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sammyantha

Hello and it's chicken day at last!

By sammyantha, in Chickens, Eggs and Hatching

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sammyantha Freshly Laid Egg

sammyantha

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Good morning!

 

I'm new but have actually been lurking for about a month every now and again.

 

I'm new to chicken keeping and today is the day that my Eglu and chooks are arriving. :mrgreen:

 

I'm so excited, it's unreal, and everybody at work and my friends and family know it's "chicken day" today - i've received a couple of texts and emails saying "happy chicken day!".

 

I first become interested in keeping hens 10 years ago when I was about 15 and stayed with a friend for a week while my parents went away to sort out some family business.

 

Her family had both chickens and ducks and I was so surprised by how friendly and inquisitive (sp?) they were. They were such funny little characters, you could spend hours watching them.

 

I've not really had the chance to pursue keeping chickens since then, but have been really into animals - I've had 3 rabbits (although I now just have the one, Charcoal, because Ember and Cinder are sadly no longer with us) and I have 4 cats.

 

I was lucky enough to spend some time volunteering for an animal rescue last year, which was fantastic. I mainly worked with the cats, but also had the chance to spend time with the bunnies, dogs and some of their farm animals.

 

Anyhow, that's enough from me, but just wanted to say hi and I hope that I can make a positive contribution to the forum!

 

Sam

 

(green eglu) - arriving today!

GNRGNRPP - arriving today!

(black white rabbit) - Charcoal my house rabbit

My kitties - Magrat, Pica, Buster and Wiggler.

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sammyantha Freshly Laid Egg

sammyantha

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Hi Sha & Debs.

 

Wow, quick replies!

 

I've got my camera at the ready (although need to find some batteries that aren't dead) and it's now beginning to feel very very real and exciting.

 

I'm going to disappear now and get ready because my delivery slot is 11-2 so I want to makse sure I'm prepared and not still wearing my pyjamas!

 

Thanks ever so much for your messages, I was a bit nervous about posting what with being a newbie, so I feel a bit more relaxed now!

 

I'll update you all soon and post some pics!

 

Sam x

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C&T Chatty Chicken

C&T

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Hi, Welcome, and Congratualtions on today!!

 

If you are anything like me, you will be sitting by the window looking out everytime you hear a sound, hoping it will be the Omlet Van!

 

Hope you have nothing else planned for today or the rest of the weekend other than lots of chook watching!!!

 

Have you got names yet??

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sammyantha Freshly Laid Egg

sammyantha

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I'm back! Thanks everyone, it's been a great day. Sorry about the delay, I've just been spending all my time watching the chooks!

 

They arrived about 11am and the guy from Omlet was really nice and gave me lots of tips whilst he was putting together the run.

 

When he brought the girls out I pretty much fell in love instantly, they were gently clucking and were really calm. They're beautiful and so soft.

 

I then spent hours watching them and even introduced my cats (they were pretty intrigued and sat watching them from outside the run and even sat on top of the eglu looking down, the chooks were very non-plussed and ignored them!

 

When my husband got home from work we set up our small portable bunny run just in front of the eglu run so that we could sit on the grass in front with the run door open and they very quickly became quite happy about hopping out and clambering over my legs (I think they were a bit more comfortable with me than my hubby because I'd been watching them for about 5 hours!)

 

We came inside and left them alone for a few hours (which was really hard because I could have stayed there forever!) but figured they could do with some time alone.

 

When it got dark I went out and they had made their way into the eglu and snuggled up together (one was actually sitting on the other two even though there was loads of space!)

 

 

 

So, we've called them Ethel, Gertrude (Gerty) and Mavis!

 

Gerty is the Miss Pepperpot and Ethel and Mavis are the gingernut rangers.

 

Gerty is definitely the boss at the moment; she's a bit bigger than the others, a bit more vocal, more confident and she looks like she's closer to laying (big red comb and the omlet man said he thinks she'll start laying very soon).

 

Ethel and Mavis are a little more quiet and don't explore as much as Gerty. They also seem to like laying really close, practically on each other!

 

 

I'm going to attempt to upload some photos now..... Sorry if I get it wrong, I've not done this before.

 

photo1.jpg

photo2.jpg

photo1.jpg

 

My hubby has got some really good photos but they're on his laptop and he's using it at the moment, so I'll choose the best over the weekend and upload them.

 

Anyway, it's been such a good day, I'm over the moon. Can't wait until the morning to let them out and see them again!

 

Going to go to bed now.

 

Thanks ever so much for everyone's lovely messages, I'm sure I'll have loads of questions over the next few weeks.

 

Night night!

Sam

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sammyantha Freshly Laid Egg

sammyantha

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Well, I could hardly contain myself this morning - since about 4 I've been itching to go and see them.

 

I made myself hang on until about 7 because I figured this is the time I'll be letting them out during the week so a bit of consistency might be good for them.

 

I opened the eggport to have a little stroke and they were really calm, a little bit of gently clucking (I love that noise) and then Gerty shuffled out of the way and there was an !egg! resting between two of the roosting bars!

 

I felt very, very proud and whipped it out and gave them all a bit of a stroke and opened the Eglu door.

 

I was surprised that they didn't all pile out, I watched them for a while and as I was leaving they were casually wandering out slowly.

 

When H is up we'll spend a few hours with them again - I want to give them as much time as possible particularly over the next few days so that they feel they can trust us.

 

Anyway, I brought the egg inside and weighed it - 45g and took it upstairs to my husband whose first question was "have you washed this, does it have poo on it?" lol

 

Here's a pic of our first egg courtesy of Gerty.

firstegg.jpg

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Chook n Boo Mum Eggcentric Egluowner

Chook n Boo Mum

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:clap::clap: Congratulations on your first !egg!:clap::clap:

 

Once they settle in they will fall out of the eglu as if they've been leaning on the door if they are anything like my 3 originals....after a few days there was no stately exiting thourgh the door, more "BUNDLE...... where's the grub...snaffle ..snaffle...and the glug.....slurp.... slurp..... and the grub...oh hello mum...snaffle...slurp :lol: "

 

Judging by the flying leaps the babies used this morning I would say they are adopting the same attitude!!

 

Sha x

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