Flooring in walk-in runs

[louise C]

Hello! I haven't been posting for a while. Just got 4 new lovely chooks - only 8 wks old. So exciting!! I've already got A beautiful speckledy and a warren brown - just fancied some pure breeds. Anyone got any helpful tips for these little ones, crack on !

 

Trying to sort out a photo of one of my lovelies!! Hopefully will follow shortly - once i've sorted out what i'm doing!!

[Beaniebean]

Hello everyone - I am new to this Forum and would love to introduce myself.

I live in the West Midlands with my 11 year old daughter and big old squashy ginger tom cat. We have 4 chickens, one ex-battery (Henny-Penny), one white star (Maggie), one Amber link (Bonnie) and one Blackrock (Jemima). They are all mad but lovely and great layers too, still get 3-4 eggs nearly every day all year round. I have been keeping chickens for almost 2 years, so by no means an expert, still have lots to learn.

Thanks for reading my post

Ursula

[jackian]

Hi , My name is Jackie and I live in the south of England.

I have been dreaming of having chickens for years and last week received my dream through Omlet.. 2 Ginger rangers and a Miss Pepperpot.

 

They have changed my life already. I am besotted with the little darlings. They have settled in quicker than I thought they would and I did not expect to get my first egg for ages , but we have had at least 6 eggs already ! amazing . I was leaping up and down when I found the first one you would have thought it was made of gold.

 

I am a complete novice and know nothing at all about these beautiful birds , so through reading all this on the internet I am getting there , but I suppose it is like having children you never stop learning.

 

I am besotted ! Poppy , Florrie and Clover are my new best friends .

[Henslaved]

I was leaping up and down when I found the first one you would have thought it was made of gold.

More commonly known on the forum as the egg dance .

 

Welcome to the forum , and welcome to the world of chicken keeping .

[pixelpeeper]

Hi All!

 

I am a newbie here... I bought my chickens about 2 months ago and all going *mostly* well so far, I have 2 pepperpots and 2 gingernuts, 1 of the gingernuts is fab and super friendly, the other one is very aloof and stroppy and one of her toes fell off?!

Pepperpots are lovely but not as much personality, one of them is broody though which is annoying.

 

I love having chickens and am so glad I took the plunge! Clearly so much so as I am off to collect 2 more babies tomorrow!!

 

So just thought I would say hello and introduce myself, I have been a lurker for a while but thought I'd join in!

[Lewis]

Welcome all

...especially Ursula who must be near me somewhere

[buvarka]

Hi, we just became smallholders last Wednesday, with 3 absolutely gorgeous hens, 2 red and 1 black (although she has a lot of red as well).

So far so good, they are calm, good tempered animals, curious and inquisitive with a lovely sweet kok-kok noise.

They eat from our hands now, love spaghetti and we love to watch them, very funny, how they eat it.

The eglu go is a beautiful peace of engineering, the run seems to be very safe (although we didn't see foxes this last week, which is odd, they are all over the place here). The daily cleaning is 2 minutes, today the first time we will reposition the run (to give them fresh grass), I guess that won't be a big deal either.

Our 3 cats are VERY interested, the kitten is making the funniest "attacks", running around the run/house, the chicks are just watching her amused, kok-kok-ing gently, they seem to be 3 old nannies on a playground, observing wildly playing toddlers . The two older ones like to sit on top of the eglu, the hens don't seem to mind, they come closer to observe them in return

We named the hens Rezi (rez is copper in Hungarian ans she has the most beautiful deep dark copper plumage), Mezi (mez is honey in Hungarian and she has a darkish red coat with honeycoloured underwear flashing out ) and Daisy, just to rhyme, I wanted to call her No-Name-Black-Hen, but my son did win.

 

The biggest change in our lives, that we started to use the garden again, gardening and playing, just to be near them, so healthy fresh eggs (hopefully soon) and a healthier lifestyle, what can be better?

 

The only big question is, why we didn't do this years ago?

[Plum]

I think we all ask that. Welcome to the forum, look forward to hearing more

[Cluckadoodledoo]

Hi all Happy Friday!

 

We took delivery of our three girls on the 2nd of June and had our first egg on the 25th..

