The Dogmother Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 The bluebelles are lovely placid birds who get to be big busty berthas when they mature. Marans are similar in stature and will give you deep flowerpot brown eggs, my marans banty is a lovely girl who is a consistent layer and very friendly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 Snort busty berthas!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JillM Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 It looks great...but how weathertight will that roof be in a torrential downpour, or a pile of snow on top gradually melting in? The house will be inside the WIR which is roofed, so it's safe from any weather. No problem there then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alis girls Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hopefully they will bring out a vaccine soon - not before time too for some of you ladies (and gents) OH has said a big NO to more hens. He loves ours but says 3 are enough for a London garden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hopefully they will bring out a vaccine soon - not before time too for some of you ladies (and gents) OH has said a big NO to more hens. He loves ours but says 3 are enough for a London garden I thought 4 was enough for our garden... until a friend brought 3 hens over yesterday for some chook sitting. Turns out there's more space in my garden than I thought (and who needs plants anyway?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon888 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I definately have been caught out a couple of times with this illness. My girlfriend who moans that i sometimes spend too much time out with them also has it but i dont like to tell her as she gets defensive. When we 1st went to "have a look" at some potential chickens at happychicks i ended up coming away with 3hybrids and 2 ducks and a duckhouse. I only intended to buy 3 chickens but my girlfriend took to the ducks and thought they would be nice to have. After a few weeks the ducks decided they were happy sleeping with the chickens so the duck house became redundant. instead of selling it i thought i would keep it as a hospital/broody house should i need it. Soon enough florence went broody so anther run and house was made and i hatched out 6 polish chicks. The time came to remove florence from the chicks as she had had enough. Well you cant put her back in with the others on her own so 2 more hybrids were purchased to help integrations. Turns out there were no troubles and they wernt needed but its nice to have them anyway. Another 7/8 weeks passed and it turns out that 5 out of the 6 chicks turned out to be boys. how unlucky is that? they started to crow loudly at 5am so we made the decision this weekend to take them back to happychicks who were more than happy to have them. This left me with one girl at who i had contemplated giving back as well to be rehomed as it was unfair to keep her on her own. Sarah from happychicks then emerged from a barn with a little belgian bantom and a wyandotte crossed with a naughty bantom who had got in to the wrong run and said they would go nicely with my little polish girl. To which my girlfriend said "ooh can we get both of those? Their so pretty". So in the space of less than 6 months ive gone from "shall we go and visit a chicken farm to look at some birds?" to having a selction of 5 hybrids chickens, 2 ducks, hatched out 6 and kept one and adding 2 small bantams to keep her company. My veg patch has dissapeared as i have built another run on it. I have the best compost heap but nothing to spread it on but I'd much rather have all the eggs. I think i need a bigger garden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I've managed to locate some hens semi-locally (thank you Alison!) - they have some 15w old Bluebelles and Speckeldy hens - are these too young to integrate with my 7m old Hubrids/RIRs - i would, as before do it over time with them able to see/hear each other but the new girls would to begin with have a separate coop/run. Would this be ok? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chestnutmare Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hopefully they will bring out a vaccine soon - not before time too for some of you ladies (and gents) OH has said a big NO to more hens. He loves ours but says 3 are enough for a London garden I thought 4 was enough for our garden... until a friend brought 3 hens over yesterday for some chook sitting. Turns out there's more space in my garden than I thought (and who needs plants anyway?) "Ooops, word censored!"ody needs plants! I'm with you there - get more chickens! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chestnutmare Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 Ha Jon that is very impressive. I've accepted that there is no hope for me and it's almost certain there will be more chickens. I never thought I'd be thinking about more so soon! But it seems the 'disease' is widespread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JS1 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hey Kalico, I think I met you in Dairsie on Sunday (I was there with my Dad!). I picked up my four this morning - a maran, welsumer and two araucanas, all free from lice although she had dusted them last night to be on the safe side. I was actually very impressed with her set-up, honesty and attitude. Mind you, I had fun getting them into the Eglu by myself today as one araucana managed to make a run for it! Fortunately I'd already shut my four hybrids in their run! I'm sure the neighbours could have made a fortune selling tickets. They're settling in okay now - maran has been asserting herself as the boss (she's even had a go at existing top hen through the Eglu bars - she was defending herself) and the poor Welsumer is definitely bottom of the heap and is avoiding the others. Naturally that means she's my favourite! No names yet.