Keeping hens and ducks chat.

edwink · 2 October 2018 at 9:27PM

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

I LOVE having my girls out the front of the house in their run :j :j They hear me coming down the drive and when I park I can see them all peering out looking at me :rotfl: After they moved I kept them shut in the run for a couple of days to get used to it, but the last two days I've let them out for an hour or so before bed while I potter about and keep an eye on them. Tonight I ended up sitting in the run myself drinking my tea and trying to lure them back in while they all just wandered about on the outside :rotfl: :rotfl:

They did all go back into the run themselves though :j :j Not in the house yet mind you as it's not quite dark but I'll pop out in a bit and shut their door.

They will "always" go in before it gets dark Cheery because unlike us hens do not have night vision and therefore can not see in the dark. So it doesn't matter how much luring you do they will go in when they are good and ready. Stubborn creatures they are :rotfl:

Edwink

Cheery_Daff · 2 October 2018 at 9:34PM

certainly are :rotfl: They do go into the *house* themselves, I just wasn't sure whether they'd go back into the *run* a good half hour before it was time to go into the house, but they did! Went back a bit later and they were all cosy in the house :j They seem to have settled into a routine of two on the perch, two in the nestbox together :rotfl:

Just done another food etc order - 20kg of organic food, 20kg corn, some worm pellets, some diatomaceous earth, and some grit. Trying not to look at the cost - I did research and ended up getting it all from different places but it adds up! This lot should last a good few months though :j

Do you give yours bought in grit or crushed eggshells? Mine didn't have any for the first few weeks as they were inside and just on layers pellets but once they started to go out I've given them access to dried and crushed eggshells, and obviously they can peck about at the driveway for other bits of grit when they're out :rotfl: but looking at pictures of commercial grit I wonder if I've crushed my eggshells too much?! Have ordered a smallish tub to compare and we'll see...

Enough chicken admin for one night I think! :eek: :rotfl:

edwink · 2 October 2018 at 9:49PM

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

certainly are :rotfl: They do go into the *house* themselves, I just wasn't sure whether they'd go back into the *run* a good half hour before it was time to go into the house, but they did! Went back a bit later and they were all cosy in the house :j They seem to have settled into a routine of two on the perch, two in the nestbox together :rotfl:

Just done another food etc order - 20kg of organic food, 20kg corn, some worm pellets, some diatomaceous earth, and some grit. Trying not to look at the cost - I did research and ended up getting it all from different places but it adds up! This lot should last a good few months though :j

Do you give yours bought in grit or crushed eggshells? Mine didn't have any for the first few weeks as they were inside and just on layers pellets but once they started to go out I've given them access to dried and crushed eggshells, and obviously they can peck about at the driveway for other bits of grit when they're out :rotfl: but looking at pictures of commercial grit I wonder if I've crushed my eggshells too much?! Have ordered a smallish tub to compare and we'll see...

Enough chicken admin for one night I think! :eek: :rotfl:

They will go back to the run Cheery so don't worry about that at all. Clever little things they are!

Have a good look on the bag of the pellets you have purchased when they arrive because with some brands you do not need to add any grit to their diet. Also if yours are outside of their run from time to time they will pick up bits and pieces whilst foraging.

I bake our egg shells when we have finished with our stove for the evening and let them cool down, then crush them up with a rolling pin so my pieces are quite small too. We mix the dried crushed egg shells in to the feed in their stainless steel dustbin so they get a little every time we feed them. The egg shell adds Calcium to their diet besides giving them some grit. We never buy commercial grit ever.

Edwink

Cheery_Daff · 3 October 2018 at 5:37AM

Thanks Edwink, that's good to hear. I didn't realise you could just mix it into their food, I might just do that.

I think the pellets do say you don't need grit - I just thought if they were eating other stuff too they might need it, but if they'll get enough with eggshells too :j

I just leave mine on a tray in the bottom of the oven til they look pretty dry.

Cheery_Daff · 4 October 2018 at 9:18PM

Evening chums :hello:

Had to leave for work at 6am today :eek: NOT a regular occurrence thank goodness :eek: It was still pitch black and I went to open the door of the house for the girls and could hear them saying hello - but they definitely were NOT coming out at that time of day :rotfl:

Got home in time to let them out of the coop for a wander about the garden though before bedtime :j :j Hermione headed straight for the long grass - she often does that and is the one likely to go the furthest. Maud found something VERY interesting in the grass at the edge of the drive (goodness knows what) and stayed there for ages. Mildred strode up and down the drive making loud noises - I swear she's part cockerel sometimes :rotfl: And with a whole 11 acres at her disposal, Luna discovered my tiny patch of rainbow chard :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl: Pesky thing :rotfl:

Three eggs today :j two yesterday, four the day before :j Love my lovely girls :j

Mind you they were being a bit dim this evening. I have a little stone in the corner of the run that I often sit on while I'm drinking my tea. I was sat there tonight - it was about 6.30 and one of them was in the run and I figured if I sat there the others would come back too. They did - except they all came to the OUTSIDE of the run, and didn't seem to be able to figure out how to get back in :rotfl: Stupid creatures :rotfl: They wandered up and down the outside making noises and looking dolefully in, but never quite getting as far as the door :rotfl: Eventually I had to go out and stand just outside til they figured it out :rotfl:

How are you all getting on?

edwink · 4 October 2018 at 11:00PM

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Mind you they were being a bit dim this evening. I have a little stone in the corner of the run that I often sit on while I'm drinking my tea. I was sat there tonight - it was about 6.30 and one of them was in the run and I figured if I sat there the others would come back too. They did - except they all came to the OUTSIDE of the run, and didn't seem to be able to figure out how to get back in :rotfl: Stupid creatures :rotfl: They wandered up and down the outside making noises and looking dolefully in, but never quite getting as far as the door :rotfl: Eventually I had to go out and stand just outside til they figured it out :rotfl:

How are you all getting on?