 

We have a Copper Maran called Dorothy, shes a complete busybody! A Sussex Star called Harriet who does unfortunatley look permantley cross! Lastly a French Grey called Mimi Le Bonk. My OH calls her a wood pigeon. Bless her shes not very bright.

 

We're still getting to know each other and we are now getting 3 eggs a day, although Mimi's sometimes have a very thin or no shell. They have free run of the garden when we're home and provide endless entertainment to my 4 cats, although my dog is scared of them!

 

I also have 2 fish in the pond, and 2 horses (although currentky looking after 3) So I have a full and fluffy/feathery life!

[Picasso08]

HI,

 

I am waiting for my delivery of eglu go and 2 chickens only 11 sleeps to go! my 5 yr old daughter is very excited.

Must admit a bit nervous myself, had a bad experience a few years ago purchased some poorly chickens unknown to us had extreme case of mites! but have done lots of research and are finally taking the plunge. Also a little worried about how they will get on with our cat?

[Plum]

Hi welcome,

I'm sure you will be nervous after your horrid experience last time but now you'll be fine. I always treat mine for parasites within an hour of them coming home after reading some of the horror stories.

 

Look forward to hearing about them. Cats learn quickly to respect them but I'm always watchful until then. Good luck

[fudgeychook]

hello,

I'm a brand new member.

i keep 5 chickens and have dune for 3 & a half years.

bye

[Sammyp]

Hi all, I'm new on here! We've just moved to sussex and are thinking about erecting a chicken coup in the back for a few birds. Early stages yet. Just a bit worried about the added responsibility of things to look after, but once we've settled in maybe next year now we might give it a go.

[buvarka]

Hi all, I'm new on here! We've just moved to sussex and are thinking about erecting a chicken coup in the back for a few birds. Early stages yet. Just a bit worried about the added responsibility of things to look after, but once we've settled in maybe next year now we might give it a go.

 

If you can afford it, do it now. We ask ourselves every day, why we didn't do this years ago.

The added responsability is huge, you have to look after them properly, but if the safety and security of the birds is sorted and if you have 5 minutes in the morning, 3 minutes in the evening, an added 10 minutes per week, then there is nothing you need more for have fresh eggs every morning

And they are hugely entertaining, ours do all sorts of stunts, eat from our hands, steal the blueberries.

(I'd start in the summer, warm mornings, less rain, is more pleasant and when you are hooked, is easier probably in the horrid weather too)

 

We started with a go+run, now planning the electric fence to safely free range them during the day and a WIR so we can add more birds , after the holiday we'll start

 

we got the morehens disease

[Lewis]

Welcome to the forums both

[virgin]

Hi there, I'm new here. We have been living in South West France in a rural area, a small hamlet of 4 houses, for 5 years now. We live in an old fermette (small farmhouse), have many acres of land and have converted a large barn into a holiday gite which we've rented out for 3 years now. It has taken me over 2 years to talk hubby into getting some hens. At long last he built a large pen on the side of an old Piggery and a friend built us a coop for them.

 

We collected our 4 Marans (2 black and 2 copper/blacks) at the beginning of May but the French guy selling them was unable to tell us their age(!) only that "they won't start laying until the Autumn". I guess that they were about 6 - 8 weeks old when we got them which would make them somewhere around 17 - 19 weeks old now.

 

When do you think they will start laying and what (if any) would be the telltale signs?

 

Their coop has 4 nesting boxes, two either end. They tend to sleep all snuggled together in one end (I've taken out the divider). They don't tend to go into the 2 nesting boxes at the other end. I have heard that you can place fake eggs in the nesting boxes to encourage them.......it must be one hell of a shock when they've laid their first egg, poor things!!

 

Over the past week or so, one of my girls, Lily, has taken to hiding away at bedtime. We have spent much time out in the dark with torches searching the garden, up and down the lane, in and out of barns for her but to no avail. The other 3 (Emmy, Peggy and Dotty) put themselves to bed in the coop just before it gets dark. Lily is nowhere to be found at bedtime but she's always there in the mornings when I go to open up the coop for the other 3 to come out. I think she thinks this is a really fun game!! I was worried that maybe she was being bullied but I see no sign of it during the daytime.

 

We have 3 cats, one ignores the hens, one sits and watches them and the other one is scared of them. I want to let them roam free range at some point but we have a few gaps to plug and some stone walling to repair before I'd let them out of the pen.

