Who's got chickens?

there is no way for the foxes to get into the enclosed bit though where they will be during the night, unless it climbs them bushes and jumps over (no way to get back out also)? if you only let them into the run during the day (not too early in morning) then they will be fine
 
Ah right, I thought you where going to close them in during the night

Maybe some of the plastic corrugated roofing? It depends how you want it to look really mate, that stuff would stand out a lot in the greenery, and probably go yellowy/green because of the leaves around it
 
The Fox is a very cunning animal and will very quickly work out how to get at your birds if they are not 100% protected. He will quickly spot any weaknesses your coop has and take advantage, whether that's scaling the fence, digging underneath it or chewing straight through it. As foxes like to wander about at night you need to be 100% sure that a fox can't get into the roosting area.

From looking at the photo's, I didn't realise the run didn't have a roof on, I thought the run was 100% secure, but looking again at it now a fox could easily get in there at night. This may be ok providing the fox has no way of getting inside the roosting area, but you need to make sure. If it was me I would make sure the run was 100% secure and then also make sure that if a fox somehow managed to get in the run it then couldn't break in to the roosting area.

You also need to make sure there's no little holes that rats can get as they can cause havoc to roosting birds.

With the run not having a roof on it you could find that your birds can escape too. Looking at the position of the log, one of your birds could easily hop onto the top of that and then hop onto the top of the fencing. Clipping wings is something that I won't do to a bird as I want my birds to be as natural as possible and from reading about there seem to be mixed results as to just how effective clipping can be. Besides, our birds seem to take great delight in hopping onto the coop just so they can jump off again, getting good air :D

If you secure the roof to add protection from foxes you have no need to clip the wings anyway.

For the dust bath, we use a mixture of children's play sand, dry peat, some hemp wood chip and a good few squirts of DE and the chickens seem to love it. We use a large cat litter tray for this and only ever put it out for the birds when it is dry. A good test of a dust bath is if the birds have been in it for a while and they then get out and shake themselves you should see a good amount of dust and whatever else come off them. They seem to really enjoy themselves in the bath though, it's highly amusing to watch, they all try to squash themselves in, vying for the best spots, no fighting or squabbling or anything, they just seem to really enjoy it and it does keep them nice and clean.

If you use a complete layers feed then that should provide all their dietary needs. We also make a mash for the birds so we like to have a separate coop cup that we fill with small grit, which helps them break food down, as well as another cup filled with finely crushed oyster shell (source of calcium for eggs). The birds go through the fine oyster shell quite quickly so I think the birds must need it. The larger grit pieces last for longer but they definitely take a few bits every now and again.

Lovely looking birds there, now it's just a case of keeping them safe and healthy and waiting for the first little eggs to be laid. :)
 
Ok at risk of being taken as an idiot. So the birds usually lay an egg everyday and that's edible unless it's fertilised by a cockerel (lol)? Or what happens? I still haven't learnt how the egg thing works.
 
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Hyburnate said:
Ok at risk of being taken as an idiot. So the birds usually lay an egg everyday and that's edible unless it's fertilised by a cockerel (lol)? Or what happens? I still haven't learnt how the egg thing works.
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When a hen gets into the routine of laying and all the things that go with it, she will lay one egg a day, even if there is no cockerel. Sometimes they may miss the odd day for whatever reason but you can expect maybe 320 eggs in their first year, this amount gets less and less the older they get. Usually a hen will lay an egg, hang around for a bit and then seem to completely forget about it. If you get what is called a 'broody' hen then this is a bird who thinks the eggs are fertilized. She will then sit on the eggs trying to incubate them. While she is doing this she usually will not lay another egg until she stops being broody. This can take a few days or even a few weeks but there are ways to break her broodiness. We had a hen that was broody last year and she didn't lay an egg for about a month. We tried to let her come out of it naturally but in the end I decided to separate her from the others and she stopped being broody over night. It can be quite dangerous for a hen to be broody for too long as they put the needs of the eggs before themselves so will forgo food and water. I suppose a broody hen is just a good mother, she just wants to look after her eggs.

