Keeping hens and ducks chat.

ali-t

Haven't been on this thread for a while to post but still keeping up with everyone. We finally got a roof put on the enclosure and it was an eye watering £400 - ouch! On the plus side it has a corrugated tin roof, has a very solid structure and will last everything a rural Scottish winter can throw at it. We still have eggs coming every day and the chooks can now forage in the dry as well as the great outdoors. loving it!

edwink

ali-t wrote: »

Haven't been on this thread for a while to post but still keeping up with everyone. We finally got a roof put on the enclosure and it was an eye watering £400 - ouch! On the plus side it has a corrugated tin roof, has a very solid structure and will last everything a rural Scottish winter can throw at it. We still have eggs coming every day and the chooks can now forage in the dry as well as the great outdoors. loving it!

Great that you have managed to get the new roof done. I know it is £400 spent but like us I am sure you would do anything in the world for your chooks. When we have a bit of a spend on them I always sit back and think you can not put a price on a happy chook. They bring so much joy when they are happy and warm and dry. Maybe you could start selling a few boxes of their eggs to friends and neighbours so they pay for the roof themselves (eventually). Just an idea!!

Happy chooks = Happy us


Edwink x

ali-t

Love that emoji edwink. We already do share the eggs for a donation, the body builders at my partners work cant get enough of them. Looks like the donation price will have to go up!

Happygreen

edwink wrote: »

My ducks do that on a regular basis so we have got used to it now. If there are no eggs in their hut in the morning by the afternoon we go on an egg hunt to find them.


That reminds me of the time we did a thorough clean of the hens hotel so that day we put a temporary nesting box by the door so they could lay their eggs in it. Thy only laid two that day in the temporary box. The next day when hunting for the ducks eggs we found 11 hens eggs in a bush. We were not sure if they were from the big cleaning day or they had been laying them there for some time. But 11:eek: wow!!!


Edwink x

Oh yes, but I had never a duck nest attempt in November before :rotfl: The hens do it to but not on a regular basis. We found a nest in the shed behind the lawnmower this year ...clever girl, it was absolutely invisible! Sometimes the hens irritate each other fighting over nesting boxes or go broody so one just goes elsewhere until the others find her and the same game starts again.

edwink

I wish the weather would cheer up a bit here in the south. It has been non stop wind plus rain at times and my girls hate it. They are spending quite a bit of time hiding from the wind in the flower beds and as the plants are slowly dying down for the winter the girls are getting less shelter from the wind. Poor little things.


What's the egg situation with you guys.? We got 3 yesterday from 14 hens and no eggs from the ducks. Might get our egg and chips by Monday night if we are lucky.


Just curious has anyone seen Betterdays posting at all. I am wondering if she is ok. She was a regular poster on here with some fabulous interesting posts. But, for some reason she has not been posting at all. Have to say I do miss her not being around on the thread. I do hope she is ok.


Edwink

ali-t

Hi Edwink, we have 10 hens but are still getting around 8 eggs a day. They are loving their shelter which is filled with Hay and has their coops in it. The snow has been coming down heavily today so they are staying in the chicken equivalent of 'inside'.


It is now light enough for them to get up at around 7:30am and they are going to bed at around 4:30pm so maybe not enough light for daily eggs but still enough to keep me happy!

Dizzy_Ditzy

I'm getting 4-5 eggs per day from 5 girls so I'm quite pleased with that

I have a confession to make - on Friday there was a farmandpetplace.co.uk Black Friday deal of a 20kg bag of layers pellets for £1 :j even with £3.99 delivery fee it was still a bloody good price :j I ordered one each from me and misery guts but I couldn't get on here via my work computer to let you all know and I'd killed my phone by using that for ordering so I'm sorry to you all that I didn't let you know about it but I couldn't I went out after work and by the time I got home the offer had ended

edwink

14 Hens one blooming egg
Enough said

Happygreen

edwink wrote: »

14 Hens one blooming egg
Enough said

Better than here! Nothing from 22 girls (ducks included) for a week now it's only feeding and clearing out poop!

ali-t

Another 7 yesterday and they were ankle deep in snow all day. Must be the amount they are eating just keeps the eggs coming.