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbaraJ Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Oh dear, yes its a serious condition lol I started with 3, 1 died. the following year i got 3 more and again about 9mths later 1 died. year after i got 3 more, all 7 been fine for 2 years now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hey Kalico, I think I met you in Dairsie on Sunday (I was there with my Dad!). I picked up my four this morning - a maran, welsumer and two araucanas, all free from lice although she had dusted them last night to be on the safe side. I was actually very impressed with her set-up, honesty and attitude. Mind you, I had fun getting them into the Eglu by myself today as one araucana managed to make a run for it! Fortunately I'd already shut my four hybrids in their run! I'm sure the neighbours could have made a fortune selling tickets. They're settling in okay now - maran has been asserting herself as the boss (she's even had a go at existing top hen through the Eglu bars - she was defending herself) and the poor Welsumer is definitely bottom of the heap and is avoiding the others. Naturally that means she's my favourite! No names yet.... Lol...as many tickets as me totally decking it into the hen run - how embarrassed was i??? That's good that your girls are now free from lice, i was just worried about taking any yesterday and bringing home any unwanted visitors. You chose some beautiful looking birds yesterday - i bet you cant wait til you start getting eggs. I felt sorry for the poor owner trying to catch up all the chickens - jeezo - were they ever fast? It was nice to 'meet' you and i look forward to hearing about your new girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JS1 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Lol...as many tickets as me totally decking it into the hen run - how embarrassed was i??? I won't tell anyone about that if you don't tell anyone about me failing to keep hold of the maran! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Nope, wont breathe a word! Its not easy holding onto things that are like feathered bars of soap is it? EVERY dog in Pets at Home was sniffing me all over on the way as i stank of chicken poo - nice! That was the first time i'd worn my new North Face coat too - it had a nice thick pasting of poop right down the arm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 There is a temporary cure - when the little sneak thieves get into the veggie patch. Sprouts which are normally yuk are scoffed with great gusto. So you fence off the area and soon forget that your harvest had such a big dent in it. If you are likely to go to the Newbury show you will be able to see first hand how dangerous this disease can be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Oh dear I am going to the Newbury show . . . just to look you understand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Just make sure you stand well back - STAMPEDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See you there then. I'll have blinkers on as I'm under strict instructions. Well . . . one word from OH sums it all up . . . "NO!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 I'm not sure my OH would notice newbies if I could only get the new chickens into the garden, but how do I get a box into and out of the car without him seeing? Now that is my problem, especially as to get to the garden from where the car is I'll have to walk through the house Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Send him on an errand - oh it's been such a tiring day, the ducks make such a racket - how about we have a takeaway? Oh that's really shameful of me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 The new coop has arrived - it has lots of space and fits perfectly in the WIR. The two new girls are coming home on Monday - so hopefully Ginger wont be too bullying towards them...and there's still space in the new coop for a couple of ex-batts when the next batch are ready.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarlettohara Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 The new coop has arrived - it has lots of space and fits perfectly in the WIR. The two new girls are coming home on Monday - so hopefully Ginger wont be too bullying towards them...and there's still space in the new coop for a couple of ex-batts when the next batch are ready.... Very exciting, your morehens disease is quite bad like mine. I have an incy arriving tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 (edited) The new girls are here early....a change of plans meant they could be collected this morning - so we now have a Maran x called Aggie and an Australorp x Black Rock called Olive. They are currently segragated (but can see/hear each other) - Olive seems very placid and stays out of trouble...Olive on the other hand.... ....and we didnt quite realise how HUGE Aggie is compared to the rest....yikes...am not looking forward to this intro.... Pics to follow.... Edited February 6, 2011 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Re the intro.....hmmmmm....not quite what i had planned - Aggie (i think now renamed Attila ) had escaped from the inner run and was closely followed by Olive (who she had already beaten up) and just as i went up to the WIR to my horror saw her and Poppy (RIR) in mid-air combat - a hose down of water and a few spots of blood (Poppy's comb) later, all 6 put their heads down and began eating..bizarrely...that's exactly what they are still doing...am now unsure as to what to do next - leave them all in together or separate again? Poor Olive is very much bottom of the pecking order and shutting her up with Aggie isnt fair as she really pecks her hard - yet all out running together there is little noise..pecking etc. Am following my gut instinct here and leaving all 6 together - there are place for Olive to hide if things get too much. Ginger - it would appear is no longer THE boss and defers everytime to Aggie - it was Poppy that saw fit to take her on - and lost - so now scuttles out of Aggie's way. Not quite the quiet intros i had in mind, they clearly had other plans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Sounds like Aggie has established herself as the boss and the others have accepted their place below her in the pecking order... in which case I'd leave them all in together but keep an eye on proceedings. The exact same thing happened to me when I introduced a lone hen to my ex batts last year. I had kept them separate for a week, then thought I'd try a bit of supervised free ranging. Lone hen Lottie pounced on top hen Bella straight away and Bella submitted - that was it, all over in about 1 minute. Not quite what I was expecting but all very easy in the circumstances. She was a bit of a meanie for a while but soon calmed down when she realised the others had no intention of challenging her. Hooray for what sounds like a relatively simple introduction for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Aggie is strutting around and has the 'red sea and the bible' effect - however poor little Olive is hiding under the coop. There's no point in putting her in the separate hutch tonight with Aggie as she is very bullying towards her - so should I put her alone in the hutch and put Aggie in the coop with others or put them all in the coop once it's dark? Not sure what to do for the best? I cleaned up Poppy's bloody comb (small nick) with antiseptic just incase anyone else pecked at it. I take it once it's dark they won't harass Olive if she's in the same coop? Help! Didnt think I'd be making these decisions today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