The very first eggs a hen lays (pullet eggs) are usually quite small but they are still edible, and in fact some people specifically seek these eggs out. Sometimes a hen will lay what is called a 'jelly egg' which is an egg without any shell. It's a good idea to remove these as quickly as possible as the chickens will more than likely eat it! You can still eat these eggs yourself apparently but we never do, we just play with them a bit 'cos they are seriously weird and then cook them up for the dogs :D

If you've got a cockerel present then you are after fertilized eggs because you want to raise chicks, so you wouldn't want to eat them anyway but I imagine they are still edible up to a point though. Raising chicks is something I don't know a great deal about as yet but we will get into that in the next year or two I'd imagine.

There's a load of interesting facts about eggs and how they are produced inside the chicken that we didn't know when we first started, it's really quite an amazing achievement by the chicken when you look further into how they do it. Just have a google about and you'll find loads of info, this one looks quite thorough and detailed...http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/01/how-hen-makes-egg-egg-oddities.html
 
What I did last night to protect them was covered the whole roof with plywood and rolls of bamboo in the gaps. The whole lot screwed down so there was no chance of foxes getting in but it isn't too pretty.

I think I'll probably use corrugated plastic on the roof and cover the whole enclosure for a long term solution.

What would be an effective way of keeping the rodents out of the run? Maybe a fine mesh along the bottom 10" or so?
 
NoNameNoNumber said:
What I did last night to protect them was covered the whole roof with plywood and rolls of bamboo in the gaps. The whole lot screwed down so there was no chance of foxes getting in but it isn't too pretty.

I think I'll probably use corrugated plastic on the roof and cover the whole enclosure for a long term solution.

What would be an effective way of keeping the rodents out of the run? Maybe a fine mesh along the bottom 10" or so?
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One thing I forgot to mention is that chickens need a bit of sun to keep their feathers in tip top condition. You need to make sure the birds can get at least a few hours a day of sunlight, when it's available in this country that is. Any modifications you make to the roof need to be made with an eye to allowing as much sun light through as possible, so the corrugated plastic roof sounds ideal. At this stage your priority is the health and safety of the chickens and the way a coop might look is definitely a secondary concern.

I don't think mice themselves are a problem to chickens, I think if anything it's their droppings that may cause problems. We have a couple of mice that like to run around at night, which we don't mind in all honesty. Sometimes I put the wireless camera outside so I can see just how many mice are running about at night and the most I've ever seen is 3, which I think is ok. If I see any more than that I'll put some humane traps down to catch a few and rehome them. Keeping the pellet feeder and drinkers hanging from chains and off the floor definitely helps combat the risks of droppings or wee getting into the food or water.

Rats are a big problem if they get into the roosting area as they will try to bite the legs of the hens, bringing on sorts of health problems. Thankfully, this is only something I've read about so far and not actually seen as yet. Their droppings and pee can carry all sorts of nasties so even if I only spotted one I would trap it straight away. You need to just try to block any holes that you think a rat could get through. We have used the wire mesh you get in those disposable barbeques, just cut to the right size and pinned into place.

One thing I would definitely advise you to get is a wireless camera of some sort. We got one from Amazon that was just over £30. It's great for watching what they get up to at night as well as offering peace of mind if you hear a strange noise. When that happens I just quickly look at the camera to see if the birds are disturbed and usually they are all sound asleep.

With the camera we got you can access it via a tablet or something when you are away from home - my other half watches the chickens all day while she's at work! It also allows you to see if a chicken is being bullied excessively while in the coop at night, as well as see if any unwanted visitors are getting in and you'll get to observe their behaviour as well as watch them lay eggs! I only discovered the other day that a chicken actually stands up to lay an egg!
 
Ha ha brilliant, I thought about putting my GoPro in there for a while :D

Even with the boards covering, because of the height of the run (just under 6') there's plenty of direct sun light that gets in anyway.

It may well be worth laying some rat traps though just in case...
 
Yeah get a camera in there for a spot of Chicken TV, better than Eastenders that's for sure! :D

Have your birds started to establish the pecking order yet? That can by quite disturbing to watch, especially if one of the birds is maybe a little weaker than the others. You may see wounds on the comb and wattle, to the point of there being blood. We always have a bottle of Gentian Violet handy if there is any bad wounds - it cleans the wound as well as make the area around the wound purple as chickens are naturally drawn to the colour red and can continue pecking to make a minor injury quite serious.

If you get any bad wounds you can also put a bit of Vaseline over it to stop the bleeding but if a chicken is getting quite badly bullied with a fair amount of blood it would be a good idea to separate her so she doesn't get any worse.

