Feeding advice for bantams (one broody, one moulting)

[RyefordPaul]

I just had a phone call today from Omlet to say that the order we placed yesterday will be delivered this Thursday. This will see the arrival of our new Eglu & 4 chickens which the whole family is looking forward to. In order to get the garden ready, does anyone know whether we should allow our chickens to wander our whole back garden? My concern is that we have a large natural pond & I don't want to lose any chickens if this is too dangerous for them!

 

Just to add to this, one side of our property is bordered by a very small stream. It usually doesn't run too strong or deep, but will they be tempted to try it out? The stream is behind a line of fir trees so there is room at the base of the trees for them to get through if I don't fence it off.

 

Also we need to put some chicken wire up in a small portion of the garden boundary to stop them escaping into next doors garden. What is the recommended height for this to prevent them getting over it?

 

Finally, we have three cats waiting to great our new chickens. How long do you recommend that I leave the chickens inside their safe Eglu run until I introduce them to the cats that roam our garden?

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Welcome to the forum, Paul . Congratulations on the eglu and chickens - you won't regret it .

 

Re the pond, I know that a forum member did have a chicken drown in their pond so I would try to fence it off somehow if I were you. Not sure about the stream, to be honest . If it is very shallow it may be alright but maybe you'll just have to monitor it and have a plan in place to fence it off.

 

Chickens can actually flap/fly quite high (depends on the breed though) if they really want to so I'd say 5 feet would probably do the trick. You can clip one wing to unbalance them too. Once they get older and heavier they'll be less likely to get much height. Make sure they don't have a launch pad (like the eglu!). They're not as daft as they look .

 

You'll probably find that the chickens will see your cats off. One peck on the nose and most cats will keep a respectful distance. You're advised to keep your chickens in the eglu run for 5 days when they arrive anyway, so they imprint where "home" is so that would be a good time to let your cats check them out.

[Chucky1]

Hi Paul,

 

I imagine the guy delivering the chucks will give you some guidance but for what its worth, my £0.02. Just to be interesting I'll do it in reverse order.

 

The cats shouldn't be a problem and the chucks should be able to hold their own. However you should keep them in the house and run for the first 5 or so days so that they learn where home is.

 

Fencing without clipping their wings they can probably fly/jump up to about 6 feet. Clipping their wings though (which we don't do) means they are less able to escape any preditors.

 

We have a stream and I did once get stuck in it myself. Our old girls ignore it and use the bridge, they used to fly over it but now I don't think they can be bothered. Now the new gals was a different kettle of fish as I had to hook three of them out, when we first let the free range. Now though everything is good and they use the bridge like anyone else. I think it will probably be the same with the pond.

 

As to free ranging the whole garden do you edge any woodlands that would provide cover for foxes or mink? Do you or any of the neibhours see foxes or mink around? You are more likely to see them once you have chickens and they can be pretty fast. We let them roam wherever they like - the area sees very few foxes - touch wood.

 

Hope this helps have fun with the chucks