Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[Mercedes55]

I feel awful posting this but today I am really being to question whether getting hens was the right decision for me.

 

We started this journey of keeping hens as I read about the awful conditions that battery hens were kept in and so we bought an Eglu with the run and then picked up 4 ex batts.

 

Turned out the run wasn't working as you can't really get in there to poo pick and it was getting into a right mess.

 

So we decided to get a WIR. Spent a long long time working out what we wanted and ordered a custom built one so that we could get a Cube and have all the hatches on the outside. So far so good.

 

OH put a base of sleepers around where the WIR is sited and filled in with slabs. Cube was delivered a couple of days ago and apart from a problem with the door not opening and it being really heavy to move, it seems fine, although our hens can't get up the ladder at all. We are assuming it's because they are ex batts and don't have strong legs like other hens and also haven't really been used to climbing. No problem, we just go to B&Q and spend over £200 on various bits of wood, a gate to section off the back end of the garden so they can FR, a few bits of trellis to disguise the end of the WIR and home we come.

 

This morning I get up to go and let the hens out of their Eglu which we have put in the WIR. There is nothing on the floor as B&Q had no woodchips so we were thinking of getting some aubiose. Let the hens out, one of them did a really awful poo that seemed to have a bit of blood in it

 

I did a bit of poo picking and went down the other end of the run where the Cube is and all the roof has leaked overnight. I could just sit and cry about it all, which I know sounds really pathetic. My OH has worked out that we have spent at least £2,000 and the rest just on the Eglu, Cube and WIR, never mind all the other numerous things.

 

I guess I had some stupid picture in my head of pottering about with the hens running around and everything being all airy fairy and delightful. Instead I look outside at this huge run that is leaking, hatches that will only work if the Cube is hiked up off the floor, nothing to put on the inside of the run as I can't get any woodchips and the aubiose will just get wet with the roof leaking and a garden like a quagmire

[Space Chick]

I'm sure I am not alone in saying that we all have days when we feel like this.

 

However you have 4 little girls that I am sure are very grateful that you decided to be such a caring chicken Mum

 

As for the cube and ladder, I have a wooden ladder, solid with steps and my ex batts manage that fine, it's easier than the cube one, and mine is joined to the WIR not the cube.

[Sheilaz]

Big hugs and a cuppa!

I spent the first few months of WIR really upset at the quagmire & OH saying the hens didn't mind.

It stopped my hen enjoyment, so I entirely sympathise.

Then we fully roofed half of it, and I've been happy ever since.

I still hate the other half, and it reminds me today how I felt & how you feel. I might get a couple of clear tarps, despite OH.

The dry half is wonderful, and has no topping of aubiose or chips, and is dry & dusty. The hens love it & so do I!

 

So, I wonder if the leaks may be the main cause of your distress, would that be easily fixed? A dry, or near dry run is fabulous.

 

Maybe a slab as a platform to the ladder & some assistance too until they strengthen?

 

Hope the cuppa helps. Let us know how you get along. The hens are so lovely, and in your case lucky too.

[Mollie333]

. ((hugs)) for you.

 

But look on the bright side, you saved four little hens that deserved a second chance.

[scarlettohara]

Mercedes where in Herts are you ? I'm in St Albans - if you want to come round for a cuppa and see my chooks let me know - I'm at home in the day. I'm good at heath robinson stuff too so might be able to help with solutions

 

Sara x

 

Meant to add that I got natural woodchip from B&Q in Dallow Road, Luton yesterday £5.98 a bag and they had lots

Edited August 27, 2010 by Guest

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Poor you . I'm sure this is just a blip and once you source some aubiose (or hemcore or easibed or any other bedding!) and get something on the roof, you'll start to enjoy it all . One dodgy poo isn't cause for concern yet either so please don't worry .

 

You'll have it all airy fairy and delightful before you know it (I love that description ).

[Purplemaniacs]

I am sure your four girls are very grateful to you and love their new home even if it is not quite perfect

 

Mine (not ex batts) can't mange the ladder with any grace, a mixture of fall, jump, fly gets them in and out. As Spacechick says a wooden ladder may improve that problem. I have an upturned heavy flower pot at the bottom to help them get started on the ladder, they don't use it but it may help yours.

 

I use Easibed in my WIR and cube and that is good too, often easier to get.

 

Best wishes.

 

Chrissie

[patsylabrador]

Don't you think though that it is the fact that you are so worried that means you are a good animal keeper and that you are responsible for your pets.

It will all fall into place, my chickens sometimes have odd things that worry me about their health but I just tell myself that that is what bodies do and give it a day or so to see if the chicken is ok. So far so good.