Our 'top chicken' is the smallest bird we have, but she has a very sharp beak which the others definitely seem to fear. She's a good boss though, she lets the others get away with a lot but will come down hard if they take too much of a liberty.

The joys of chicken keeping :D Just wait till you get to the 'analysing chicken poo' stage, that's where the fun starts, yes there's even a website out there that shows all the different poo's a chicken can do and what they all mean :D
 
Funny you should say that. On the way home and last night, their poo was really runny and literally squirted out... Thought nothing of it... Today their pooh is quite solid, still splats a little but very different from yesterdays...

Maybe they were on growers mash until yesterday and now they're on layers pellets. Probably down to my inexperience but maybe should've asked what they were being fed.

Oh well they seem to like the pellets they have and are getting through them. I didn't realise but I need to get some grit don't I. Do I mix this with their pellets or have a separate feeder for the grit?

The Nero seems to be the boss but only by virtue of the fact she likes to climb on everything and get high up. I've not seen any of them peck each other or even sqwark/flap in anger but then they were all raised together so fingers crossed there will be no bullying!

The Leghorn gets first dibs on the worms because she's the quickest!
 
I wouldn't worry too much at the moment about their poo's as they are all probably a bit stressed from the move. As long as you see them eating and drinking and displaying natural behaviour I wouldn't worry.

Here's the website we use for poo (:D), don't look if you're about to have your dinner or something - http://chat.allotment-garden.org/?topic=17568.0

We get most of our supplies (hemp, grit, shell, etc) from here http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/. We put the grit and oyster shell in separate coop cups like these http://www.wilko.com/domestic-bird/wilko-coop-cups-large/invt/0303730?VBMST=coop. You can also add the grit and oyster shell to a mash if you prefer. We use pellets but also give them mash (with no grit or shell in) every day, as well as lots of other treats, so I think we're doing the right thing by having a separate supply of grit and fine oyster shell there if they want it.

With a bit of luck your birds will all be familiar with one another so hopefully any little disagreements won't go too far. Don't get too stressed if they do start to go at each other, it can look disturbing and quite vicious but it needs to be done, only interfere if you see a bird getting excessively attacked. It was quite an eye opener for us as we had no idea a chicken could be so violent!

Have your birds been wormed yet at all?

Edit to add: Another little site we like is this one... http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens. That links to a quick guide as to what treats are safe to give the birds.
 
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I googled chicken poo and found the website :D

I'll take a look at Flyte... thanks for the links :)

The website of the place I purchased them from has this chart and they seemed really happy, clean and whatnot.
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But I have no idea tbh what I do from there... the excitement of getting them home meant I completely forgot to ask any useful questions!!!

Do you have any advice on tonics? I've heard of people adding a vinegar to the water and feeding garlic for instance...
 
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Yeah, I know what you mean, I absolutely love keeping chickens. I spend most of my day with them when I should really be working! I never get sick of seeing them bobbing about, I've had them come up and sit on my shoulder when I'm just sat there quietly watching them. Very sociable animals, a lot more intelligent than people give them credit for too, in my experience.

That chart is good, I never realised how much went into raising the chicks - there seems to be loads of things that can go wrong. I know that Coccidiosis is a very bad one which you need to still keep an eye out for when the chickens are older.

Worming chickens is pretty easy to do but I would wait a few weeks before even looking into that. To be honest I'm not sure if chickens are wormed or not before you get them but you'll need to worm them at some point over the next few months anyway. There's a product called Flubenvet that you can order from the internet which is mixed in with pellets, you just keep them on that for a week and it's done, you can even continue to eat the eggs.

We give our chickens Poultry Cider Vinegar mixed in with their water when it's getting close to worming time. I think it increases the acidity level of the chickens digestive system, which worms don't like and the chickens actually seem to enjoy it! We have been mixing garlic in with their mash for the last few days and they seem to love that too. We'll be worming some time soon I think. I'm yet to eat one of the eggs since we have been giving them garlic but you're meant to be able to taste it. Not sure what I'm gonna think about that yet to be honest :D

Just to add, I wouldn't do anything other than what you are doing regarding feed, worming, etc, give the birds a couple weeks to settle in. Obviously still keep an eye on things and react if you feel the need to but the important thing for the birds at the moment is that they settle in. Don't go overboard with lots of different treats either as that'll upset them (as tempting as it is :D).
 
