4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Takana]

Well, we've just bought home our 3 hens We have 3 different ones - a Calder Ranger (Ginger), a Rhode Rock (Marjorie) and a Speckledy (Gerty). There's one each, for me, my mum and my sister and we've each named them, hence the weird names! Mine is Ginger, after I watched chicken run the other night

 

At the moment they are in the hen house. They keep looking towards the door to the run but they are still too shy which is to be expected for a while. I'll be taking loads of piccys as soon as they start to venture out!

 

We have a question about the grit. Where/how do we feed them it? Does it mix in with the feed? Sprinkled on the ground? Or in a separate feeder?

 

Thanks

[Egluntyne]

I have it in a separate pot in the run for my girls.

 

Sometimes they go mad for it, and others they barely touch it.

[sgregson]

Hi

 

Congratulations on your hens - it's very exciting!

 

I think you can do either, either have it in a separate pot or put some in with the feed.

 

Let us know how they settle in.

[WitchHazel]

Congratulations on your new girls!

 

I put grit in a separate feeder. Mine free range a lot and pick up lots of stones etc in the garden. If we#re out for the day (and so the girls are shut in their run) then the amount of grit in the run goes down noticeably.

[Takana]

Thanks for the replies I'm sure we have a spare dish laying around, if not we can just mix it with the feed until we do.

 

One keeps poking her head out of the house, I think it's Ginger! I sprinkled some mixed corn on the ramp to encourage them and she's found it! Hopefully she'll get braver soon

 

How long, roughly, does it take for them to settle and venture out? The cats are going mad, they know there's something in the run but they can't see them yet. And yes, it's all very exciting and scary at the same time

[Takana]

Gerty has now been renamed Speckles, as my mum thinks it'll be an easier name to remember

 

Ginger was the first out!! She slowly made her way down the ramp and stopped half way down to inspect her surroundings. Speckles soon followed her but wasn't content on stopping and rammed poor Ginger off the ramp!! Feather everywhere and loads of sqawks

 

They've since calmed down and Ginger, definitely the bravest one, is pecking around and searching for food. And Marjorie is now poking her head out to investigate things. Speckles is in the house.

 

The 3 cats don't know what to make of it all At first they were sniffing around and meowing as they could here them clucking. But they are a bit weary as soon as the chooks started coming out. They are giving the coop a wide birth at the moment!

 

It's all fun! We're going make the run bigger as we didn't realise just how big they were, and although the coop is supposed to house 4 - 6 chickens, it looks way to small for them. So we're gonna make it bigger for them.

 

So far so good