chickychuck26 Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Needed some chicken supplies so l went to Cotswold chickens 45 mile trip yesterday and lo and behold l came home with two new girls they just appeared in the car !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grracee Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 I started off with 3, got told absolutely no more then got 2 more. Then asked if there would be a possibility i could have a couple more, answer was no because of having limited space in garden etc. and then the other day i was told yes to a couple more, hooray!! Edited because i can't put together a proper english sentence tonight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falkor Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 yup theyre certainly addictive I have 5 pens in my 200ft garden and the rest are in a field and stables behind the house - a couple of Omleteers have quite a few chickens in a standard size garden - they are careful about hygiene and chook management and dont seem to have any problems I am one of the people with "quite a few" chooks in my standard size garden and I hope Tasha considers me to be one of the ones who are careful about hygiene and management I started with three and with each chook that arrived after I have said "that is it" yet more arrive. The more chooks the more time and commitment it takes to tend them and more money it costs to house, feed and medicate them. Chicken sitters are harder to come by the more chooks you have. I can`t take my eglu to mums anymore etc Everyday I poo pick the runs, nestbox and poo trays, change 4 drinkers, check and top up as required five feeders, eight grit pots, do a head count (twice) and health check two or three chooks. At this time of year most of this is done in the dark and it is COLD!! Weekly I do full clean of the cubes, rake all run bedding back, stalosan the bases and add top up bedding. I also dust chooks with diatom weekly. Drinkers and feeders get scrubbed and disinfected. Every 4-6 weeks do a complete clean on both runs. Touching lots of wood as I type I am happy to say that apart from a few lice (which were easily eradicated) and two with illnesses that they brought with them my lot have been a fairly healthy bunch. I actually enjoy doing all of the above. I like being outside and as I spend all week in an office it is a nice change. I am not saying do not get more chooks....I am just saying think carefully before you do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbaraJ Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Oh dear, yes hubby agreed to 3 , 1 died so the following year we got 3 more. Another died so 12mths later we got 3 more . So 7 now i don't think i could get away with more than 8 in my size garden with the amount of neighbours we have, sides and back of our garden! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffin Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 I've got about 35 Hatching is highly addictive It's back breaking work cleaning out four or five coops though I love feeding time though They get through 5-6 kgs of food a day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janty Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 It is much harder when you start getting more and more as Palmer07 and Griffin have said. I have three cubes in regular use and four eglus that are used for broody runs, sick bays (rarely), etc. Every morning I top up five superglugs, three glugs, check the 30ltr drinker and top up 12 grubs and four hanging feeders. I also make warm layers mash porridge. I try to health check two to three birds every night and bring them in as necessary for pedicures and vaseline leg massages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara-W Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Started with 3.......now have 24 Rehomed 2 cockerels at the weekend who are going to be used for breeding so I've been promised a couple of welbar chicks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Shirl Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 We rescued a lone hen and she went broody so I put some eggs under her and Marilyn came along. Then I was handed a tiny chick one day by a friend, that turned out to be Sir Minky. A few weeks later we rescued Princessa, then some more chicks needed homes, so we took them in, and now we have 8 hens and Minky. Time for some more I think. Just can't stop once you start this chicken thing. It's great fun growing your own though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beulah59 Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 Started with four ex-batts, lost one, picked up three Light Sussex, lost one, picked up three Rhode Rock ... No more! 8 is enough ... but I know what I want next and I know what I want to call them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