I've become a fan of flooring called Elephant grass which I think comes from the plant Miscanthus. It's quite woody in texture and dries out quickly if it gets wet. It's not fibrous so I'm hoping they won't get mudballs this winter.

Hope you feel better later.

[Mercedes55]

Thanks for all your kind replies. My OH has tried to sort out the leaking roof, so will have to see how that is. He is at this moment dismantling part of the WIR so that he can move the hatches to where they should be, so then he will be able to take the Cube off the blocks and then he has to move one end of the sleepers as the run has turned out to be longer than it was supposed to be.

 

I will try and see if OH can get up to B&Q Luton to see if they still have some woodchips. We are in Watford so it's not that far from here. They had the red coloured woodchips at the Watford B&Q but I'm a bit wary of it having added colour so would rather get the plain stuff.

 

I do love my 4 little hens and I feel awful for suddenly feeling so overwhelmed with it all. Up to now I am sure they have been very happy as we do spoil them and one of them is so very tame that she will sit on my OH's lap and until we sectioned off the end of the garden she was always coming into the conservatory and standing by the french doors as if she wanted to come into the living room, bless her.

[WitchHazel]

to you.

 

It is just a blip. I nknow it doesn't seem like it, but it is.

 

I think Sheila is right. The leaking is probably the number one cause of your disappointment and frustration. So, cover the run. You can use corrugated plastic sheeting if necessary (go fo slighlly opaque if poss, as this helps cut out UVA/B rays). Or shower curtains temporarily. Or tarpaulins (there is an Ebayshop called qvsonline, which sells an extra strong "clear"tarp which works really well. It comes in a range of sizes. Look at item 300277972393 as an example.).

 

Once you've done that, put some Aubiose, or Hemcore, or similar on the floor. This soaks up the poo, helps stop it smelling, and stops the need for the daily poo picking in the run. I use Aubiose/Hemcore because I used that for my horses. Other people use Easibed, I haven't used that so can't comment. Do not use woodchips(IMHO) for anything other than a very temporary solution, because they can stink when they get wet and poo-ey. I rake it up once a week and remove any rotting vegetable matter , I sprinkle Stalosan powder disinfectant on the floor, and then rake the Aubiose back down again. I empty the whole lot out about every 8-12 weeks. I used to do it every 4 weeks, but I realised that the hens prefer it when it's a bit more "lived in" as they find more bits of corn etc when they rook through it.

 

About the ladder. My girls (not ex batts) had problems, so DH covered the steps with a wooden ramp which had batons on it. We took that off when they got more confident. We've never bothered with it again, even when we have new girls. They learn. They are,. by nature, tree roosting creatures. Ex batts have never had to climb before, so it will take them a while to learn these skills. If they are in really poor condition, it might be worthwhile using a ramp, but otherwise I honestly wouldn't worry about it.

 

The poo might or might not have blood in it. It's more likely to be something your girl has eaten - she'll have been experiencing all sorts of food and tidbits that she's never had a chance to try before. "Normal" chicken poo comes in all varieties... here's a link to a web page which might set your mind at rest. http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0 If you're squeamish, don't read this while eating!

 

I didn't know anyone else who had chickens, and I had an uphill battle with my husband who was completely anti-chicken. Now, neither of us can imagine not having chickens. We've got 8 girls in the garden, in a WIR that my husband built himself (at a time when he was still very anti chicken). They are part of my daily life, and I get so much pleasure from just watching them be chickens. And we have three flocks of chickens on an allotment, one flock of which are table birds that' we breed ourselves.

 

And you are giving these poor little girls a wonderful life.

[abwsco]

Sorry to read you're feeling low

 

WIR - ours is covered and leaks so you are not alone. Have finally persuaded DH that we need to replace the perspex with Onduline and that is our job this weekend along with putting extra support struts in. As an ex-farmer friend and my DH pointed out the chickens won't be bothered by the leaks, it's just me.

 

Cube ladder - most of mine have struggled. DH has put a perch across the width of the run just to the side of the cube door and also put a piece of wood underneath the cube ladder. He also put some pieces of wood on this in between the cube rungs so there are extra "rungs" - hope you can understand what I mean He drilled some holes in this and then attached it to the ladder rungs with cable ties. Mine either walk up the ladder or jump on the perch and hurl themselves through the door. Not elegant but that's how they do it.

 

Floor covering - I can recommend large dust extracted shavings used for horses. I use the deep litter method so there is at least a 6 inches of shavings in their WIR. The poo just seems to disappear and I also throw stalosan and garden lime into it every so often and rake it in. I do the stalosan more frequently. We've only done one full dig out since we've been using this method.

