Chicken boarders

[ariel]

Hi all, completely know nothing about chickens, we will get a cube delivered 16th July and have a pile of questions. Has any one got any tips or should I just look at old posts about where to site it etc. We have dog, cat, 14mth old baby and another baby due in Oct, husband feeling clucky and decided chickens were called for!! I hope we doing the right thing!!

[Meganymoo]

They'll be fine eventually but it might take a while for your dog and chickens to get used to each other!!

[Mercedes55]

Hi and welcome. I am also fairly new to hens, having just taken on 4 ex batts at the weekend, you will get lots of help on here.

 

I think it's fine to set your Cube up anywhere as long as your hens will be able to get some shade when it's hot. I bought the Winter shade to go over the Summer shade that came with my Eglu as it really wasn't providing enough shade, but I think you can put anything over the run to give them some shade.

 

My Eglu is very hard to move around, unlike how easy it looks on the video of it, so I'm sure the Cube is more difficult to move around. A lot of people on here build a permanent site on wood chips as it gives the hens something to pick through but is less messy than bark chippings.

 

The essential things are obviously a proper diet and plenty of fresh water. I give mine layers food as it's made especially for hens that are laying eggs, then I give them treats like mixed corn and mealworm in the afternoon. It is important to not give them too many treats as sometimes they end up preferring the treats and that would mean less egg production.

 

You will need to also get something to put inside the nest box, I just use soft wood shavings, but I would have preferred to buy something like hemp, just couldn't find any locally at the time. You will also need to line the tray where the droppings are collected and empty it regularly. I just put newspaper in mine as it doesn't come into contact with the hens and I just change it every day and wipe it down.

 

I also have a dog, she has always had a habit of running down the garden and chasing away pigeons off the lawn. She is fine with the hens though as she seems to understand that they are part of the family. However I would never leave her out with the hens if they are free ranging. It might be a good idea to put your dog on a lead and introduce it to the hens first and just keep an eye on things for awhile.

 

There are a lot of stickies on here about health problems and also about all the variety of supplements and things you might want to get

[ariel]

Thanks for the replies, i am used to posting on baby forums so it is soo different to be posting about chickens that we dont even have yet. We are in Rep of Ireland so will have cube delivered by courier, oh joy of joy I will get to listen to my husband read instructions, ignore them and we could end up with something looking like a chest of drawers!