 

I love my (not so) little girlies and can waste a huge amount of time with them in their pen. My hubby always knows where to find me when I've been missing for an hour or so!

 

Looking forward to getting to know you all, hearing about your hens and learning from your experience!

[buvarka]

Hi virgin, mine were about 16-18 weeks old, when arrived and started to lay last Thursday, well, at least 2 of the 3. We have now 2 eggs a day.

The signs I noticed:

their legs become white, instead of yellow

their comb become red and did grow bigger

they squatted a lot on the floor 2 days before they actually started to lay

they spent time in the coop.

 

Then first a tiny egg came, mid afternoon, after a long time spent in and out of the coop, lamenting a lot, squatting, making nest in the nestbox (aka making an unholy mess with the woodshaving).

Next day nothing, then 2 hens had eggs in the morning and now is a sort of routine, every morning around 9-10, we have a queue, even the not yet laying one is indoors, the they come out, very proud and visibly relieved

 

Good luck for your first eggs soon, is a thrill really

[Susiew]

Hi All

 

Finally after several months (probably years) of nearly keeping chickens I finally took delivery of my 5 ex-bat girls about 10 days ago. They seem to be blossoming and 2 are laying everyday already. Can't believe how much fun they are and how different each one is. I am sure I will needing lots of advice so hope you don't mind all my silly questions.

[LuckyChickenLover-]

Hello Susie!

 

Congrats on adopting five ex-batt girls What are their names?

[Zubin]

Hi, I'm Emma and I am proud Mum to 11 girls. They are all hybrids, and apart from 2 sisters, are all different. We have had them for 2 months now, and wondered why we took so long getting them !

 

Hyacinth, Periwinkle, Antaris, Korma, Olympia, Helta-Skelta, Korai, Betelgeuse, Britannia, Screaming Sheila and Pie. They all lay the most lovely eggs, and are very friendly and funny to watch. They have a large coop, and the run of the (safe, enclosed) garden which is about an acre. They love to help me in the garden, and the minute I start gardening, I have an enthusiastic audience, ready and waiting to grab any bugs.

 

I also have 3 dogs and 2 horses, so I am kept fairly busy.

[LuckyChickenLover-]

Hello Emma Nice to meet you

 

Sounds like you have a lot of pets! I love your hens' names. My hens are exactly the same, they 'help out' whenever I try to do any gardening. I don't think there's any worms left in the garden now!

[holistix]

Hello There

 

Today I paid the deposit on a with an extended run that I found through the forum Marketplace

 

I will be collecting it at the end of August when we return from hols, but in the meantime I have chickens and chicken paraphernalia to order

 

This will be my first foray into chicken keeping but have been yearning after a River Cottage lifestyle for many years, so this is the first step. I have two little boys (of the human variety lol) aged 6mths and 2yrs for whom the chooks will, hopefully, be firm friends.

 

I live in a very rural location, with a large, but totally insecure as far as foxes are concerned, garden so sadly my chooks will only be able to FR when fully supervised. I am slightly obsessed about fox attacks, and ensuring that my chooks are both happy and healthy and feeling more than a little anxious that through my inexperience I may not provide everything they need to ensure this

 

I'm hoping that through the forum I can get everything right first time rather than by trial and error, so if anyone can point me in the direction of useful threads I might sleep a little easier...

 

Thank you

[Christian]

Hello and welcome!

 

The FAQ section has loads of information in, that's the best place to start!

[Heathers Hens]

Hello

We had our Eglu Go delivered last week, and yesterday collected two lovely girls a rhode rock and a columbian blacktail (as yet unnamed as no one can agree !!) and introduced them to their new home ...... so far so good, although I think the torrential rain and thunderstorm can't have been easy for them. We are now keeping a close eye on their every move, and so are our two golden retrievers

 

Am hoping that this will be the start of a long and happy life for them, and would appreciate any tips !

[RuthD]

Hi

I just joined. My Eglu is due to be delivered Thursday and I collect my 3 girls on Saturday, a Sussex, a Rhode Island Red and a Welsummer.

I am exited and nervous. We kept chickens when I was a child 50 years ago but these are my first.

Ruth