Plum Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Happy Birthday, any cake left for us over on the forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Cake was DELICIOUS - and errrr.....sorry guys, all eaten! I got several hen themed things - including the edible hens my daughter made for the cake, I also got a hen themed apron and a joke plastic hen that flaps it's wings and lays eggs!! My birthday money is patiently waiting in my piggy bank - am so tempted to buy another 2 hens - but my coop is only for 4 Will have to think of another plan.... Great day. Thank you all for the birthday wishes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkysmum Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Belated birthday wishes Wendy, hope you had a great day. Now that you're baking with eggs from your own hens, you'll never be chickenless again. Alli xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I can't imagine ever being chicken-less now, they are just the funniest, sweetest, nosiest animals I've ever come across, they remind me of these coach tours full of little old ladies that you see at Motorway service stations, all nattering and looking around!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 First day of 3 eggs - just waiting on Thistle to start laying now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkysmum Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Back to 1 egg only today. One of the RIRs sat in the nest box for a while but didn't produce anything. Odd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 I can't believe it's almost a week since Olive and Aggie arrived, I'm amazed at how they have all settled and how happy they are together. Big Aggie remains top bird but 'rules' the WIR with a quiet manner. Little Olive hasn't half come out of her shell, she is just the sweetest soul. I counted up today that since January 15th we've had 54 eggs! No eggs yet from Thistle (RIR) but I notice her comb has suddenly begun to develop and she somehow looks more mature. The 2 new girls haven't laid yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Chick Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 We have passed our 3500 egg And are heading towards 4000 Scary when you log them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 We have passed our 3500 egg And are heading towards 4000 Scary when you log them Wow Something funny happened tonight, it was about 20mins from getting dark - I was cleaning out the WIR and the girls were F/R - it began to get dark and Aggie was the first to head off to the coop, the rest were still pecking around..Aggie came back out of the coop and started really squawking - the rest stopped pecking and trooped back to the WIR - Aggie disappeared back inside the coop and as soon as she disappeared the other 5 hotfooted it back onto the grass - Aggie re-appeared shouted louder and all the rest once again dutifully trooped back. I've never seen this happen before? Weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 she's being a cockerel and looking after her flock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 she's being a cockerel and looking after her flock Oh blimey, really? I truly hope she is definitely a she and not a he...and that she's just behaving like a he...if that makes sense! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monster2523 Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 hi. just to echo what others have said. hybrids will give you more eggs but only for couple of years. whereas pure breeds will usually cost a bit more, but live on average twice as long, thus although they lay less in a year, they will lay more in there lifespan. i just bought mine from the wernlas collection. just give sue or shaun a phone call on 01584 856318 they are full of advice, and i have never had any problems buying from them. i bought some from there 5 years ago and they r still alive and just comin bak into lay now after the winter months. have fun with whatever you choose!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I do animal talks to schools, nurseries, brownie/scout packs etc, I take along my own animals and any (safe) fosters that I have. I'm doing a talk to a Rainbow and Brownie pack on Friday and I'm going to take a couple of the hens too - my thought was to take them from the coop once they've gone to bed (talk starts at 7pm and last about 30mins) and pop them back into the coop once we get home. This won't upset the balance with them and the others, will it? Also, the hall is heated, but I was going to keep the hens at the back if the stage so they don't get too warm? The last time I did this we only had two, so it was fine. The kids were so excited to meet them and the girls sat and lapped up the attention! I plan to take Poppy (RIR) and either Ginger or Babs. I love doing these talks, it's so nice to teach kids about animals and to see the amazement when I 'find' an egg under one of the girls. At the last talk, it was in a fairly deprived area and only 2 hands went up when I asked where eggs came from - most answers were 'Tesco, Asda or Lidyl' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Have fun doing that Kalico. I often used to take the hens to school/Brownies/Rainbows when Rosie was little, I took a couple of old tea towels so that they could hold a hen on their laps. I don't know if they're still there but if you go to the main part of the Omlet website, there used to be some downloadable pdfs of quizzes and worksheets to give them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Aggie laid her first egg today - a booootiful deep brown/reddy egg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 How exciting! Congratulations All 4 of ours are laying now, so 4 eggs in the nest box every day... I miss the excitement of finding a different shaded egg this calls for more chickens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 How exciting! Congratulations All 4 of ours are laying now, so 4 eggs in the nest box every day... I miss the excitement of finding a different shaded egg this calls for more chickens Yay...that sounds like plan!! One of the RIRs and the little Australorp x are still to lay. I can't WAIT to find 6 eggs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Looking back over this thread, I can't believe it's over 2 months since we got Ginger and Babs - here we are now with 6 hens! I'd never ever go back to life without the girls - they are just totally fab. I still get a buzz finding the eggs. Thank you again to everyone who has given advice and help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplemaniacs Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 I'd never ever go back to life without the girls - they are just totally fab. I still get a buzz finding the eggs. I totally agree with you, I drive home from school for the first 10 miles I think about the day at school and then when I get past the roundabout, about 4 miles from home I start to wonder if there will be any eggs today, or or . Chickens are great, such funny little characters Chrissie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Another question...the girls now have a grassed area, there is a picket fence on one side, plastic 1.2m fencing on another and the 4th dry stone dyke along the other edge, their WIR makes up the fourth side. The girls get out into this area 3 or 4 times throughout the day with supervision - or at least with me in earshot - I also leave one of the terriers with them just incase a fox should appear. The fox we had a problem with is still around, she is now heavily pregnant and alone (the dog fox was shot last Sunday). She knows the hens are there but seems to realise she cannot reach them through the WIR. At the sound of the dogs she is off. The cat that Attila chased the other day now keeps a distance away. Am I still taking too much of a risk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Possibly, but to be honest only you can assess what you think the risk is. Round here, every seems to FR their hens all day, foxes don't seem to be much of a problem and when they do come it's at night time. You have a known fox around who will be hungry if she is pregnant. She might run away from your dogs now, but if she got desperate, would she continue to do so? I think I'd want to be around my hens while they were FR in your situation but if you are confident that your dogs are enough of a deterrant then continue to FR as you do now. Could you perhaps consider electrified netting to give them a secure FR area, safe from Mrs Fox? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 My instinct is that the foxes around here are typical rural foxes, very skittish - the terriers would chase any fox that ventured near and that should be enough of a deterrent. But - electric netting seemslike a sensible option. Where's the best place to get it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Most Countrywide stores or similar agricultural outlets will have it; it's soft, rollable netting with a steel thread through it. You will need a battery or solar generator and connectors; you can usually get it as a kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Ahhh brill - am off to the farm shop today will have a look. The girls have been out having a good nosey round the garden today - which was fine til they thought it would be ok to troop en masse into the house following Jake (Lurcher)! Ushered back out they stood with their little beaks pressed to the patio doors....what excitement the making of their porridge causes. An 'awwww' moment also happened this morning when Olive stood and gently pecked off the excess porridge off Atilla's face - Attila stood with her head drooped, eyes closed clearly enjoying the cleaning process. As a flock, they all seem very happy, there is no squabbling, they seem to all get along so well, we put a battery operated stick on light in the coop so that we can check they are all in before locking them up, it's lovely to see them in 2 rows of 3 all cuddled up together. It's strange, the introduction of 2 hens to 2 hens was more traumatic than introducing 2 to the established 4 - I would have thought it would have been the other way round. I 'lose' time every day just standing watching at them, on the darkest, wettest, dullest days they never fail to make me smile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
