Omlet Smart Autodoor - New in box

[whoopsie]

It's been a bit of a learning curve, so I thought i'd start a thread.

 

- Omlet run clips were invented by the Devil

 

- I will always end up covered in mud (or worse)

 

- However clean the eglu/nestbox/run/glug/grub are, my chickens will always find mud to cover them in

 

- I think my chickens love me but really they just want more mealworms

 

- I love my chickens!

[sadietoo]

I'd like to add...

No matter how many grapes you are offering they only want the one the other chicken has

No matter how many times you change the water the same bits of old cabbage are floating in it

No matter how dark/wet/cold it is when you get in, you have to go out to check the run/egg port door is properly closed if you haven't closed them up for the night yourself

And finally no matter how many times you tell yourself that they have plenty of space for just two in the eglu run you keep thinking they need a lot more and wishing you'd got a cube in the first place!!

[Space Chick]

I have learned that:

 

* I am no longer entitled to grapes

* You can be happy whilst cleaning up poo

* There is no greater sight than seeing a re-feathered healthy ex batt running down the garden to see you.

* Fresh eggs taste far nicer than even the best shop bought

* Its very very addictive having chickens

 

Thats just for starters

[Redwing]

I've learned that you can never have too many chickens

[Plum]

 

I've learnt that

* Staying at home and being in the garden is heaps better than a holiday

* What was an overgrown neglected part of the garden is a very exciting place to be

* The cut of bits of cauliflower in Morrisons are free (OH is so embarrassed )

* You can't beat peeping into the nestbox and seeing a hen snuggled down ready to lay with a bit of bedding on her back making cooing noises

* Chicken poo can be the worst smell in the world

[Saronne]

My chickens lay more eggs when I am at work - probably because I'm not disturbing them!

 

It's a good job my chickens can't organise themselves - they'd probably trip me up and eat me.

 

If your chicken doesn't run with spaghetti, then she's probably ill.

 

 

saronne x

[Tutti Frutti]

I've learnt that money is no object when it comes to my chooks. And no matter what I do, I could have spent a bit more and done it better

 

I've learnt to watch where I'm treading in case someone small, feathery and flippin' quick gets to where my foot is going first.

 

I've learnt to get up like a farmer at dawn. But haven't quite mastered going to bed like one yet {yaaaaaaaaaawwwwn}

 

I've learnt that chickens purr when they're happy. And that they're easy amuse and be amused by, and easy to love - even though theirs is cupboard love

[tara]

Ive learnt that when you go into the run with a empty egg box they always thinks its for them.They seem to take longer laying there eggs while your waiting so you can clean them out.They always try and get into the food bucket while your topping the grubs up even tho what your putting in is what they have already. They think what there hen friend has got somthing better then what they have.They see a sore bottom they peck at it even tho they dont like there bottom pecked.

[Chicken Shirl]

Lovely thread. I've learned all those things too, and I am richer for having had chickens to love. I hope they love me They love the life we have given them so that's enough for me.

[tara]

I have also learnt that they dont care what l look like nor what im wearing nor what my days been like there always happy to see me,what they dont know is that they brighten my day. and they were there to take my mind of the ivf a few years ago.Id never be with out them

[ChickenTracey]

This thread has made me laugh. I have been a chicken slave for 1 week and a day and i agree with all the above I like to think my chickens love me because when i go outside they run up to me to say hello....i refuse to except that it is in the hope i have treats and when they realise i havnt this time they pester and follow me and bully me until i give them a treat

[Chucky1]

My girls have taught me a lot

 

~ they make e laugh even if I don't feel like laughing

~ they want to be in the hole that I'm digging right now

~ they can never get enough grapes

~ they want to be in the new hen house I'm building - unless I try and get them in there out of the rain.

~ that there is always that last bit of scratching to be done just before bed time.

~ they are far from stupid

[dancing cloud]

Love this thread!

 

I have learned:-

 

What my garden looks like at dawn on a mid-winter's morning

That bald frightened little battery hens can become fully-feathered demanding cheeky-chooks a lot faster than you would believe

That chickens can traumatise cats

The amount of love you have automatically increases to match the size of the flock

They are a lot more clever than you think!

 

I will always be learning about my hens

[MargotT]

What a great thread. Some thoughts from me:

 

There is never enough comedy value to be gleamed from watching your OH crawl through a wintery run at 6.30am in sub-zero temperatures to apply Vaseline to a hen’s comb.

