bees and chickens

[pargyle]

Perhaps I could just have the stately home that goes with them

One of my beekeeping friends has just built (and stocked) a Dovecote in the front garden of his middle town estate bungalow - now they ARE lovely to see. Bit of a faff building the dovecote and then keeping them in until they know where they live but ... half a dozen white doves flying round the area - everybody loves them.

 

[alldigging]

The honey isn't fed to the bees in their run, only when they are free ranging. Swarm is right, too, it doesn't last long. They only have small quantities but, hey, chickens are omnivores and honey doesn't seem to do them any harm at all - I imagine it would be a benefit!

Having seen a frame left untouched in a hen house I'd have to disagree. Maybe they'd eaten all they wanted or had something nicer to eat.
Maybe it was the quantity put in that was the problem.

(Not my frame or chickens!)

 

[Erichalfbee]

One of my beekeeping friends has just built (and stocked) a Dovecote in the front garden of his middle town estate bungalow - now they ARE lovely to see. Bit of a faff building the dovecote and then keeping them in until they know where they live but ... half a dozen white doves flying round the area - everybody loves them.

Can you tell me what he did to keep them in?
Probably a stupid question ......but each "nest" seems quite small. We have one we inherited when we moved and there has been only the odd wood pigeon in it one year. As you say, it would be nice to have some white doves about. I wonder whether husband might like some for his birthday in May

 

[Swarm]

They'll keep the Sparrowhawks happy

 

[Suzi Q]

One of my beekeeping friends has just built (and stocked) a Dovecote in the front garden of his middle town estate bungalow - now they ARE lovely to see. Bit of a faff building the dovecote and then keeping them in until they know where they live but ... half a dozen white doves flying round the area - everybody loves them.

Oh they'll all disappear, and then one day you'll see a flock of pidgeons with some pretty white doves amongst them! Happened to my neighbours...

 

[MikeT]

BL**DY Peafowl

In our past a neighbour had b****y peacocks that would strut around on our house roof and s**t every where and wake us in the middle of the night, so NO you DO NOT want peacocks except for xmas lunch.

About 4 yrs ago at the local poultry market I bought a bantam and 4 pea chicks as my wife had always wanted some pea fowl.

Had no problems to begin with, except one female died, when they were small, but once old enough to disobey their adopted mother, they became unruly teenagers.

Fortunately we live a mile from any other houses and surrounded by arable fields, they started to wander, one of the males disappeared. He reappeared after about 4 month with a female in tow. Both hen birds sat on eggs hatching off a number of young but the weather was terrible and only 2 females survived.

We now had 4 hens and the following year they all sat on numerous eggs. I was dreading the out come, more terrors, but all 4 hens disappeared I think they were taken by foxes while sitting

Wife then tells me to get 2 hens as replacements, at great cost I obeyed, then the real trouble started.
One hen hatched off 6 chicks which became so tame they would come into the kitchen and S**t every where.

One day all 10 were in the hall cr***p**g everywhere , took me 3 hrs to shampoo the carpet, I decided to sell the offspring but before I could catch them, they were in the kitchen again and flew around breaking ornamental plates, pots and other bits and pieces.

I sold them but the money realised did not cover the breakages. In the garden they decimated my strawberries, eat all the apples and plum on the lower branches pecked at the bedding plants in the tubs and left huge presents on the paths. Even the game keeper commented on them flying like Vulcan bombers over the guns, who didn't even fire at them, Worse luck I might have got some compensation>


So for anyone considering getting pea fowl be warned they are destructive uncontrollable and will cause problems with neighbours with noise mess and damage. And may also cause domestic disputes

But they are nice to look at, I suppose I could eat them!!

Mike

 

[beehive1234]

Bet they ate a lot of your pests though.

