Keeping hens and ducks chat. 7 July 2015 at 5:07PM edited 27 April 2021 at 11:46PM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 3.4K replies 350.6K views

Cheery_Daff

Yes, good plan. They've got a decent bit of space already, we're just planning for this to be a bit more 'outdoors' - a clear roof, and just mesh round, no glass, so they'll get more of a breeze and sunshine on brighter days. Current run is nice and sheltered, especially the original inner bit, and has plenty of ventilation, but I'd just like more 'outdoor' space.

No idea when we'll get round to that. I suspect I'll need to cut my giant 10 foot posts down by a few feet - I was planning a roofless fence originally as I wanted it open to the air (but high enough to deter a fox) but that was before last winter's lockdown and there doesn't seem much point making anything roofless now 🙄

mumf

Lovely read here! Sadly ,my long term illness,which will not improve,means I have had to get of my three lovely hens. Always kept them in the last 25 years, but my wife has enough to deal with. Thankfully,a local smallholder in - and my friend - in our village has re homed them bless him. So good there! 

Lovely reading,thanks all.

edwink

mumf said:

Lovely read here! Sadly ,my long term illness,which will not improve,means I have had to get of my three lovely hens. Always kept them in the last 25 years, but my wife has enough to deal with. Thankfully,a local smallholder in - and my friend - in our village has re homed them bless him. So good there! 

Lovely reading,thanks all.

Hi mumf

Lovely to have you on here with us. Wow, 25 years is a long time to keep hens. I'm up to 13 years now and I know a few others on here who are clocking up the years. It is a shame your health no longer allows you to keep them. Did you keep ex-battery hens, mixed breeds, or both? 

Bless you, for having to rehome your three hens but at least you have made sure they have been rehomed properly as you say with the help of your friend. That decision could not have been easy for you. How lovely someone is going to take care of them for you, that is so nice of them.  Do you have any idea how many you have kept over the 25 years?

Take care

Edwink x

mumf

Hello. I really couldn’t count what I’ve kept! Different breeds,but the last 3 were Rangers,from a very local supplier . Lovely birds. It’s sad that my illness has arrived,but I was rather stressed that my wife has so much to do now. So they are safe now. Only drawback …I have to buy eggs!\

edwink

mumf said:

Hello. I really couldn’t count what I’ve kept! Different breeds,but the last 3 were Rangers,from a very local supplier . Lovely birds. It’s sad that my illness has arrived,but I was rather stressed that my wife has so much to do now. So they are safe now. Only drawback …I have to buy eggs!\

Hi mumf

As you say, they are safe now which is good to know. I know what you mean about the eggs though.  My girls have stopped laying partly because they are elderly, partly because of the time of year, and also because they are Freerange girls who are currently locked in their run because of the Avian Flu again this year. They do have plenty of space but it is darker in their run with a roof over the top of it.  At least they stay dry though which is one good thing with this awful weather we are having.

I do feel for you in that your illness has stopped you from keeping hens now, that is such a shame. And. it is not good if you are getting stressed keeping them so I am sure you have done the right thing with the rehoming.  You obviously took good care of your hens and deserve a pat on the back for keeping them for all those years. 

Hopefully, where you are you should be able to buy freshly laid eggs and not have to rely on the supermarket for them.  There is nothing like a freshly laid egg is there? I miss the eggs too at the moment.

Take care

Edwink x

mumf

I shall be still getting eggs -from the chap who now has my hens! 👍Under the circumstances,what has happened was wise. 

thriftwizard

Happy New Year all! Been somewhat "snowed under" - not physically, we're Deep South here, just west of the New Forest - for the last couple of months, but can't resist suggesting a possible answer to @twopenny's query: polystyrene! If there have been builders about anywhere nearby, there are usually little bits of polystyrene floating around, and for some reason chickens seem to find the stuff completely irresistible. It plays Old Hob with their egg-laying systems; when we had builders (& hence polystyrene) working on 3 sides of us, we had yolkless eggs, shell-less eggs, membrane-less eggs, eggs that wouldn't mix, eggs that were pre-mixed-in-shell, very pale yolks and several young birds that went out of lay for weeks. Nightmare stuff!

