Chicken virgin

[Erichalfbee]

Our Cockerel is a Vorwerk and his male offspring are nice table birds.

 

[Headnavigator]

We've ordered a hen house very similar to yours, Brosville, though sadly without the stained glass window, so ours will have to be heathen chicken. Thanks again for all the thoughts (including divorce) we shall hopefully be at least half a step ahead of the game with all your helpful points. Will bore you by reporting back when we are underway. OH is keenest and assures me he will be up for all the work involved . . . . . . . . . .

 

[Erichalfbee]

Here's mine.
Had it for four years never any red mite.

 

[Headnavigator]

Don't show me pictures like that, Ericha, I'll start going broody!

 

[Brosville]

here's the interior - (to send you completely clucky)

If your house doesn't have a window in it, it's a good idea to give it one - the reason being that they tend to lay in response to long day length - if they've got some light in the mornings from a window you don't have to rush to let them out with the dawn, and it helps keep them laying the eggs inside if you keep them in until mid morning, especially when they're "new"

 

[Erichalfbee]

Lovely hens Brosville. What sort of cockerel do those tail feathers belong to.
Headnavigator.....you'll be hooked, just wait. I's called morehendisease

 

[Brosville]

They're total "mongrels" from a local bantam keeper....

 

[pargyle]

Lovely hens Brossy - we have similar tastes in Hen runs - mine's not quite as posh as yours but same principle ...this is what it looked like when it was first built - needless to say the chooks have stamped their mark on it ... the tractor is a cut down, half height, version of the run that we can move around the garden. The hens soon get used to moving between the two - once they get used to the rattle of the corn tin they will just about follow you anywhere !

 

[Headnavigator]

Headnavigator.....you'll be hooked, just wait. I's called morehendisease

Yup, hooked already, completely clucky!

Don't suppose there are any chook forums as good as this one, are there?

 

[enrico]

The BHWT have a good site (British hens welfare trust) vet advice etc......
E

 

[pargyle]

There are lots of 'smallholding' type forums you'll find with a google search - they nearly all have some element of chook keeping in them. BHWT are very good - we have had rescue hens from them and they are really nice helpful people.

There's also a good free newsletter at http://www.keepingchickensnewsletter.com/ which you can sign up to and it's spam free - Lots of back issues to read with oodles of good advice in them.

You'll find that a lot of us backyard chicken keepers are completely barking though !

Phil

 

[Erichalfbee]

Don't suppose there are any chook forums as good as this one, are there?

Have you looked at Omlet?
The chicken bit is quite good

 

[eddiespangle]

I've been keeping chickens for 5 years and using an eglu for - they are brilliant though a little expensive.

 

[eddiespangle]

I've been keeping chickens for 5 years and using an eglu for - they are brilliant though a little expensive.

...eglu for 3 years...

 

[Headnavigator]

You'll find that a lot of us backyard chicken keepers are completely barking though !

Phil

Looks suspiciously like you're all nearly as lovely as beekeepers. Can we persuade Admin to let us have a permanent chook space? Though actually he has, hasn't he, we're on it! Thanks all, I'll have a look at your suggestions for other forums (fora?) as well. My bees may be relieved if I can focus my attention on something else - they are lovely and never ping or harrass me but I do think when inbound they often crash past me squatting by a hive saying 'Uh-oh, it's her again, always in the bloody way when we're fully laden'.

Cousin has an eglu and I do fancy one but can't run to the initial expense (as well as another hive next year).

I presume hens don't have a taste for bees, do they, or you wouldn't be on here?

 

[esme]

My chickens 'hate' the bees. I needed to put a 4 frame nuc on my garden a couple of years ago. Very placid they were too- not a bother to anyone, but the chickens would not go anywhere near the hive. They even refuse to go near the comb of drone larvae that I take from the hive which I thought would be a treat for them, but the wild birds go mad for it. I don't know if that is normal or if the chickens learnt a painful lesson when getting a bit too close to the nuc when it was there (most likely).


Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

 

[dpearce4]

I will take a pic of mine tomorrow but its just a converted kids play house with run built round it.

No where near as nice as any of those shown already. but the chickens like it. they have tires and old pallets to climb on in the run and the perches inside are just bits of wood bolted at different heights.

 

[pargyle]

[QUOTE=Cousin has an eglu and I do fancy one but can't run to the initial expense (as well as another hive next year)".

Yes Eglu's are a bit expensive to start with ... have a look on ebay for timber ones - I started my run with a very cheap ebay coop which I raised the legs of to get it off the ground and replaced the pathetic catches with sensible hardware, but other than that it has been fine - an extra couple of coats of Wickes exterior stain has helped. The fox proof mesh was ebay as well. The cost of my coop and run was about £100 in total and I had enough mesh left over to make the tractor.

Having had a look just now on ebay though there's some reasonable looking ready made ones on there - have a look at Item No: 280770993795 I don't think I could build this from scratch for this price. As a basis to start it's good value at under £50 !

Add an extra run for them on the side and you have a nice home for up to 3/4 hens and the joy of a warm egg or two for breakfast !

 

[Erichalfbee]

I keep an Eglu for the broodies
The rest live in a Cube and hubby made me a 15 feet walk-in run from prefabricated weld mesh panels ...cheap off ebay.
It now has tarp sides and a corrugated plastic roof.
I used to have an omlet run and that was floored with horse bedding but I'm getting too old and stiff to crouch down to clean it.
The new run is straight on the ground but they don't spend much time in it and a quick poo pick is all it needs.
I think the omlet chicken houses are easy to clean and will outlast me, I suspect.
I'd have another Cube if I could afford it.

 

[Headnavigator]

View attachment 7621

Find that OH has ordered one of these for Xmas - looks good enough for me to live in, never mind the chooks! (was that the idea?) Think we may need a moveable run as well (A-frame?) or the little blighters will have the veg garden for breakfast. Would net cloches (got lots) suffice until veg are big enough, or will they take them whatever the size?