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Shiney Chez

Picking hens up on Sat and would like some advice!!

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Going to pick my hens on Saturday and am planning to get the Eglu sorted today. Was wondering what sort of things (bedding, treats, toys etc)should I put in to start off with?

 

Have asked if I can buy some food from the place i'm getting them from so they have something familiar.

 

I'm putting the Eglu straight on the grass but am planning to resite it on Bark chippings. Only reason we haven't done it yet is OH is working 7 days a week and I'm not that great at DIY!!

 

Am excited but really nervous now. Want to do it right!!

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Get some hemcore/ Aubiose instead of bark chips. The bark chips go slimy and horrible whereas hemcore magically dries out poo and makes it disappear. (rushes off to garden to take picture of run).

They will need some grit for digestion and shell making - I just put it in a little dish and they either eat it or bury it. I also have citricidal (vitaminc stuff for water), poultry spice (for a boost in winter). I would thoroughly recommend a spare set of roosting bars for the eglu- they make cleaning so much easier and some louse/ red mite powder as a precautionary measure. Mine get lots of greens from the allotment and love sweetcorn and meal worms when they get them.

 

As you can see my girls were very inquisitive this morning for their picture taking - I'm sure you will get as much pleasure from yours as I do from mine

 

Chickens002.jpg The shower curtain is a great run cover held down with a few bungees. The tray at teh front has their grass in - I have 3 and rotate them so the girls are not so envious of my neighbours grass - they have eaten most of mine at this time of year)

 

Chickens001-1.jpg

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Chicken Licken - I do trays of grass too (since the girls ate all the lawn). They get so excited and demolish a tray in about 5 minutes, so you have to keep sowing a new one in a conveyor belt fashion. :lol:

 

Shiney Chez - I'm sure the girls will be too interested in their new surroundings to need much entertaining at first. But definitely go for hemcore rather than bark chips. It's great!

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The place where we get our pellets sells it - it's your typical country supplies store that sells stuff for pets from gerbils to horses, does shotgun repairs and so on :)

 

Chickens don't really need toys as such, but logs to perch on are popular (small ones inside the eglu run or bigger ones if you have space), and they will spend ages scratching around if you scatter a handful of mixed corn or cut maize on the ground! The key thing is to give them opportunities to do their natural behaviour, like scratching around for food and dust-bathing. Mine like to do the latter in the dry soil at the foot of the garder fence, or in the run (after kicking all the bedding out of the way!).

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Hello Shiney, welcome to the forum :D .

 

There are lots of threads on what to buy when you start out but they're hard to track down :? . Here's a fairly recent one which might help you out.

 

click here * Essential Shopping list for new chickens *

 

I would add garlic powder to the suggestions already given here - stops the poo smelling (& doesn't make the eggs garlicky!). You can get that at horsey shops too.

 

If you live somewhere particularly windy, shower curtains may not be durable enough. Let me know if you need a stronger wind-proof rain cover :wink: .

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