My girls seem happy enough in their covered runs; to be fair the bantams (Pekins) tend to spend most of winter hiding under a goji berry bush anyway! They do have things to jump onto, peck at and hide under anyway & it's only the bantams that can truly free-range at the best of times; the big girls are a tad too destructive for what is a fairly small garden. In summer they come out for an hour or so before roosting-time, but they seem content enough; it's a big run for 7 birds. We've been keeping them for 19 years; oldest current bird is 9 (oldest Pekin) but we also have a Speckledy of 9 who has just surprised us with a tiny egg - the first she's laid for 7 years!

edwink

thriftwizard said:

Happy New Year all! Been somewhat "snowed under" - not physically, we're Deep South here, just west of the New Forest - for the last couple of months, but can't resist suggesting a possible answer to @twopenny's query: polystyrene! If there have been builders about anywhere nearby, there are usually little bits of polystyrene floating around, and for some reason chickens seem to find the stuff completely irresistible. It plays Old Hob with their egg-laying systems; when we had builders (& hence polystyrene) working on 3 sides of us, we had yolkless eggs, shell-less eggs, membrane-less eggs, eggs that wouldn't mix, eggs that were pre-mixed-in-shell, very pale yolks and several young birds that went out of lay for weeks. Nightmare stuff!

My girls seem happy enough in their covered runs; to be fair the bantams (Pekins) tend to spend most of winter hiding under a goji berry bush anyway! They do have things to jump onto, peck at and hide under anyway & it's only the bantams that can truly free-range at the best of times; the big girls are a tad too destructive for what is a fairly small garden. In summer they come out for an hour or so before roosting-time, but they seem content enough; it's a big run for 7 birds. We've been keeping them for 19 years; oldest current bird is 9 (oldest Pekin) but we also have a Speckledy of 9 who has just surprised us with a tiny egg - the first she's laid for 7 years!

Hi Thriftwizard

I didn't know you had kept hens for that long, 19 years and counting eh?  I would love to get some Bantams but would be afraid that my bigger girls would get the better of them.  I could set them up in another area I suppose so the bigger girls couldn't get near them. That's got me thinking now lol. We had a Speckled hen and she was totally crazy and used to run around like a looney when she wasn't broody that is. Year after year was the same with her broodiness without fail and at other times she didn't sit still, bless her she lived until she was 8 years old.  

We spent ages yesterday clearing the run roof so the girls would get more light.  It is surprising the difference it has made, to be honest.  We back on to woodland so we are always clearing leaves off somewhere or something, great for making compost though but a thankless task around here because there are loads and loads. 

Well done on the 19 years, that's impressive.

Edwink x

thriftwizard

Hi @edwink! We "use" the Pekins to raise day-old chicks, usually from the local egg-farmers; they'll sell a handful, very reasonably, when they get a consignment in from the hatchery. So they are kind of rescued, but before they go into the sheds, and they're usually about 85p each - rather cheaper than a point-of-lay bird. And the Pekins absolutely live to raise chicks; even the boys are good at it, but alas, we can't keep cockerels, we're too close to the neighbours. (But the few we have raised, we have been able to re-home, as they came from "good" bloodlines.) So we usually buy 6 chicks, 3 for us and 3 for my friend over the river, who doesn't keep bantams. That said, we only have one "red" layer (and Norma, the elderly Speckledy) just now; the other 6 are Cream Legbars, as the Pekins didn't time their broodiness to co-incide with the hatchery runs for the last couple of years, so I had to seek out other auto-sexing chicks instead. The Legbars are actually pretty good layers, and everyone loves the blue-green eggs!

edwink

thriftwizard said:
Hi @edwink! We "use" the Pekins to raise day-old chicks, usually from the local egg-farmers; they'll sell a handful, very reasonably, when they get a consignment in from the hatchery. So they are kind of rescued, but before they go into the sheds, and they're usually about 85p each - rather cheaper than a point-of-lay bird. And the Pekins absolutely live to raise chicks; even the boys are good at it, but alas, we can't keep cockerels, we're too close to the neighbours. (But the few we have raised, we have been able to re-home, as they came from "good" bloodlines.) So we usually buy 6 chicks, 3 for us and 3 for my friend over the river, who doesn't keep bantams. That said, we only have one "red" layer (and Norma, the elderly Speckledy) just now; the other 6 are Cream Legbars, as the Pekins didn't time their broodiness to co-incide with the hatchery runs for the last couple of years, so I had to seek out other auto-sexing chicks instead. The Legbars are actually pretty good layers, and everyone loves the blue-green eggs!

 Hi thriftwizard

You certainly sound really organised with your girls and boys. It's not always easy to rehome Cockerels so it was good that you were able to do that. Sadly when we had the fox attack our big man was killed, he was the most beautiful tame Cockerel ever and was pretty quiet that others around here called him "lazy" (for a Cockerel). I will definitely get another Cockerel at some point but not whilst my old girls are here. I do love Bantams and also Legbars and as you say everyone loves a blue-green egg.  One of my rescue ducks from years ago laid blue-green eggs, they were a gorgeous colour. You may have seen the egg I posted on this thread a little while ago, it was one of Hoppy's and is black, the most unusual looking egg.  We got used to them but if you've never seen a black egg it is worth a look. 

Edwink x