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Should I get them some grit or am I to wait until they start to lay?

Despite having the pellets I noticed they like to peck at the grass coming through the slabs and also I've lifted a few slabs and filled with sand/compost/DE as a dust bath for them they seem more interested in pecking worms and roots out of it.

We'll have to keep a close eye on them and I guess they will tell us if we're doing it wrong!
Thanks for your help Eddie, awesome to know that there's so much help and knowledge available online :)

I'll just keep reading, researching and shopping about and get a few treats and tonics in for them, like you say though I may be best off just getting them settled on just pellets and water and whatever natural stuff and bugs they find in the run. Saying that though... Mum gave me a bag if scraps from preparing the Sunday lunch earlier, they seemed to have a good rummage through that lot!
 
You're welcome, I'm glad I could help :)

Getting grit or oyster shell isn't vital at the moment as they are eating the layers pellets. When you start giving them loads of treats they'll soon turn their noses up at the pellets, so I'd definitely make the shell and grit available then.

It's good that your birds are looking for any insects or plants that might be about as that's natural behaviour and a good sign that your birds are feeling more an more comfortable with their new surroundings.

There's definitely a lot to learn for the new chicken keeper at first. We've only been doing it for over a year now and are learning new stuff all the time. We just keep a close eye on the chickens and try to let them get on with whatever they want to do. We seriously spoil our chickens and I imagine a few other keepers find some of the things we do completely unnecessary, but we do see our birds as family pets rather than anything else so we don't mind spoiling them.

Whatever the methods though the goal is to have healthy, happy birds who lay delicious eggs. I reckon if you're achieving all of that then you're doing it right. :)
 
Well today I didn't bother with trying to hold any of them, apparently I'm just scaring them so I just stayed still and petted them when they came near enough...

Also went to Wilkos to have a look for those little poultry feeders you linked to but it would seem that our Wilkos is **** so came away empty handed. Mixed a quarter of a crumbled up fat ball destined for the bird table in with their dust bath which they seemed to enjoy having a good rummage through.

Oh and 3 of them had a good scratch and flap around in amongst the dust bath, its only the size of two slabs but I'm thinking of lifting two more for them. It's just a mix of compost/sand/diatomaceous powder with a few scraps of food in but they spend a lot of time walking in and pecking at it... I don't doubt that they're getting all of the grit they need from that (apart from the calcium from oyster shells)

I must have spent 2-3 hours just watching them today :D
 
When the chickens get used to you you'll find that they might submit to you by sort of hunching themselves down and sticking their wings out. I've read a few different theories as to why they do it but I like to think that they actually want you to pick them up for a pet. It's hard to explain what it looks like but you'll definitely know it when you see it. Whenever one of our chickens do it to me I either pick them up for a bit or give them a gentle stroke, until they want to move away themselves.

Try not to chase the chickens and always try to move slowly when you're around them. Even after a year our chickens still panic a little when I move around at my normal pace and come near them. So it's sort of slow, deliberate movements that they like. It's obviously still early days but let the chickens just get used to seeing you about and work out that it's you that feed them and they should get used to you pretty quickly. Try hand feeding them with some sweetcorn, that's definitely one of their favourite treats.

I found Youtube to be really helpful to actually see things in the flesh, there's absolutely loads of video's showing you how to do many things chicken-related.

You can get similar coop cups from quite a few places online if your local Wilko doesn't have them. There's a pack of three here for £2.69...http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Coop_cups_galley_pots.html

(If you're going to order the cups from that website you might want to wait a while to see if you need anything else from them and bulk it all in one order to save on delivery costs).

You could probably make a couple pretty easily if you fancied doing that. Maybe the bottom of one of those large, plastic milk cartons with wire threaded through it, attached to the fencing. They're handy to have if you want to introduce any new food or drink to the birds to see if they like it or not.

Yeah, I spend far too much of my life just sitting watching the birds, I never get tired of seeing what they're getting up to. Today it has been raining heavily all day here so the birds haven't been up to much except huddling together under a bush, doesn't stop them getting pitted though, they look quite comical when their feathers are soaked. :D
 
I cannot wait till I move house the end of the month, I plan on getting 4 chickens. Dr.Eddie thanks for the advise yesterday on email :)
 
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