Solitary chicken - need advice

[Grant]

Hi all…

 

I’m contemplating buying a cube with extension and keeping 4 chickens. I often travel for work and was wondering if anyone has a solution to automatic watering should I not be able to be there every day to top up water? I would like to sort something that would last 3 to 4 days if possible. Would it be ok to leave them unattended for that kind of period? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Grant

[Guest]

They will need the eggs collecting too - bribe a neighbor with the eggs and ask them to pop in daily to check food/water and help themselves to the eggs!

[sallyj]

I agree with penguinmad. Ask a friend or neighbour to come in and give the chickens some food and fresh water every day and hopefully they can collect some eggs as well. Good luck!

[TAJ]

I have an 18litre water container and 8kg feeder in the cube run - this can keep mine going for a week, but they are always checked everyday for food & water and eggs removed - locals love looking after them because they get the eggs to take home.

 

Tracy

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Welcome to the forum, Grant . They say 2-3 days is OK to leave them unattended but I'm not sure about 3-4. Superglugs & grubs hold quite a lot I believe so perhaps if you got 2 sets you could be sure of leaving enough food and water for them . (Also covers you if one of them knocks one off or over .)

 

I agree, it's the eggs you need someone around for .

[Grant]

Hey guys, thanks for all the tips! Sadly I live in London, and whilst I have a decent sized garden don't communicate much with neigbours, as is often the case in the city with busy lives etc.! I do have friends who I could get to drive over to mine if its not too frequent to help out, I'm sure I can get a rota going every few days if necessary! Out of curiosity why is it so important to remove the eggs so fequently? If I get a cube with extension and just keep 4 hens I'm assuming there will be plenty of space for them and any eggs, or am I missing something! (I've booked on one of the introdcution courses for this weekend so I should find out a lot more about it all very soon!!)

 

Thanks!

[Space Chick]

If you don't remove the eggs they will either go broody or we be unable to resist the urge to eat them, and once they start that its dangerous as they'll get all the eggs.

 

I have a 30 litre drinker and a treadle feeder in my WIR, however, I still get my MIL to check on them every day, as the water could spring a leak. She also collects the eggs every day (and keeps some for herself and sells the rest to her pensioner friends )

[Olly]

I wouldn't leave mine more than a couple of days, but they are fine say Friday-Sunday if you're going away for the weekend. I often leave mine overnight - the Superglug that comes with the Cube holds plenty of water for 3 days, and you can always add an extra Grub or other feeder.

 

I know the theory about the eggs, but I have to say that it hasn't happened with mine, and I can come back to four or five eggs (I only have two laying hens anyway). I wouldn't want to leave them more than two nights at a time, just in case anything goes wrong, but they are absolutely fine for that length of time. Whereabouts in London are you? you might find another Omleteer near you.

 

I sometimes travel away overnight with work, and it was an absolute deal-breaker for me that I would be able to leave them for up to two days if I needed to, so I asked a lot of questions about this. I haven't had any problems.

[C&T]

Mine go broody if left too long with their eggs...

 

We went away bank holiday weekend, and left a friend to come in and take the eggs, as well as check food/water as was for four days.

 

Unfortunately when the friend came in, Fred was already broody, and sitting on the eggs, and as friend didn't want to disturb her, left her to it...

 

Fortunately, as soon as the eggs are removed, Fred loses interest in being broody and starts laying again... Dosy thing that she is!

[GGLGirls]

Friends will become just as besotted with the girls as you will.

Good Luck.

[hilda-and-evadne]

Hey guys, thanks for all the tips! Sadly I live in London, and ... don't communicate much with neigbours, as is often the case in the city with busy lives etc.!

 

Some of the Omleteers live in London.

 

 

I know what you mean - it is only since I began working from home that I have really got to know the neighbours (before then, it was just "Good morning"). But people around you will hear your hens, and you will be spending a bit more time outside and therefore likely to see more of your neighbours. Hens are excellent ice-breakers. My neighbours love new-laid eggs.

[Grant]

Thanks again for the advice! I read back over hilda-and-evadne's previous posts having noticed on her profile that two of her hens died the same day. Thinking it may have been a fox, I was horrified to read the thread posted last year where a fox got under the run.

 

I'm a little confused. I thought the skirt on the Eglu's run made them fox proof? My garden backs on to a railway track and whilst it is fenced, there are plenty of foxes that live in the area, and they often get into the garden.

 

Whilst I intend to try to make the garden a more difficult for foxes to get in, I'm now worried that the Eglu run will not be safe enough, after previously thinking it was from reading all the promotional material. I don't think I could start keeping hens if I thought this could possibly happen!!

[Space Chick]

The Eglu itself is fox proof, the run is fox resistent. Although lots of people have pegged in the skirts, or weighted them down. There have been occasional reports of foxes killing the girls by putting claws in to the run, however, these are few and far between.