 

Hope that helps

[majuka]

So sorry to hear that you are having doubts. I know in the early days it took us a lot of time, effort and money to get our set up just right. We never seemed to sit, watch and enjoy the girls, we were just making alterations to their enclosure and noting everything that was going wrong.

 

It will all fall into place. We have a traditional ark so I have no experience of cube ladders but I know that Dave built an extension to their ladder (which didn't go all the way to the floor) because in the early days they struggled a bit.

 

Others have said it and I will as well, your girls will be so happy to have met you, they already think they are in paradise and I am sure are more than happy with their new life.

[patsylabrador]

Mercedes, if you live in Watford you're probably quite close to the Horse House in Northwood. You can get bedding there and some other chickens bits.

horsehouse

 

I think it's open today.

[daxigirl]

You are not alone. I know what you mean. I seem to have done nothing but spend more money on them since their arrival. I got a second hand eglu (still quite expensive) as I thought I would be able to shift it around on my own. No wonder it's fox proof it weighs a ton, he'd need to bring his mates around to help raid it! I didn't realise that they would stink quite so much , so decided to build a base with bark chippings in. I then decided that the girls would like to have the extension bit of the run before I built the base, I missed the recent price hike to bought it at nearly twice the price it had been. Plus the straw wood chippings, diatom powder, apple vinegar, spare bolts, new covers, shower curtain to keep the rain off, feed, corn etc etc. Sunday may still turn out to be a geezer.

 

Two weeks later I'm poorer than expected and eggless, they are total time wasters to to watch though and have their own personalities, they now come when called, although I think that's becaused they know I've got a treats about my person.

 

I'm now aspiring to a cube but not for some time.

[Bramble]

sending you a big hug. I know how excited you were to get your Cube, but can also understand that you feel things are running away with you. I'm sure that when you have time to catch your breath from the problems of the last few days you'll feel much better. Yes, it would be MASSIVELY cheaper to go to the shops and buy eggs, but doesn't it feel good to know that you've rescued four little "egg machines" from a horrid fate?

[alk630]

Fully sympathise with your problems with the cube, although ours arrived last week and hasn't been problematic. It can be very expensive forking out for walk-in runs, but in our experience, electric fencing in by far the cheapest and safest option. We have a 25m fence costing around £60, connected to wooden fence posts £30 and a M4 energiser costing £105 - a total of £195, which when added to the value of the cube is far less than £1000 and has kept the numerous foxes in the fields at bay. This was by far the best investment we have made and has meant we haven't locked the chickens up at night for over two years.

 

We have 2 rubber grassmats to drain any moisture through, costing £20, under the cube, covered by a thin layer of hardwood chippings, which we only need to replace around four times a year.

 

Any nasty niffs are usually cured by a sprinkling of lime on top of the chippings....hope this all helps?

 

Things will definitely get better :=)

[brambles]

I hope you're feeling a lot better.

 

As the others said, we all have days like this. I think I went into total shock about a week in before I read here about covering the runs with tarps - it just seemed cold, messy and smelly (this was happening in January a couple of years ago!).

 

However, once I'd sorted out the wet, we got on famously. I gradually increased from two to six hens, have a cube and an eglu, a fenced off chicken area for when our garden needs a rest and although some of my original girls are in the coop in the sky, I now have seven of the little blighters. Love them to bits!

 

The poo comes in a huge range of colours - it's the 'big picture' that's important too - are they looking perky and well?

 

I think you sound a fine chicken mummy!

[Mercedes55]

The only good thing right now is seeing how happy my hens seem to be. Right now they are out in the rain FR in the garden as they managed to get through the rungs of the ladder OH had put in the WIR to keep them in there, guess they just want to come out and have fun.

 

Thank you patsylabrador for the link to Horse House. I have never even heard of them and Northwood is as close to me as Watford town centre. I have just phoned them and although they don't have any ex batts food in stock they can order it in for me, which saves my OH going over to Wheathampstead for food. They also sell Hemcore, so maybe I can try some of that inside the run once it's dried out.

 

Daxigirl, yes I can understand with all the expense too. I have bought so many supplements that I've had to designate part of my conservatory for food and some of the summer house for all the other stuff that I don't need to use every day. I have everything from food, grit, apple cider vinegar, poultry spice, diatom, stalosan F, aloe vera gel, purple spray, poultry shield, bokashi bran, arnica spray and yet I still keep thinking of more stuff I feel I should get.

