Single hen

[Traceyvt]

I recieved my new purple eglu yesterday complete with 3 hens.. Milly, Molly and Mandy. Though my son does insist one should be a boy and have a boys name ! Never kept chickens in my life and dont even have a cat.. though everyone keeps telling me how easy they are. What I would like to know is do I put Hay inside the eglu and if so how much and where? Know this is probably an obvious question to some. Also I tried them on fruit yesterday and they loved the grapes what else can I feed them in the way of fruit and veg and what stuff needs cooking first like the potato peels..Do I just boil them for 15 mins then feed them to the chooks or what.. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks Tracey

[Jools]

Welcome to our world Tracey

 

Hay is not a good idea for chickens - something to do with spores that are harmful, not sure exactly though. Straw is okay though, but dust free shavings from a pet shop are better. Hemcore or aubiose are even better still, but come in big bales from farm/horsey type shops. I don't actually have an eglu so I can't advise specifically what to do, but there will be plenty of advice for you on here.

 

Food wise, stick with layers pellets as their main food with maybe a little mixed corn in the evenings. Treat-wise, grapes go down well, as do lots and lots of things, but only in moderation, or they'll ignore their pellets and wait for the treats (little b*ggers)!

 

The best advice I can give is enjoy them !

[The Dogmother]

Hi Tracey!

 

I use Aubiose in the poo tray and the nest box, it eliminates any smell and keeps dry unlike straw. I have a big bale in my shed and it costs about £6.95 and lasts for ever.

 

Mine will eat virtually any fruit I offer them and left over veg too, but only at the end of the day when they have eaten their pellets.

[Mel (& Paul)]

Hi Tracey!

Right, nesting box - you have a great choice.

Straw

Aubiose

Wood shavings

Shredded paper

Some people dont put anything in at all.

Just make sure it is nice and clean and changed when it gets too poopy!

 

Fruit and Veg - you will find each of your chooks have different likes and dislikes - certainly on this forum you will find that people swear by grapes, or banana or cabbage or cucumber or whatever - just try things out and see what they like (you will soon be like me and have "cabbage - for the girls" written on your shopping list!! They might also like cooked rice or pasta. Give them their treats in the evening - its one way of getting them back in the run and will ensure they eat enough of the layers pellets / mash during the day.

 

Names - of course chooks have to have girls names (but we call our Tomisina "Tom" and Jerryldene "Jerry" and Paul calls Fanny Craddock "elvis" It does make me smile when people ask if Tom is a girl or boy chook..........

[xEmmax]

i open the egg hole when i need to put hay in. But when i do a big clear out i take the top of the whole eglu.

 

[chelsea]

Hi Tracey and welcome.

 

You will soon get the hang of things and Ive found my chickens are really easy to look after and not fussy with their food.

 

We use HEMCORE in the run (its like auboise) and you can buy from horsey/farmy type shops...its very much like fine bark chippings - but it absorbs the smells and wet more.

 

In the eglu itself, we line the droppings tray with newspaper and I cover the paper in shavings from the pet store, we also use the shavings in the nest box. twice a week I empty the poo tray and once a week I dismantle the eglu and blast it off with the hose and blast off the bars etc.

 

we've also made a small dustbath in the run for the girls - which was a cheap cat litter tray filled with playsand. (you could use dirt or dry compost)

 

with regards to food - mine have their pellets in the morning and in the afternoon they have their treats, they will eat most things like -

 

raisins/grapes/lettuce/carrot/tomato/sweetcorn/greens/spinach

 

they also love anything crawling in the garden - spiders/earwigs/woodlice/slugs etc...also mine munch happily on grass and anything else that takes their fancy in the garden.