Who's got chickens?

We had an escapee!

I took a boulder into the run to cover up the end of some reeds that one of them kept nibbling but I hadn't noticed the the gate was ajar. As I walked to the other side of the run, the Leghorn (damn she's quick!) ran straight out of the door...

I knew we stood zero chance of catching her-even less if she decided to fly-so we just stood still. By the time she had stopped running she was around the side of the run trying to nestle back in with the the others when she realised she was the wrong side of the fence. You could see the panic in her so I walked round the back of her to guide her towards the now wide open gate. Oh we did chuckle!

Was good to see that she knew where safety was, how long do you think until we can let them free range?

Also, I know of 1, maybe two bees nests in the garden, are the chickens safe or will curiosity get the better of them? and will they eat things that they shouldn't or do they know what's good and what not so?
 
You're both welcome, I'm definitely pleased that more and more people are looking into getting chickens. :)

As to when to let them free-range I would wait a good couple of weeks and even then start off by letting them out maybe 2 hours before dark. Do that for a few nights and they'll start to feel more confident. If you do it a short while before it gets dark they will automatically want to go back into the coop as the light fades. In the mean time, you can get them used to a nice little treat, taking it from your hand, so that when they are out you can entice them back into the coop if you have to.

Well done on the way you handled your first escapee, the exact same thing happened to us the very first day! Just always keep calm and don't panic as the birds pick up on it and it makes them nervous.

Funnily enough we've been thinking about bees too. We have a little nest under a shed and I've watched the birds paying close attention to the bees flying in and out but not actually go for one yet. I would just watch their behaviour when there's a bee near them, see how they react.

Sometimes when you give the chickens something new they start eating it straight away, sometimes they might not touch it for a day and then eat it the next day. It's as if they have to learn whether some things they are given is food or not, they can be unsure at first. Some things are instinctive, like you giving them worms - your chickens have probably never seen a worm before but I bet they didn't hesitate when they saw it, they new instinctively it was food. Then you have birds taking a while to get used to a pellet feed they have never seen before, after being on a mash, it can take a few days for them to switch. So the way I look at is that the chicken knows instinctively what is bad for it, but yet not know everything that is good for it.

A good thing to keep an eye on with young birds is the size and colour of their comb. It'll start to get bigger and redder each day as they get older. When it starts to plump up and turn a deeper red colour you know their first egg is on the way. Good times :)
 
Well today I let them free range... I was crouched in the door way and they liked to peck at the grass, The Goldline is far more independent than the others, she was happy to keep bobbing along and having a nosey around the bushes. I kept a close eye on her and she was fine. Something scared her and she bolted straight back into the run so she obviously knows where home is!

On her second venture the others followed. 3 of them stuck together but Goldie just went and did her thing.

When it was time to get them in I just kind of shepherded them in- no dramas :)

F839491A-1360-4512-836F-5619A735E9C5_zpswh7cpsey.jpg
 
They're brilliant to watch, I dangled a big juicy worm in front of them but they're still wary of me. Once one plucked up the courage to grab the worm they all chased her to get a piece. In the end I think she swallowed it whole!
 
Certainly, the Goldline eats out of my hand too. When she's close I give her a bit of a stroke which I think startles her but she must kind of like it as she runs in a circle and back to be so I can stroke her again :D

The other 3 aren't so sure yet though. The Leghorn has a lovely big comb, I'll try and get a decent picture so I can tell if it's getting any bigger...
 
Yeah, our Leghorn's comb is huge too and it sort of flops over like a long quiff. :D

She's our top chicken - the one with the sharpest beak! A couple of the other birds are practically twice her size but she has no problem keeping them in their place.
 
Dr.Eddie said:
Yeah, our Leghorn's comb is huge too and it sort of flops over like a long quiff. :D

She's our top chicken - the one with the sharpest beak! A couple of the other birds are practically twice her size but she has no problem keeping them in their place.
Click to expand...


Ours certainly struts around like she owns the place but I think the Speckledy rules the roost. Not once have any of them gone for the others though... all very friendly!

meandu229 said:
Are they loud at all? ie annoy the neighbours? I wanna get some when we move.
Click to expand...

