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Millie-Annie

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS. INTRODUCE YOURSELF HERE

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Hi all,

 

My name's Paul and i'm a new member to this forum, though i've used a lot of your collective knowledge in the past couple of weeks ... many thanks!

 

Me and my partner, Sally, have been thinking about keeping chickens for a while now. We finally did it! Sally's dad has been keeping chickens, ducks and geese for over 50 years, and we've been scrounging eggs, so it's payback time!

 

New chicken house built and two new chooks installed (Black Star and Gold Star). They're the best pets we've ever had, eating out of hand and lap sitting after only a week. Sadly they're only 18 weeks old and are not laying yet ... but the Gold Star's comb and wattles are getting redder by the day!

 

We free range them in a secure garden in Hertfordshire and i can sit and watch their antics for hours each day. They even came into the house (uninvited) and sat with us to watch football tonight!

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I'm just waiting for my first two hens to arrive. Eglu all set up and waiting! Can anyone tell me whether, once the hens are out of the eglu in the morning, I should close the door or not? Am not sure if the hens will want to pop in and out of their home during the day. If it was me, I'd want to get under cover if it was wet etc!!

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..... and another member!

 

Not a big chicken keeper, just the two Rhode Island Reds (called em' oi and you), as we have a small garden in our new house. Our last place was much larger so we had quite a crowd of em' and can well remember our first lot of baby chicks - six in all and not one hen among em - amazing! Six months down the line and so far our two have been slow layers with just two or three eggs each week. Not sure if it's the breed or the feed but no doubt we'll find out soon. What has amazed us is how tame they are after the last lot which were all Sussex - again, maybe the breed.

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Just a hello from a newbie,

We live in Rowley Regis, West Midlands.

I went to Stuarts beginners course in Gloucester this morning to check out if I was really 'in my right mind' for the past couple of weeks since I had been getting this 'broody' urge to keep Hens for the first time in my life!

I was worried that I was discounting all of the problems like smells, rats, neighbours objecting, hens invading neighbours gardens etc.! But, I had a great morning and I am now convinced that I will put an order in to Omlet for a Cube as soon as we return from hols at the end of August.

 

My partner finds all of this 'very British' and strange since he is a Filippino and they pretty much all keep chickens (and everything else - ducks, pigs, goats- in their back yards) raising the hens and the cockerells for meat mainly.....hehe maybe he will feel more at home when we get the girls :)

Looking forward to lots of chats in the forum.........I will need some help folks!

best wishes,

 

Pete

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I've just read that when you first get your hens you should put them straight into the eglu and leave them in it (with food and water) until the next day to establish that this is their home. After that you can let them out into the run. Any thoughts or advice about this, please?

 

Thanks Walter

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Hello there,

 

I'm new to the forum, and new to keeping chickens. I have a house full of animals (9 guinea pigs, a rabbit, 2 rats, a mouse, 3 hamsters, 2 snakes and 2 skinks) and now have introduced 3 chickens (Blossom - Silver laced, Ebony - Rhode rock, and Willow - Columbian black tail).

We got them from a lovely place in Ivybridge, Plymouth, fully vaccinated and point of lay, last Friday. They are lovely girls and have already found the strawberries growing in the garden, making a beeline for them as soon as they see a ripe one! Typical!!

My sister has made them a coop which at the moment is indoors (for night time) and we have been putting them in the guinea pig run during the day (outside) until their own run is complete.

We have fairly high fences around the garden so I really hope the foxes can't get in, they are my biggest worry!

I can't wait for the first egg (although I know this may take some time until they are settled in properly).

I'll get a picture up on here of them as soon as I can.

 

Look forward to chatting to you all.

 

Jodie & the animals. :)

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Hello, after discovering this great forum nearly two years ago now, I thought it was about time I registered!

 

My name is Jane and Dave and I rehomed four ex-battery hens through the BHWT in August 2008; Clarissa, Henrietta, Matilda and Veronica.

