Lesley

Hi Nicola If you put 'chicken animations' into Google there are quite a few free animations which you can right click on and save . Unfortunately, a lot of them are too big to be used but it's fun looking. I used www.backyardchickens.com and found them in Fun Pages. Have fun Lesley

No Richard - it appears to be random and may change BUT it is still spelt incorrectly, unless I'm missing the point somewhere? Lesley

So am I

Mary Pity someone's already used the name 'Motherhen' I'll have to give up my place being bossy then - it's what my (younger)sister calls me.

I thought everyone would stop speaking to me !

This is a topic lifted from River Cottage site, where someone wanted to know if there was a particular age group who use these forums. (or in this instance - buy an Eglu) I have a vested interest in starting this now as I only have a few weeks to say - I am 49! - Christmas birthday Carl is 39 We also have two regular helpers (my Grandchildren) Lauren aged nearly 7 and Jake aged 4 The River Cottage ages range from 19 - 64

Well - they've still only got pellets tomorrow and the next day..... We buy the organic mash usually but it was out of date when we went to buy it last week so we bought organic pellets instead. It's too expensive to just abandon. They get organic mixed corn as well They obviously don't know when they're well off

Change of plan! Mrs White laid her first egg today So couldn't deny her a treat could I, so they all got spaghetti. Lesley

Our four are off treats again for a couple of days as they are refusing to eat their proper food and are holding out for treats. This is because we have changed from mash to pellets. We mixed some pellets with mash before it ran out, hoping that would work but it didn't. Yesterday all of them were clamouring by the gate every time I walked past the window or opened the back door but only had treats (raisins) at 3.15. Today they only have plenty of pellets and water Lesley

Our two started off on a patch of bare land and we moved them about every couple of days, leaving lots of bare areas. We made a large run for them and moved them into that while we finished landscaping the rest of the area. That run is now bare in places which we have covered in bark, and the rest is either veg which are fenced off or new laid turf which we were going to open up for the girls to free range on when it had rooted well. The only problem is the new lawn looks so nice and the chicken run looks...well....um...messy - I don't know if I will be able to let them out into the whole area now! Lesley

Hi Dawn If it's any consolation, we collected two extra chickens from a local farm last Sat. aged about 23 weeks. Janie told us that they will start laying soon and when they do they will continue through the winter and not ease off or moult like the older ones We're still waiting for them to start, one of the originals has started missing a couple of days. Hope yours start soon. Lesley

PS ParmaViolet Glad you've refrained from giving your girls curry - the amount of poo is quite enough without it! How come twice as much comes OUT at that end as goes IN the other, and that's excluding the eggs!

Our four love sweetcorn and cooked spaghetti. Like Kate we had to with hold all treats for 5 days because they wouldn't eat any mash at all. They now only have a small amount of treats in the afternoon but we have also started giving them mixed corn at lunch times. Tonight they have just had a bowl of cold Ready Brek with raisins, home made bread crusts, jacket potato skins and leftover apple all mixed up. Yes - it was a 'grandchildren day'! Today we draped the spaghetti all around the run so they had to stretch for it - excercise for the chickens and kept the grandchildren occupied for 20 mins. Lesley