucyeff

I confess I have literally no idea about ducks, or about how old you can tell the sex. Definitely with you on not ending up with a load of males though

As for quietness, we're very rural so it doesn't matter, but our blithering chickens have been making SO much noise lately! We don't even have a cockerel, but they do an awful lot of shouting Mostly when I shut them in because we're having a picnic and they'd just ruin it  

Giving them all a rest today. We've had quite a few visitors lately, and it's been fine - they've been enjoying the opportunity for a dropped crumb or two. Yesterday's visitors included a three year old girl who was OBSESSED with the chickens, and just followed them for the entire afternoon. We did shut them in for a break - but then the little girl managed to get into the run as well (not the main run - she'd never have got in there if the door was shut - just the extension) and was chasing them in there too. Poor thing got extremely tired and very cross that we'd taken the chickens away and she was still crying when they drove off, oh dear! 

So now I'm feeling bad about that - but more feeling bad that I think Rusty wasn't feeling too well, and I should have realised earlier and put a stop to all the chasing. She's normally pretty tolerant, and it's not like they don't have plenty of places to go to get out of the way, but yesterday I think she ended up feeling quite miserable, and took herself off to bed about 5. Fortunately she seems fine this morning but we'll keep an eye on her - maybe she just wanted a proper break. 

Definitely something we'll be more mindful of in the future I think - and no kids breaking into the chicken run - they've got to have somewhere that's just theirs...