ajm200 Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Do you find that the chicken food is popular with the wild birds? We have a couple of blue tits and a very cheeky robin who abandon the bird table and bird bath in favour of the chicken's pellets, corn and water whenever the run is open. I tried to get a photo of the robin sitting on top of the grub with Bumble looking at it with her head on one side as though to say, "Have you finished yet?, I'm hungry" but the flash went off and reflected off the patio door ruining the shot The hens seem slightly nervous of the robin for some reason at the moment but I guess they'll chase him off when they have settled in properly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyren Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Not so much the small birds, but the collared doves regularly raid the run whilst the girls are free-ranging, looking for any pellets they've dropped! And the winter before last I watched a mouse going back and forth endlessly one morning, collecting all the wheat that Angelica had thrown out in her search for maize (her favourite). Some weeks later they caught and killed a mouse, though I don't know if it was the same one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Licken Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 I have a number of blackbirds, collared doves and robins who treat the run like McDonalds. On cold wet days if the girls are confined to the run they are pretty much lining up outside the run for a taste of the girls food. The girls love wild bird food too so I guess it works both ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Our resident Robin is an honorary hen...he often joins them to eat the dried corn that I scatter. We once had a magpie go in the run and it couldn't fathom how to get out. A broom handle and a hose pipe soon showed him. The hens were going berserk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina C Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Our blackbirds are the cheekiest - all over the garden (as if they own it) but the robins always seem to be darting in and out of the run. The collared doves are much shyer. Haven't seen any frogs in the run lately - I am sure they go in to bathe in the glugs at night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keanie Bean Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 I think I have the only birds in the whole of Penge, we occasionaly get the odd heron fly over from the local park where there is quite a good population of them, but other than that I dont think a bird would dare enter airspace around here for fear of getting shot by some horrid youth with nothing better to do. Sad really, maybe they should all keep chickens, it might teach them the value of such animals. Rant over now So the answer to your question is no we dont get ANY othr birds eating the chooks food. I wish we did to be honnest. Sarah.x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyren Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Hi Sarah! I used to live in Penge (and later Anerley) - have to say I don't envy you. Running away to (relatively very rural) suburban Cambridge was the best decision I ever made Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...