 

Sadly in March 2009 Veronica developed sceptic peritonitis. Our vet told us that she needed 10 days of antibiotics but he would give us 5 and let him know if we needed the rest.... Our amazingly strong girl did pull through but sadly the peritonitis returned and she did not respond to the antibiotics and we had her pts on 11 July 2009.

 

For a long time we'd considered getting more girls from the BHWT but we'd always worried about upsetting the balance of a very happy flock so we'd put it off. Our coop looked so empty without Veronica so we took four more girls in August 2009; Emma, Georgina, Martha and Roberta.

 

Introductions went quite well, they could see each other initially and we only let them mix at first when they were free ranging and we were there to supervise.

 

Shortly after the new girls arrived Clarissa looked unwell. Our vet advised us that she had a tumour but it may respond well to medication. Clarissa had 7 happy months after that and we had her put to sleep on 30 March 2010. Sadly Henrietta had been hiding something for a while, she was very close to Clarissa and perhaps sensed something was changing in her old friend? Our vet felt that her crop had become paralysed, she had an injection but he warned us that her outlook was not good. Henry died in her sleep on 31 March 2010.

 

Having got over the shock of loosing two girls so close to one another we were in for more surprises. Matilda looked unwell and she went into the vets, who said she has a heart murmour. She is on meds now and despite having lost a tremendous amount of weight (which our vet says is a side effect as the body is shutting down) she is a very happy girl, always chuckling to herself and still top chick. We don't know how much time we will have left with her but while she is happy we will continue with the meds.

 

Martha also has a tumour as well now. I think hers is more agressive than Clarissa's because it wasn't there when the vet checked her in March but he said it was quite large when we took her in back in June. Whilst the meds keep her comfortable and she is enjoying life, we will keep things that way.

 

So that is our little flock. We never realised just how amazing and good fun the girls would be. Having had the plesaure of eight different girls, all have been totally different little characters and so enjoyable to share our lives with.

 

I look forward to getting to know the members on here.

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hi im new to the forum and havent got a clue what im doing!!!! ive just ordered my 1st eglu as the chicken house me and my fiance so lovingly built became infested with red mites and before we realised what it was it killed half of our chickens :( and we are finding it impossible to get rid of them so have decided to buy a nice pink egl and im very eggcited! my hans are ex batts and ive had them for a year, they are the 1st ones ive had and i absoloutely adore them.... apart from the fact they eat all of my plants and veg.

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Hi everybody

I'm Lisa from the West Mids and am a newbie to chicken keeping though I've been trying to persuade my hubby for a few years to let me have some. Finally today I got my 4 girls and they are settling in nicely I think. We've also got 2 dogs, 1 cat, 2 guinea pigs and 4 kids. I've already got myself a chook watching chair and have been out in the garden most of the evening watching them in the run. I just know they are going to be a highly addictive hobby.

Looking forward to getting to know you all.

Lisa

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Hi

 

I have just joined the forum but have been keeping chickens on and off since I was a child. :!:

 

In May we bought 6 hybrids: Clarabelle, Lottie, Violet, Pansy, Buttercup and Marigold who were 18 weeks old which was a novelty as we have always had rescue and older pure breed birds. We purchased them from our local farm dealer and were in excellent health. :D They only had to stay in their run for a day and a half before we took the chance on letting them have a wander at dusk as we are fully enclosed and within the week they were putting themselves to bed with us just needing to secure the coop. :clap:

 

The girls are free to roam around our paddock and are extremely tame, being hand fed corn from virtually day one. They have settled in well with our two Golden Retrievers, rabbits and tortoise. We only had to wait 3 weeks until our first egg was laid amidst much celebrations. !egg! The eggs are wonderful but we mainly have them for the sheer delight of caring for chickens and the entertainment value. :dance:

 

Marigold, who appears to be the youngest of the 6, based on the fact that she was the last to lay and seemed smaller than the rest, comes into the house at any opportunity and wanders around like one of the family much to the delight of any visitors and our 8 year old son, Natty. I bought him the book "Keeping Pet Chickens" and this has become his bible, being informative, full of excellent photographs and has just the right amount of information for him (and is also good for me as a refresher). :wink:

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