Solitary chicken - need advice

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Only thing I can think of that you might need is some mixed poultry grit (unless you can let them freerange a lot).

 

There's loads of other unnecessary stuff , but your list should do you for starters.

[Steve.]

Added the grit - thanks.

 

Would like to be able to leave them freeranging as much as possible ... have got some more security to do first though.

 

Looking on eBay these things sell for ~£300 when they are £340 new. Fastastic!

[Steve.]

And order submitted

 

All - many thanks for the help!!!!!!!!!

[Cooks]

Good Luck Steve, keep us posted, we love pictures of new chooks

[Katie]

I love the purple eglu colour! Bet you can't wait

[Steve.]

I love the purple eglu colour! Bet you can't wait

 

Quite excited ... and when we told our eldest boy (23 months) that Chickens were on their way he asked for Pigs too!!!

[Christian]

It starts with chickens..........

[Cooks]

Quite excited ... and when we told our eldest boy (23 months) that Chickens were on their way he asked for Pigs too!!!

 

pigs??????? bless !!!!!

[Helen&Lee]

1x Chicken Eglu Purple

2x Chicken - Miss Pepperpot - Eglu Package

1x Chicken - Gingernut Ranger - Eglu Package

1x Organic Chicken Food - Eglu Package

1x Link-a-board

1x Diatomaceous Earth

1x Garlic Powder

1x Bokashi

1x Chicken Spice - 450gm

 

Is there anything else I need?

 

I always sprinkle Red Mite Powder in my cube after a clean - I do have wooden bars and yours will be plastic, but I also love the smell it gives the cube.

 

Garlic powder on the other hand - I have used once since getting it with the chooks.

 

Helen

[Steve.]

Okay - I ordered last night and they are not here yet

 

Book from Amazon, 'Keeping Pet Chickens', has been despatched, so hopefully by the end of reading it I'll know which end the food goes in, and which end the egg comes out

 

EDIT: 16th July is Chicken Delivery Day!

 

EDIT Again: You lot should be on commission!

Edited June 16, 2008 by Guest

[Stevie]

Okay - I ordered last night and they are not here yet

 

Book from Amazon, 'Keeping Pet Chickens', has been despatched, so hopefully by the end of reading it I'll know which end the food goes in, and which end the egg comes out

 

EDIT: 16th July is Chicken Delivery Day!

 

EDIT Again: You lot should be on commission!

 

I got that book too-its quite informative and gives you the basics of chooks.

[Ange1]

Is that the book that's by our very own Johannes (sp)?

[Steve.]

Is that the book that's by our very own Johannes (sp)?

 

Yes it is ... !

 

It arrived today and a quick flick through has some photo's of the chap too.

[quickcluck]

Hi Steve, have been following your post, they make me laugh!!

 

Just to say best of luck, your thoughts/worries are mirrored with mine! Especially the eglu/cube dilema.... like you, have decided to stick with the eglu for now..... Will wait to see how the neighbours cope... plus the extra pennies have to be thought about....You get your delivery before me so am very jealous!

 

Hope all goes well!

[Steve.]

quickcluck, I have a guilty confession to make. I have been led astray by the forum collective and now buying a cube!

[quickcluck]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

Now I have a MASSIVE Quandry!!!!

 

When did that happen???

[Steve.]

Whoops. Sorry about that ... I too found it difficult.

 

It happened over here --> http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26866 fueled by getting my better half tipsy on the, er, cough, remains of a bottle of Archers.

[Tinty]

Hi Steve,

We are new to this too and also do not have a massive garden.

We ordered an eglu on the thursday but had called to change the order to a cube on the friday.

Then a week later called again to change the order to the cube with extension. :

I also ordered lots of other stuff and am constantly on looking to see if we need or want anything else.

The Green cube arrived yesterday and it took about three hours to put it together, delayed by rain and the dreaded scottish midges

It looks great and does not look as imposing a I thought it would

 

Wa are not getting our chickens until 2nd week of July as we are going away for a week to Krakow .