 

We bought some lengths of decking from B&Q last night to make a ramp for the Cube. As we have now taken the Cube off the blocks it's much near the ground, so hopefully OH can make a ramp that the hens will be able to walk up. We tend to use Bella our head hen as guinea pig for most things as she is the most confident and daring of them all.

 

Brambles, yes they do all seem bright and healthy. I would say one is a bit slower than the rest to feather up. We've had them since the beginning of July and 3 of them are not too bad featherwise, but one still has a very bald neck, but it is full of pin feathers. One has also stopped laying so we are down from 3/4 eggs a day to just 2. We don't mind as we knew they are past their peak for laying eggs, so every egg we get is a bonus really.

 

I was going to get some more hens once we are sorted out, but I think for now I will hold fire

 

Thank you all again for your very valued help and understanding

[Ain't Nobody Here]

You know Stalosan F is great at drying things out? Might help get your run ready for the hemcore .

[karena]

I can't give any solutions, but just to say I can relate to how you feel. I've had mine 2 weeks, and I seem to have a different thing to fret about every day at the mo. But I think the fact that you are thinking about it, and have done so much for them just shows that you it will work out fine, cos you care.

[migsy]

I bet once you have sorted out the leak you will feel loads better. I think auboise/hemcore stuff is the way to go - I've used both woodchips and now I use hemcore which is much easier to keep clean. Good luck with the horse place - I get all my stuff from an equestrian shop.

[Mercedes55]

Well I've swept out one half of the WIR and put some Stalosan F down as it was quite damp underneath. I have one bale of aubiose in the summer house that OH picked up when he last stocked up on food, I was thinking of putting that down to see how far it spreads and what it seems like. Is hemcore the same, you just put it down dry? When I looked on the hemcore website it mentioned wetting it the first time it's used, or maybe that's just if you us it for horses.

 

So far OH has moved the egg port hatch down and has also moved the double doors at the back down to the same level, so the Cube is now back on the slabs which I much prefer as I was worried it might accidentally roll off the blocks it was on.

 

Next job on OH's list is to make the ramp for the hens to get into the Cube. I wish I had half the stamina and optimism he has

[WitchHazel]

. Is hemcore the same, you just put it down dry? When I looked on the hemcore website it mentioned wetting it the first time it's used, or maybe that's just if you us it for horses.

Hi Mercedes

 

Hemcore and Aubiose are both put down dry for chickens. (They need to be wetted for horses, but that's because they need to absorb huge quantities of horsey urine).

 

Hemcore and Aubiose are both made from hemp, and are very similar. Hemcore is co"Ooops, word censored!"r than Aubiose (I find Aubiose much nicer to handle, but that's just my personal opinion); Hemcore has the advantage that it is impregnated with Citronella, which can help keep the flies down.

 

I use Hemcore in the summer (if I can get it, not always the case where I live) because of the citronella, and Aubiose the rest of the year (because I find it more pleasant to handle). This year because of Hemcore suppy problems, I've used Aubiose all year round.

 

It's great that your other half is enthusiastic and optimistic. It makes such a difference!

[Margaret]

Hi Mercedes 55

 

First thank you for all your help earlier in the week

I have just posted my WIR on the forum, has been built for over a year now and I felt the same as you.

When we hit the £3,000 and I had spent the new bathroom money I was ready to give up, but every thing is now great, has taken many changes to the original Eglu on the grass!!

Started off with rubber chippings and no roof, but the smell and wet were a nightmare, also had a terrible problem with rats digging. Put a solid roof on and that made a great difference during the winter, and this spring we moved the whole WIR to a new area at back of garden on solid concrete with auboise which is great.

OH has been great, as he "hates those blinking chickens", spends at least a few hours each week changing and adapting things for me, even catch him talking to them.

I also am now much tougher with them, they only now come out for a few hours at the weekend so I now have my garden back as well,

Trial and error i'm afraid but eventually it will all fall into place, I think we all make expensive mistakes, but eventually it all falls into place and things get much better.

[chickenNutter]

Mercedes, huge hug - hope your bad day is now behind you - my OH is constantly moaning about the amount we have spent housing 3 hens, saying they lay the most expensive eggs in the world! What I say is you can't put a price on the enjoyment I get out of keeping them, many other hobbies cost far, far more! Plus the good thing about having bought an eglu and cube is that they retain their value, so that if you should give up keeping chooks you will undoubtedly get back almost as much as you paid for them, so it is not lost money!

 

Those facts combined with what you have done to the quality of lfe of your ex-batts is priceless. All your 'problems' are teething problems encountered by all of us at some time or other and to repeat what others have said, the fact you care so much is evidence that you have most definitely not made the wrong decision!

 

All the very best of luck!