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

[chickencoe]

Hello everyone - I got my eglu after 6mths of waiting bright pink because my daughter loves pink (aged 5) Daddy insisted on Araucanas as they dont look like chickens as such and he is a s"Ooops, word censored!" bob, my daughter also wanted chicks as they are cute and cudderly so off we trot after much searching on the internet to a place1.5hr away to get our chicks. Few weeks later one is growing twice the size of the others and has a curling tail hummmmmm back to the breeder with goldie but she wasnt there even though she said she would be so I left him there - I had tried to give him away but it looks like there are lots of boys about that no one wants. A couple of weeks later we came back late and it was dark and the chickens had ventured out of the fenced of veg patch (to go back into the eglu) straight into daft dog (labradoodle) and chipie got plucked- I thougt it was dead but it survived, I say it because chipie turned out to be a boy too, now rather fond of chipie tried to rehome but no takers, decided not to go back to original breeder who sold us 2 boys 1 girl when it was supposed to be 3 girls. Found a new breeder and took chipie just to confirm that it was a boy, fortunately she liked him and thought he woukld make good breeding so he now has a new home and we have 3 girls. So here we are with 3 hens no eggs and a jealous dog waiting and hoping one day for an egg or two.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Wow......what a rollercoaster few weeks

 

I know what you mean about 3 girls turning out to be 2 boys and a girl , exactly my situation......maybe I'll stick with POL hens from now one!!

 

Welcome to the forum chickencoe.......and any chance of some pictures, we love newby pictures......in fact we love any and every picture on here

 

Sha x

[freddie]

Welcome, welcome, to the mad and ever so exciting world of hen keeping.... I think it's a real shame when people new to hen keeping get stitched up by less than scrupulous traders like this, but i'm glad it's all ok now!

You'll like it here, we're all slightly bonkers in a good way!!

Explore the other bits too, like the crafty fingers, and something nice... lots of good ideas down there!

[Redwing]

Wow thats a lot to cope with when you are new to it, well done for getting through it

 

Araucanas are hard to sex and as you insisted on chicks the breeder should have told you they cant guarantee the sex of them, it makes me very mad as I have quite a few chickens here that will be sold on but not until I am 100% convinced of their sexes as I dont want anyone to end up in a situation like yours

[BocBoc]

I need a lie down after reading that!!

 

Welcome to the forum

[cluckingmad]

welcome to the forum Glad its all sorted now - be warned, chicken keeping is highly addictive so your 3 may very well increase in number even without a boy present

[dippy bird]

welcome, and get some piccys up!! I agree, I started off with 3 (which I was terrified of), now I have 9 that I absolutely love! I just wish this blinkin rain would stop,so I could spend more time with them!!

[chickencoe]

Thankyou for all my lovely welcomes, another emergancy might be happening I think greenie new chick 12wks old has disappeared - I have looked everywhere and cannot find her - my daughter was saying earlier how she wants to hold her every day before school. I just hope she has found a nice place to sit fell asleep and will be back later, im just a bit worried as a friend said yesterday a rat got one of her peking bantams. I had them indoors in a box last night because of the fireworks but turned out that i didnt need to , pictures soon hopefully of three rather than two, please keep fingers crossed that greenie comes back

[Egluntyne]

Crikey. I hope she turns up safe and sound.

[Plum]

Poor you. Any news of Greenie.

[chickencoe]

Greenie has not turned up - looked everywhere keep looking at the dog but there is no evidence of any wrong doings there. I told my daughter today that tiny greenie is missing she took it better than I thought. The other two hens will have to go back into their eglu for a while so I can see if we have a preditor about they love roaming about the garden, I think I will have to have daily outings for them while Im in the garden too. Do you let your chickens roam the garden ??????

Crikey. I hope she turns up safe and sound.

[Space Chick]

Sorry to hear about Greenie

 

I only let me girls out when I am able to supervise them free-ranging (although I have to admit I do sometimes pop back in the house for a few minutes, although never for long). I tend to give them anything from 15 minutes to 3 hours a day depending on how long I can supervise During the week it is less, as with the nights drawing in some days they don't get any free-ranging time. However, my girls have a large Walk in Run and so it doesn't worry me too much.

[docsquid]

I do hope Greenie turns up too.

 

I let mine out FR. I try to keep them in the run for a while in the morning so they eat their layers' pellets. Then I let them out. I am not in the garden all the time, but I do keep an eye on them from the house, and regularly call them back to me for a treat. Then when it is time for them to go back into the run, they are good, and come straight away.

 

They absolutely love the garden, but don't eat pellets while they are out, which means I do need to keep them in for a bit so they get a proper feed. The longest they've been out is from 9.30am to 3.30pm but more usually they get out for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I don't let them out when we are not at home.