 

[jonnybeegood]

Mike you could have put a child gate inside your door to stop them getting in your kitchen, clipped their wings so they wouldn't fly off, & even penned them in so they wouldn't destroy your garden or be eaten by foxes. I had chickens taken by foxes, in fact that's why I now use my chicken pen for my bees after the last chooks were cornered in their hut by a large dog fox & disappeared apart from half their feathers! I actually trapped the fox in the hut the next night that's how I knew it was a large male, I let it go, I couldn't blame the fox, it was my own stupidity not taking proper precautions, the fox was just hungry. I feed him odd times now when he pops back some nights.

 

[Erichalfbee]

We have the rock garden (new invention of husband's) and the areas under the bird feeders fenced off so that the chooks can rummage around the garden for the winter. The young dog patrols the kitchen

 

[Swarm]

Mike you could have put a child gate inside your door to stop them getting in your kitchen, clipped their wings so they wouldn't fly off, & even penned them in so they wouldn't destroy your garden or be eaten by foxes. I had chickens taken by foxes, in fact that's why I now use my chicken pen for my bees after the last chooks were cornered in their hut by a large dog fox & disappeared apart from half their feathers! I actually trapped the fox in the hut the next night that's how I knew it was a large male, I let it go, I couldn't blame the fox, it was my own stupidity not taking proper precautions, the fox was just hungry. I feed him odd times now when he pops back some nights.

The problem with Reynard is he doesn't just kill what he needs, I'd have let my dog in the shed to say hello.

 

[jonnybeegood]

The problem with Reynard is he doesn't just kill what he needs, I'd have let my dog in the shed to say hello.

I guess thats a difference between us, live & let live i say, i dont see a right to kill a fox because its hungry & killed my chooks because i had given him the chance. We cause them a lot more problems than they cause us. Humans dont rule the world, but we are good at ruining it!

 

[theeggman]

There speaks a man who has not tried to keep 10,000 free range layers.

If you have a fox visit and it gets it's dinner it WILL be back, a 12 bore is the only answer.

The cubs are the worst, they will kill 60 - 100 and not take any. We spent a year's income on fencing to stop the foxes, and then the bl***y buzzards arrived, we were losing 1 a day to them.

Currently the egg producers in the UK are being sc***ed on price so when you buy a free range egg be thankful because shortly they could be out of business. They are as much on a knife edge as the dairy sector.

There is a large industry in the eastern EU that is waiting to gain a foothold in the UK egg market with lower animal standards, but legal, so please buy UK eggs.

We're out of the industry now, thank God.

 

[jonnybeegood]

There speaks a man who has not tried to keep 10,000 free range layers.

If you have a fox visit and it gets it's dinner it WILL be back, a 12 bore is the only answer.

The cubs are the worst, they will kill 60 - 100 and not take any. We spent a year's income on fencing to stop the foxes, and then the bl***y buzzards arrived, we were losing 1 a day to them.

Currently the egg producers in the UK are being sc***ed on price so when you buy a free range egg be thankful because shortly they could be out of business. They are as much on a knife edge as the dairy sector.

There is a large industry in the eastern EU that is waiting to gain a foothold in the UK egg market with lower animal standards, but legal, so please buy UK eggs.

We're out of the industry now, thank God.

You are right i havent, but there lies the problem, to keep 10,000 birds you will obviously attract predators, so you attract them & kill them because its their fault, after all, theyre wild animals & shouldnt be there right? I can see how it hurts when peoples pockets are hurt but its not right is it, to blame other animals for any misfortune they cause us in our increasing greed to make more money? You keep chickens you will at some point come in contact with a fox, you dont keep chickens you might never see a fox, dont blame the fox its us infringing on their lifestyle, not viceversa.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Can we please get back to the original topic folks, this thread is about bees and chickens/poultry, start a new thread in off topic chat if you wish to discuss foxes and chickens.

 

[jonnybeegood]

Sorry

 

[theeggman]

Pete.

This section is not the correct place for a rant.

 

[ketch]

I've got chickens in a coop about 20 yards from the hives.
The bees take the water from the chickens supply rather than from the water supply intended for them. Whilst I worry the water carrier bees may end up as chicken fodder, I haven't seen any evidence that this occurs, maybe as someone has suggested the chickens learn to avoid the bees.