Mine do that too Cheery. I sit there and keep saying "go round and through the door" but they just wander up and down up and down trying to find a way in. Sometimes I think hens are quite smart but other times I know they certainly are not!!

Oh and your hen that is half Cockerel is just trying to show the others who is boss. When they do this some actually do sound like a real Cockerel. If you watch her you will see her strutting about trying to stretch up and be as tall as she can. Not only do they sound like them at times but they resemble them too. Loveable funny little creatures when you think about it.

All quiet with mine at the moment. Only the odd present of an egg once in a while. I do miss all the eggs we used to get when we had 30 hens and ducks in total. We started off many years ago with 12 rescue hens and it just grew from there. So watch out Cheery this hen keeping malarkey is quite addictive :rotfl:

How is everyone else getting on with there hens?

Edwink

Cheery_Daff · 5 October 2018 at 6:25AM

edwink wrote: »

Oh and your hen that is half Cockerel is just trying to show the others who is boss. When they do this some actually do sound like a real Cockerel. If you watch her you will see her strutting about trying to stretch up and be as tall as she can. Not only do they sound like them at times but they resemble them too. Loveable funny little creatures when you think about it.

All quiet with mine at the moment. Only the odd present of an egg once in a while. I do miss all the eggs we used to get when we had 30 hens and ducks in total. We started off many years ago with 12 rescue hens and it just grew from there. So watch out Cheery this hen keeping malarkey is quite addictive :rotfl:

How is everyone else getting on with there hens?

Edwink

That makes sense about her showing who's boss - she's definitely the bossy one! Not sure the others think much of that as they were completely ignoring her last night and scattering to the four winds :rotfl: She's always the first to go to bed too and they all follow pretty quickly.

Any more hens in your future edwink or are you having a 'break' for now? I realise you've still got some and a load of ducks but will you ever get back up to 30 do you think?

edwink · 5 October 2018 at 12:48PM

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

That makes sense about her showing who's boss - she's definitely the bossy one! Not sure the others think much of that as they were completely ignoring her last night and scattering to the four winds :rotfl: She's always the first to go to bed too and they all follow pretty quickly.

Any more hens in your future edwink or are you having a 'break' for now? I realise you've still got some and a load of ducks but will you ever get back up to 30 do you think?

Old bossy boots that hen is, bless her. We have had a few of them over our time, they are quite comical to watch actually.

Yes will get more hens definitely because I wouldn't want to be without any. Like you I do love mine and they give me so much pleasure. Thought it unfair to introduce more at this stage because the 3 remaining ones I currently have are very old especially for ex-batt hens. Don't want them being picked on by a new dominant hen. But, equally don't want our little man being on his own. So the plan is to go out and buy a few very quickly when the others have gone if there is no rescue taking place anywhere near us. Our little man would be so very unhappy on his own with just the 6 ducks for company which is our future worry. Unless of course we hear of anyone who needs their hens rehoming in the mean time.

I miss not having so many and finding them foraging in every nook and cranny around the place doing their own thing. So definitely yes to more and more and more. Probably 12 more rescues to start with and see how it goes from there. This is the first time ever we have only had the 3 hens and it seems really odd with such a reduced head count of an evening.

Edwink

StarShapedPeg · 7 October 2018 at 9:03AM

Hi Edwink and all,
A little update on my hens! Our little blind hen died in August. You might remember, we suspected she might have had a stroke which caused her to go blind but she survived for over a year. We were hand feeding her and sitting her over a shallow water dish so she could drink. She had a nice summer and we used to put her in the shade with the others so she could bathe in the dust and used to scratch around with the others.
I went out on a Saturday morning and she wouldn’t get up from her perch so I placed her in the nest box, so at least she could lie down. The other two were hovering around her constantly. We gave her some water via a syringe but she was very tired and really just slept. By the afternoon she’d died.
We were devastated. After looking after her for so long suddenly we’re were left with two fully functional hens. They went around in a stuper for days calling her, looking for her but gradually got used to being just in a two. It was very sad. She was an amazing chicken. She was incredibly clever and resilient, she used to run the length of the garden for sunflower seeds. Sweet tempered, knew exactly what she wanted, and used to sit on our laps just to be closer to us. I miss her terribly, gardening is boring without her, the other two are content watching me from the sidelines but she was always fussing around us. She used to follow DH when he mowed the lawn literally walked behind him up and down the garden, like a shadow.
Anyway, Autumn is rolling in and winter wouldn’t have been much fun for her and I know it was time to say goodbye.
Hope everyone else’s flock is well.:A

jac99 · 7 October 2018 at 1:52PM

So sorry for your loss StarShapedPeg, however it sounds that you gave her an amazing quality of life.

So, eggs...I have always kept mine in the fridge but recently have discovered this is a little contentious and many people don't refrigerate eggs. What do you consider is the "shelf life" of freshly laid eggs?

While we quite easily eat all that our little flock produces, either simply as eggs and used in baking, I have been trying ways to preserve them for longer. Pickling seems to be a hit but salt curing hasn't been so popular. Does anyone do anything else to extend the life of their eggs?

Keeping hens and ducks chat.

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