 

Hens have no respect for hangovers

 

If you love hens AND growing your own veg you better invest in some netting sharpish, otherwise you’re going to have a 'brassica massacre' on your hands

 

You’ll never come across another animal who can cheer up your day so quickly

[madchickenlady]

Great thread

 

I have learned that :

 

* Chickens have individual personalities

* They don't mind you shaking out the washing before you hang it up, unless its white. White washing results in much flapping and squawking, for some reason

* Keeping chickens is dangerously addictive.

* Sadly, I have also learned that sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you can't get a sick hen better

* Most people assume you need a cockerel to get any eggs

* As much as I love my garden and plants, I love my girls more >

* Fresh eggs really do taste so much better than shop bought!

[Margaret]

Sitting at work ( should be working )

Hair done, Suit on, Just realised have chicken poo on my plaster caste

wriggled my nose and slunk to the loo

Oh the shame Street cred ruined.

Still love the Girlies though.

 

+ WIR

Lavender

Mable

Marjorie

Violet

[Lavenders_Blue]

This thread is great!

 

What I have learned:

 

- You can smell a foamy, yellow curry poo from 100 paces

- No matter what time of day you start to clean out the coop, as soon as you have reached the point of no return by clearing out all the bedding, an agitated chicken will appear in the coop needing to lay an egg RIGHT NOW!

- The nestbox is in fact a bedroom and the floor of the coop is in fact a nestbox

- Food tastes much better if it has been trampled into the ground first

- Pigeons and crows are terrifying

[chickenNutter]

After 8 months of chicken keeping I have learned

 

Chickens can learn to open the catflap for treats.

 

Chickens do like to be picked up for a cuddle really, they just like you to think that they don't

 

Don't buy an eglu run unless you can do yoga

 

You really don't need a chicken around when you are busy, especially when you are gardening or cleaning out the eglu.

 

Chickens go apoplectic with joy when they see you come out fo the shed with gardening tools.

 

Chickens think they are good at gardening.

[Lavenders_Blue]

- No matter what time of day you start to clean out the coop, as soon as you have reached the point of no return by clearing out all the bedding, an agitated chicken will appear in the coop needing to lay an egg RIGHT NOW!

 

As if to prove my point, this has just happened... again!

Just as I was sweeping the last remnants of wood shavings out with a dustpan and brush, I heard the distinctive' Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark bwark bwark' heralding the imminant arrival of an egg.

 

So my plans for a thorough scrub out with poultry shield were put on hold for another week as I hastily lobbed in handfuls of clean bedding.

 

Chickens.... who'd have em?!

[docsquid]

I just love this thread. Most of what I have learned has already been said but I'd add

 

* Chickens can be very inquisitive

* Chickens will mug anybody who comes into the garden for treats

* It is amazing just how much devastation one small chicken can do when she gets into the shed

* I am thinking of renting my mob out as earth-moving equipment, because they are always trying to dig to Australia!

* Just how lovely it is to have a little flock follow you around, bokking hopefully, whenever you are doing things in the garden.

* I absolutely love chickens!

[CluckyBucks]

I have learnt that even though it seems the whole world is against you, your chickens never will be

 

xx xx

[Redwing]

I saw a comment on the forum a while back that had me in hysterics and that was that the person had learnt that in order not to alert the chickens to her waking that she could make a cup of tea without emerging over the level of the worktop! it still makes me chuckle when I think about it

[C&T]

I saw a comment on the forum a while back that had me in hysterics and that was that the person had learnt that in order not to alert the chickens to her waking that she could make a cup of tea without emerging over the level of the worktop! it still makes me chuckle when I think about it

 

 

My parents learnt that when the Chooks went on their hols there while we were away!!

 

Makes me laugh

 

I think most other things have already been mentioned - but the main thing that I can think that I have learnt is that I never want a garden without Chooks in it again!

[chelsea]

 

* You can be happy whilst cleaning up poo

 

Four years ago BC (before chickens) I would have said I was bonkers to agree with you. I was always a squeamish girl, but since chickens there is an immense satisfaction knowing my fluffy girls have a clean house and run.

[meezers]

agree with all that's been said.

I have learnt that lunch in the garden is a no no if the chooks are free ranging

my boys have learnt that eating while sat on the trampoline does not guarantee they won't be mugged

my boys have also learnt that ANYTHING they are eating - even wine gums is desirable to the chooks:shock:

we have learnt that there is nothing to make you giggle more than a Benny Hill type chase around the garden to retrieve a winegum off a chook

I have learnt that an open kitchen door on a hot summers day is a thing of the past ( unless I want to clean up endless poo and shoo chooks out of the living room )

I have also learnt that an egg glut only lasts until you really ,really need eggs now , and then there aren't any.