Chickens

[Saraz]

I am going to get Ds1 2 chickens for christmas. anyone got any top tips on caring for them.

They will have a coop and a big run for nights and the garden during the day.

Have looked into it a bit and apparently are the biggest growing pet thing.

We are going to call ours Sage and Onion!

I wanted to get Ds something that would last longer than a couple of months and be beneficial to him cause we will be getting eggs.

Let me know

Thanks

S :happy72:

[Netty]

What an unusual present!

I know very little about chickens, really, but my old playschool teacher kept one in her garden and we used to go see it. She didn't actually teach us anything about it though.

My nephews' school has a small farm and they sell eggs/chickens etc. One of his friends bought a chick for his mum (they already have a small-holding). After a short time, they realised it was a cockerel not a hen - so he returned it to school (on the public bus!!!!) Would love to have seen the other passengers faces, :hysterica

[househusband]

Chickens are great!

Do you have foxes in your area? Reason I ask is that we have lost 15 so far to Mr Fox (3 last Thursday after 6 months of no trouble :( ) and we use an electric fence and lock our chickens away at night. So be very careful of freeranging.

What sort are you getting?

Rob.

[Saraz]

I have a 6ft brick wall all around the garden so hopefully should be ok for foxes.

Are hoping to get a light sussex and a Marans or a Buff Orpington I just wa\nt pretty ones it is already looking like getting 3 or 4.

The eggs will be good. What do chickens like best to eat have been told to give them lots of greens but in the afternoons.

My othert half is going to make the coop for them as he is a carpenter so should be ok

Any info graetly received

Thanks

S

[househusband]

Hi,
nice choice. We got our replacements at the weekend 50p each!

Ok tips in no real order.

Ok the wall, foxs can climb. do you think he/she can? I was told they can climb a 6 foot chicken wire fence. Of course a wall should be harder. Remember they dig too (think of thier dens). Watch out for trees too.

Food, find a pet shop who does chicken food. I foud mine by looking in the yellow pages for one that does horse supplies. You want layers pellets as they have everything the chickens need. Its about £6 a bag and it will last about 6 weeks for 4 chickens. You will need to also get grit and you put a handful in about once a week, they need it to digest the food and it build strong shells. When you forget the shells get very thin and sometimes you get eggs with no shell! Its just a bag.....

I feed them layers pellets in the morning and then scraps in the afernoon.

We are veggies, so the chickens get all our left overs, breakfast cerals, bread/toast, pastsa etc. Don't feed them any meat, its not good for them and it can pass on all sorts of horrible things. They love greens and grass makes the egg yolks very yellow! In the old days they boiled up everything (meat and all) for hours on end. Unless you have an aga so its on all the time, just keep the scrap apart.

For Water and Food - I use a ice cream container. Ignore the expensive contaniers/feeders. I've thrown away all mine.

Inside I use sawdust on the floor and straw for the bedding. You want to be able to clear it, so factor that in when making the house. They do big poops :) BTW I made mine from scrap wood. Get your OH to look at designs on the web. All they need is a watertight place, a perch about 12/18 off the ground and somewhere to lay (as dark as possible) which is chicken size. My Maran was pretty big and just fitted in the nesting box I made.

If your hens are new (POL) they may not be house trained - take themselves to bed. So for the first few days as the light fades, pick them up and put them in the house, on the perch. They will pick up the idea very quickly and go to bed all on thier own - just like chicldren :)

If you have a chicken that keep wiggling as you hold it, hold if by its legs upside down. They clam down very quickly.

You may want to clip thier wings to stop then flying, You need to just clip one wing and you take off more than you think. So expect to cut it again and again. I think I took around 4" off the maran.

You may get an egg eater, one that like eating the others eggs. Two ways to stop this, collect often and filling an old egg with mustard. Get the powder and add as little water as possible and fill an egg, put in the house. It take a few days and it will stop.

Chickens when on form lay one egg every 25 hours. They of course never reach this, but look at on egg a day for a week and then a day off. They go off lay too for lots of reasons.

You don't need a boy chicken for eggs only if you want chics.

To transport them, use a cardbord box with holes in for air.

When you first get them put them straight in the house. Leave the door shut for an hour or two and tehn let them out. The best time is to get them at dust and put them in the house in the dark, but with school runs that never happens.

They get lice and ticks, but not very often. red mites are the real problem and you sort thos eout one a year by giving the house a good clean. You can get products, but read stuff on the web first as some are really bad for yu and the birds.

Top tip on chasing hens - don't!

Hope that Helps,

Rob.

[Katiequiggle]

I would love to keep chickens but we have so many foxes coming into our garden. I wont even dare have a rabbit or guinea pigs for the same reason. Its a shame cause I had so many dreams when we inherited our 170 foot garden. If it was just a night problem it wouldn't be so bad cause they could be shut in but the foxes are around during the day too.

Think of all those lovely eggs, I used to love collecting them when we were kids and my parents kept them. I remember we had to have a light that came on about 5 in the morning so that they would wake up and lay or something if that's any help.

Good luck

Love Kate