So far not at all... We'll see what happens when they lay eggs!
 
meandu229 said:
Are they loud at all? ie annoy the neighbours? I wanna get some when we move.
Click to expand...

They definitely can make a lot of noise when they want to, but it only really goes on for a few minutes at a time. A couple of our birds like to announce to the world that they have just laid an egg, that can go on for 3 or 4 minutes and sounds quite loud at 7am.

We make a point of occasionally asking all our neighbours if they are disturbed by any noise the chickens might make and we only ever get positive responses. We do give all our neighbours free eggs as often as we can though, which I hope makes up for any disturbances.

NoNameNoNumber said:
Ours certainly struts around like she owns the place but I think the Speckledy rules the roost. Not once have any of them gone for the others though... all very friendly!
Click to expand...

For the first couple of weeks our Leghorn wasn't the top chicken. The original top chicken was a bit of a bully (and still is) and too brutal with the others for my liking. One day though, the Leghorn just seemed to decide that enough was enough and she stood up to the bully, they had a bit of a set-to and the Leghorn won, and we've had peace ever since. The original top chicken is now number two and can still be a bit rough with the others but the Leghorn comes over and tells her to stop it under no uncertain terms. She's a really good boss :)
 
NoNameNoNumber said:
Ha ha hopefully I'll have the GoPro to hand when they start to establish a pecking order :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, at the moment I think your birds are just more concerned with their new surroundings. When they get completely accustomed to their new home then they will definitely sort out the pecking order, from top to bottom. Hopefully they'll just have a bit of a mothers meeting and decide amicably what the order will be, without any serious altercations. :D
 
Time to meet the gang!

3A622E8A-FCFB-43DB-8FB1-BEAC9A017A50_zpsyxm7415f.jpg

AF04F602-5A5D-4554-ABDE-0965BDE2ADA8_zps0jcil59u.jpg

1ABFE941-BDC3-44F8-9DB9-FE58CB07A232_zpsubl9z3k7.jpg

3A8789E9-4A5B-44D5-AA61-5F89780379A9_zpsrqwphfzp.jpg


Today I re-roofed the run, found some ****** in chesterfield selling some translucent corrugated plastic sheeting... So I took full advantage of his inability to count and came away with 10 x 6' lengths and 4 x 8' lengths (all x about 2') for £20. Enough to do the run and repair the green house...
Also I've lifted another 2 slabs - 4 in total now - for dust baths :)
Hopefully now, their food we be completely sheltered from the weather :)
D8DB4E77-6D2E-47EC-8BAD-B69B6DD9362B_zpsflby7egu.jpg


Also I picked up 20Kg of both mixed grit and corn. It's amazing really how much they enjoy the grit, I was surprised at the size of it too :o
I've put their corn in a take-away tub and give it a little rattle so hopefully they'll associate the rattle with yummy corn treats and come running if they've gone AWOL... We'll see!

And that's it for today's antics :D
 
Lovely looking birds - it's not easy getting a good close-up of a bobbing about chicken! The coop is looking good too, you'll probably find you make a few minor adjustments to things as you go.

What age are the birds? Looking at the size and colour of the Leghorn's comb she could start laying at any moment, so keep an eye on her. The others look like they maybe have a couple of weeks to go before they lay.
 
Really enjoying this thread :)
So what's your future plans OP?

arknor said:
so when are you guys going to kill them for the meat?
Click to expand...

After they're too old to lay? :D Actually that's a good question, what do you do with the chickens when they no longer lay, do you keep them as pets or?
 
There's two types of bird; layers and utility birds. Layers don't tend to have a great deal of meat on them - all their resources go to egg production. Utility birds (sometimes called table birds) are a lot more bulky, they can still lay good numbers but are usually not as prolific as dedicated layers.

I suppose it depends on what your objectives are. For layers, commercial farmers might bump their chickens off after only a year as chickens tend to lay the most eggs in their first year, getting less and less as they get older. Birds raised for meat are usually bumped off pretty early in their lives.

We have a mixture of layers and utility birds but we have no intention of bumping ours off if they stop laying, we'll just let them see out their lives and maybe get a few new layers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom