Keeping hens and ducks chat.

jac99 wrote: »

Hello, I have spent the past few days reading through all these posts as I prepare my garden to be chicken ready. I am a little worried that many of you seem to have a lot more space than my medium sized garden. I am getting ready to order a coop and would like your thoughts please. It seems I am not allowed to post a link - it is from Chickencoopsdirect and is the Sussex and double run.

We are hoping to have 3-5 Pekin Bantams. They will be in the run most of the day during the week but out in the garden when I get home from work. I have a corner spot in the garden in mind where they will be sheltered by a fence at the back and side of the coop/run, It is in sun in the morning and shaded in the afternoon.

Any suggestions and advice welcomed! Thank you

Hi jac99

Lovely to have a new hen keeper on here with us. Just fire away with any questions you may have. It is never a problem as we are a friendly bunch on here.

Because you are new to posting on the forum you are not allowed to post links yet so is this the one you are thinking of getting?

https://www.chickencoopsdirect.com/sussex-with-large-run

If this is the correct one you are thinking of getting I would say it would be fine because you are getting Bantams and will be letting them out when you are home. I wouldn't say it would be big enough if they were full size hens.

Not all of us have big gardens on here so please don't worry about that. There are some posters that keep their hens in coops on their allotments. So anything goes really as long as you consider their safety, well being, keep them clean and care for them properly.

Hope that helps

Edwink

jac99 wrote: »

Hello and thankyou, yes that is the one!

Thanks for putting my mind at rest. There is so much advice on the internet I end up second guessing myself.

There are also so many products out there I wonder if you can recommend the basics that I need. For example I know I will need layers pellets but are some brands better than others?

Are there any products you have tried that you have thought never again?

I know I will make plenty of mistakes along the way but any help to avoid rookie new owner errors will be appreciated,

Thank you

Hi again

For the layers pellets it is best to shop around I always say. Obviously those of us with lots of feathered friends buy the 20kg sacks and for us the choice is Dodson and Horrel. Dodson and Horrel also sell 10kg sacks but I don't think they sell smaller bags than that. Bantams will obviously consume a lot less pellets that full sized hens so maybe just check online for the amount of feed they should be given every day. Maybe the person you are purchasing them from will be able to give you advice on their feeding amount

You will need to worm your girls from time to time. Some say every month, some say 3 months and others 6 months. We worm our girls every month because that's what we prefer to do as our girls are out and about picking up anything that looks tasty enough to eat. You can buy a separate worming product like Verm-x or Flubenvent or there are others out there to choose from. We use Verm-x because you can continue to eat the eggs once they have been wormed. With other products you must withdraw the eggs for a certain period of time once they have been wormed. You can buy Verm-x layers pellets for their feed which has wormer in the mix but that is basically worming them all the time which personally we feel is not necessary. Verm-x sell the worming pellets in all different size containers so for your 3 to 5 Bantams you need the smallest container they sell and that would last you a fair amount of time.

Don't forget they will need to have somewhere to dust bathe so you could encourage them by having an area of bare soil in their coop. They will soon be scratching around and getting the hang of having a wash in that area. Or you could provide a container like a cat litter tray with a mix of soil and a little sand for them to use as a bath.

Any container can be used for their water as long as it is not too light so they can perch on it and turn it over. You can buy specialist feeders and water containers but they are really just another expense. For their feed you could just scatter it in their coop every morning and evening as that will give them something to do during the day to stop them getting bored.

Hope that helps

Edwink

jac99 wrote: »

Hello and thankyou again. That is the brand I currently have in my Amazon basket so hopefully that bodes well.

My job for the weekend is to dig a border around my base area to sink some wire and rubble into to try and head off any rodent visits from the start. Any advice as to the best rat proof wire to use please? Is chicken wire tough enough or do I need to use something more like aviary wire? Any suggestions welcomed...

The best wire is aviary wire as the holes are so much smaller than chicken wire. Rats can elongate their bodies and squeeze through chicken wire very, very easily. So the smaller the holes the better.

You will also need to be wary of foxes coming to visit too. It doesn't matter if you are in the countryside or in town foxes will try and get to your hens if they are given the chance. I would try and dig the wire as far down as you can before putting rubble on top of the wire. Then the best thing you can do is put heavy paving slabs around the whole boundary of the hens hut and their coop. The best way to make sure your hens are safe is to check the boundary around their hut and coop every day to make sure nothing has been trying dig underneath. If it does happen there are other preventative measures you can take like hanging a mans shirt or any item of males clothing that has been worn on the hut as this will deter the foxes. Foxes are very territorial so the scent of another male will put them off of visiting. There are other measures to put foxes off which I will explain about in another post at the weekend. Hopefully you won't ever need them but always worth knowing about.

Hope that helps

Edwink

Pyxis wrote: »

Interesting about putting a shirt out to deter foxes.

Don't they mind women then?
Is it just big fierce men?
Not big fierce women?

It is the scent of a male that puts them off especially the male foxes as they are so territorial.

Men's urine is another that can be used. Soak a cloth in their urine and hang it on a boundary fence at the bottom of a garden for example or on the hens hut. Or just get a male to have a pee along the boundary fence:eek: as that does the same thing in putting foxes off. Only thing is when it rains you have to do it all over again because obviously the urine scent goes as it is gradually washed away.

Edwink