Omlet do not supply chickens to Scotland, so we are getting two Black Rocks from a supplier recomended by Omlet, and a Light Sussex and an Exchequer Leghorm from a lady who invited us over to see her eglus and cube.

I am sooo excited about getting our chickens

 

We also have two Lhassa Apso's and hope that they will adapt to the chickens quickly. I'm sure they are in for a big surprise and probably a few pecks..

Anyway I look forward to hearing how you get on.

 

Best of Luck

[quickcluck]

Hi Tinty

 

I too have a Lhasa, and am wonder how he will react to the chooks. He's been the centre of attention for the last 6yrs and loves to chase squirrels and cats, lets hope he this the chooks are pigeons and leaves them alone....

 

We too are having the eglu cube debate, sticking with eglu at the moment

[Stevie]

Hi Tinty

 

I too have a Lhasa, and am wonder how he will react to the chooks. He's been the centre of attention for the last 6yrs and loves to chase squirrels and cats, lets hope he this the chooks are pigeons and leaves them alone....

 

We too are having the eglu cube debate, sticking with eglu at the moment

 

I have a 4 year old Bullmastiff and placid as i knew he was-he does hunt wild rabbits so i had to be cautious.However,he has never taken any notice of anything with feathers,but i still took their introduction carefully and kept him on lead while he was investigating them.After few minutes,i could see all was well and he posed no threat.They all get along incredibly well and infact,whenever the chooks are spooked-they run by his side like he's their guardian!

 

Just take your time-dont be too alarmed if yours barks/jumps up because this will be his natural curiosity shining through.You will be able to tell by his body language if he's being predatory towards them,but cheese is a great distraction.

[Tinty]

Hi again,

I'm sure my two dogs Kes & Dax will be okay with the chickens and I will be very carefull at first.

They are very spoiled too so might feel a wee bit jealous.

I think Kes will just ignore them but Dax will want to play.

[eggory peck]

Hello everyone - first post newbie, but this looks like a good place to add my own novice questions, so here goes!:

 

We have a reasonable sized garden - tradtional Victorian terrace, so long and fairly narrow.

 

Because of the existing layout,mature trees etc we dont really have an ideal spot for an eglu, as it has a footprint of about 3 metres long and would be a wee bit awkward. BUT! A cube with small run would be perfect at the foot of the garden (i think this is a length of 2 metres).

 

Question 1 is we'd originally planned on getting an eglu with 2 or 3 chickens to get started. Is a cube too big for only three chickens? I know they like to cuddle up at night! Can newbies easily cope with more birds?

 

Question 2 Although they'd have the run, we have a very enclosed garded (7 foot walls on all sides). Could they potentially free range in the garden all the time or should they be restricted to the run for most of the day? Does anyone ever use a cube without a run, or is this the crazy talk of an inept fool???!!!

 

Would love any thoughts on these questions. We're itching to get started with this wonderful hobby but are still feeling our way around the basics!

 

What a great resource this forum is by the way.

 

Best regards

 

E.P

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Welcome to the forum . Love your user name .

 

I don't have a cube so am perhaps not the best to give advice but if you have the room, can afford it and there's any chance you'll want more hens in time, you may as well get the cube. You can have 3 hens in a cube - it's just that it's designed for more so is a lot of money to fork out if you plan to only ever have 3.

 

I'd be very wary of not having a run, regardless of the height of your walls . Foxes have been known to scale those heights.

 

I don't imagine it's too much harder coping with 6 rather than 3 to begin with. I suppose there's more potential for worry but that's what the forum's for .

 

Hope that helps a bit .

[eggory peck]

Thanks so much for your response.

 

I think if we do plump for the cube we will definitely look to get 5-6 as we'd have the room. Just wanted to get some feedback on whether they'd be happy enough if we started with less than that. I'd hate for them to be rattling around their new home.

 

It is a lot of money, but its good to know we've got options to choose from.

 

Glad you like the name (mis-spent life coming up with corny names for pub quiz teams, so i've had lots of practice )

 

best regards

 

E.P