Keeping hens and ducks chat.

edwink

Hi Everyone

Have you all had a drop in eggs this week? We certainly have now the weather has got colder. Gone from around 7 a day to 1:eek:. That was a bit of a shock!!!

Our new girls are settling in really well and have now all found their feet ok. There is the odd squabble during the day but only every now and then. One of the newer girls has started to be a bit of a bully especially when food/treats are involved. I hope she will snap out of that in time. It maybe because now she has access to more food she wants to guard it and keep it for herself.


Hope your little hen is doing ok Ali-t.


Edwink x

ali-t

No, ours haven't dropped yet thankfully although this might be due to the chicken berocca they are all on! We got 8 yesterday and 7 today and 9 one day this week. Their area is like a swamp though. I went in to see them yesterday morning before work and they were fighting over a dead mouse. I have no idea how it got in their enclosure but they were running around chasing each other like they were playing tig with the mouse.



We have put a tarpaulin over one end of their large enclosure so they will have an area that will be free from snow in the winter and somewhere to shelter from the wind if they don't want to go in their coop. What do you all do for them in the colder months?

edwink

Hi Ali-t

Wow so many eggs even though it has got colder. They must really love their mum!

My very spoilt girls have a night heater in their hotel. We put it on a timer so it does not run continuously otherwise they might get too hot. It is a 40watt Thermo Tube. The type that are used in greenhouses. It goes on at 9pm and off at 11pm. Then back on at 1am to 4am. I do like them to be snug!!

They have 2 outdoor indoor huts too with perches so if it rains or snows they often sit in there to keep dry.

We allow them in to our main garden in the winter months because it is warmer on our patio. We have a outdoor stove which we light for them when it is really cold. Spoilt? My hens, no way. Hee!!

Edwink x

ali-t

Wow, that is spoilt! Im hoping for a mild winter so they dont fare too badly

Dizzy_Ditzy

This is my first winter of keeping hens so I'm gonna be looking to you lot for good advice! Egg production did drop for a week or so after we got back from our hols but it's gone back up again now

I've got no way at all of providing them extra heat in the winter other than insulating their house with blankets!

We seriously need to get a move on with putting a solid roof on their run. It's tarpaulin at the moment, and the rate the foxes are going, it won't last much longer :mad:

suki1964

It our first winter as well

We have already moved them into the " green house" which is a brick base with old windows used to glass it and a corregated plastic roof. We made one nest box bigger so all four can settle in together and ive a bale of straw coming to help insulate it Hubby is also going to insulate it by sticking up polystyrene on the walls behind the nest boxes

Right now we have been very lucky with summer finally arriving here. The hens are out from 7 am till around 7 pm and they have dug themselves a great big dust bath under the honeysuckle. Hubby is going to fence part of the lawn off for them as they do like to come sit on the door step and poop lol. Then they just love to sneak into the kitchen the minute the door opens Swear it's like the charge of the light brigade if they see the door open lololol

We are getting 2 eggs a day regular as clockwork. Now and then we get a third but that's rare Honey who we bought as pol went into moult the week we got her so don't know when she will start again although she has got a good plumage growing again She's a greedy madam and is first for scraps yet isn't keen on corn or layers. I think she's been reared on scraps. Still she teaches the younguns

Happygreen

We are down from around 8-10 to 1-2 eggs. It's the light around equinox when the ducks start going to bed by themselves and the hens stop laying. A few faithful ducks will keep going until the hens start again around Christmas. Last year I had the first hen's egg on Christmas day - I nearly kissed her but she was faster running off, lol

edwink

Happygreen wrote: »

Last year I had the first hen's egg on Christmas day - I nearly kissed her but she was faster running off, lol

What a lovely little Christmas present for you. How sweet.


Our hens have really dropped off laying now. From the 14 hens we have been getting 1 or 2 eggs a day. Not complaining cos that's enough for egg and chips, a small omelette, egg on toast, boiled eggs with soldiers or a scrummy egg sarnie. Our ducks have stopped laying completely now until the new year comes. They are having a well earned rest from laying.


I think it is great that the hens mostly stop laying during the colder winter months because it is enough for them to survive the cold outside without having to lay eggs as well. Clever little things they are.


Edwink x

edwink

queen_of_cheap wrote: »

I've got no way at all of providing them extra heat in the winter other than insulating their house with blankets!

We seriously need to get a move on with putting a solid roof on their run. It's tarpaulin at the moment, and the rate the foxes are going, it won't last much longer :mad:

Providing the blankets will definitely help to keep the heat in. You will be surprised how warm they can get when all snuggled together at night.

Did not realised you still had a fox problem. Don't forget to put male urine around the outside of their coop. Also soak an old towel in a bucket of urine and hang that somewhere around their coop. Foxes hate the smell of another males urine as they see it as competition. Foxes are territorial so this trick often does work at keeping them away. But, remember if it rains or snows the urine smell will need replacing frequently.

Have the foxes tried to dig underneath the coop or the run? If so you could try to anchor it down if you haven't already. Wire cut from wire coat hangers is good. When you cut the hanger and are left with a long V shape just push the cut ends in to the ground outside and inside the coop. That will help to anchor the coop down. Sorry I can not remember or find one of your previous posts that says if you have your coop on a concrete base or not. Anyway info might be of use to others if you have.

Have you managed to sort the roof out yet? Not an easy job to do but I am sure you will get there.

Edwink x

Dizzy_Ditzy

edwink wrote: »

Providing the blankets will definitely help to keep the heat in. You will be surprised how warm they can get when all snuggled together at night.

Did not realised you still had a fox problem. Don't forget to put male urine around the outside of their coop. Also soak an old towel in a bucket of urine and hang that somewhere around their coop. Foxes hate the smell of another males urine as they see it as competition. Foxes are territorial so this trick often does work at keeping them away. But, remember if it rains or snows the urine smell will need replacing frequently.

'im indoors is dutifully attending to that duty

Have the foxes tried to dig underneath the coop or the run? If so you could try to anchor it down if you haven't already. Wire cut from wire coat hangers is good. When you cut the hanger and are left with a long V shape just push the cut ends in to the ground outside and inside the coop. That will help to anchor the coop down. Sorry I can not remember or find one of your previous posts that says if you have your coop on a concrete base or not. Anyway info might be of use to others if you have.

The run is anchored down on patio slabs with 8 inches of wire dug down and the same out, with patio slabs along the back, and bricks along the outside of the other three sides. There ain't nothing digging under :cool:

Have you managed to sort the roof out yet? Not an easy job to do but I am sure you will get there.

Not yet, we are still trying to work out what's best and financially viable the roof is two layers of wire of different sizes and currently two tarps. The fox or foxes are trying to get in via the roof because they've no other way
Edwink x

my answers in red :cool:

Just off to put the little darlings to bed. We put solar lights in their bedroom last night to try and encourage them to go where the light is at night :cool: