Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: Steve_789 on January 15, 2020, 14:22
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Hi folks,
I'm part of a walled garden that's had chickens since day 1 almost 30yrs ago. However last year there was a change with just "who" owned the chickens, before it was one of the staff and they got the money from the eggs, now their officially the gardens chickens with any any egg money going to the garden, the same member of staff agreed to carry on looking after them. Before last year there was plenty of coops and shelter and no reason to question how they were looked after, however this year i've been slightly concerned, and since Christmas i've been seriously concerned that there not being looked after correctly. I'm not really a chicken person, although i've looked after animals my entire life, including the normal hamsters and rabbits etc, just never chickens.
So, we have 16 chickens of various breeds (which breeds i have no idea!), the first picture shows them. They all seem healthy enough, although to be honest i wouldn't know if they were ill and i've not picked any of em up and had a good look etc. We have also 8 Muscovy ducks we got last year as well, not concerned about them, the adults cant fly (youngsters can) but they have full access to the entire walled garden (5 acres), although they do come down to the chickens at feeding time and join in, which factors into my first worry ... are they being fed enough.
At the moment i dont know "exact" quantities, other than 2 25kg bags of "mixed poultry corn" lasted the entirety of december, with 2 new bags being brought last week, also a bag of what i've been told are laying pellets was brought as well. As i mentioned i dont know the exact quantities the chickens are given,but it wont be any more than one of those large yogurt pots a day, bout 350kg/450kg sized tub at a guess (when filled with yogut that is!) and it may well be less. There is a proper feeder, although its never used as "the rats eat it all", although i've never seen a rat, or evidence of rats down there, we do have mice elsewhere in the garden though so it may be a perfectly valid reason. They also have no separate grit supply, which i've seen they need access to, we do have gravel paths around them and they can get out of their area (no issues with that btw), so maybe they get out, eat some gravel, then go back in?
My 2nd worry is water, now they do have it, its always dirty, but its always full (and i've been making a point of going down and replacing it every few days when i'm in) and i've seen them drink from it, but is that only because its that or nothing?? We do have a proper metal watering station i've been thinking of hanging so it actually works properly but the staff member in charge certainly never uses it.
My 3rd worry is the coop, its just horrible and, i think, far to small, it also leaks. I actually took a look in it back in october and it very obviously hadn't been mucked out for months and months, so i cleaned it all out, fresh bedding down (from the available bedding, pine shavings at best guess) etc, then took another look in last week, it very obviously hadn't been done since. Now i think the staff member has noticed i've been taken more interest in the chickens welfare as he mucked it all out on monday, however he'd also moved all the bedding from the nice dry shed into a wheelie bin, and it was sodden, i could wring it out in my hands, and he put THAT into the coop!! I also don't think its anywhere near big enough for them all, i sat down there on tuesday when it was raining hard to see where they'd take shelter, the 6 big ones all went into the coop (and when i looked in it seemed very cosy!) and all the others took shelter UNDER the other shed (can be seen in the first pic), where they'd made a little cave for themselves!! The only other shelter in their area is a crab apple tree and long grasses, which they were all huddled between last week when it was windy.
As for run space, no issues there, there's plenty, its a pretty big plot!
One thing i also noticed last year is that we got little to no eggs last year, where as the year before we had loads. Now after looking around on the web i can only think of a few reasons for that, 1 - their not being fed correctly, 2 - the coop was to bad to go in so they hid under the hedge to lay, 3 - the staff member swiped all the eggs from themselves (i wouldn't put it past them to be honest..). All the chickens, with the possible exception of the 6 biggest, are all within 3-4 years old, with some being born last year, so from what i can tell we should still be getting a good amount of eggs.
So i guess my question is this, is it just a case of "stop being soft, if the chickens are happy and healthy then there's no issues", or are they being neglected and instant action is required??
Thanks in advance
Steve
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Hi Steve and welcome to the forum.
The chickens and ducks look in reasonable condition, but it is really hard to tell from a photo if they are underweight. It looks like they have a good area to range it and they will find their own food from that, plus any grit that they need. When chickens are not in lay (which is perfectly natural over the winter for a lot of breeds) they eat less. Older hens that have finished their laying lives also eat less.
The coop looks run down and could do with improvement for sure, plus the bedding used should be dry as it can get mouldy otherwise and that will not be good for the birds. It also needs to be kept clean. No animal should live in filth.
Is there no-one in charge there that you could speak to? If not, I would suggest you call the RSPCA and report your concerns. An inspector can come and have a look and suggest improvements. They do work with people, before marching in all guns blazing. If the staff member who cares for the birds reacted to your interest, that may well be enough to get things back on track,
I hope this answers some of your questions at least :)
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They have a great run area to move about in, its about 20x30m or summing silly, no worrys about that. I did wonder if they'd be able to find enough food within it and it was a case of "topping up" with the mixed corn or not though.
And yes, the coop is very run down, that's one bit i will be improving on regardless, maybe not with a new big one, but certainly more places to shelter within the area so they don't have to hunker down under the shed.
There is someone in charge i can talk to, and i have done before (i'm also a trustee of the charity which helps!). I just wanted to be sure there was actually any issues with how their being looked after before i started to ruffle feathers (pun fully intended! :))
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They will eat a lot of grass, plus any worms, slugs or other bugs that they find. Laying hens are quite thin compared to a chicken you might buy to eat in a supermarket, if that is your only point of reference.
50kg of corn, plus layers pellets is quite a bit of feed. They may be getting more that the 350/450g you think they get a day to empty that lot in a month, so it might be worth checking on that. Rats will eat any food left out at night and may venture out in daylight if they know food is around, which might be why the birds are called to a scatter feed at certain times. It would be impossible to rat-proof such a big run. If a coop is raised off the ground, some chickens do enjoy getting under there, so their cave is not so bad as you think. They may love it.
The housing and cleanliness does seem to be the other major issue, but the birds should also be being wormed regularly and the coop checked for red mite. If they have worms, this could also affect egg laying and general health. Sorry to keep adding to your list, but I think you do have a case for getting involved and while you are at it, it would be good to get the birds on a good routine for all this stuff. You could try just asking the member of staff who cares for them to teach you and then gently start putting your own ideas in, rather than make him or her feel you are taking over or being critical of them.
There is a lot of useful information in the main part of the site here :
https://www.chickens.allotment-garden.org/poultry-articles/
and here on the forum
https://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?board=13.0
You can also use the search facility in each area to look for key words if there is something specific you want to check on, plus we'll do our best to answer questions you post :)
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Thanks for all the advice, it really is useful!
I double checked the tub used to feed them, i was totally wrong, its a 1kg tub. So even at 1 a morning it should last about 25 days with 25kg bags, longer if the staff member doesn't use the entire tub. I did notice half the bag laying pellets bag had been used up, however its not been mixed into the main feed, nor seemingly disturbed since i re rolled it down on tuesday, so its gone .... somewhere (staff member still has their own chickens on their allotment..). One thing another member of staff noted is that they swarmed up on wednesday when she went to feed them about lunch time (the chicken staff member having taken the day off...without telling anybody...) and were jumping up at her etc, which they've never done with them, or me, before. Would that just be because the routine had changed? Questions were also raised if their even fed at weekends when no one else in over in winter, would they be able to scavenge enough food from the run like you mentioned they might?
I also took a look under the shed as well, they've dug out little beds for themselves but the smell is terrible due to poo, that cant be healthy for them surely?
I've got no idea how often their wormed, if at all. However i haven't seen any worming stuff around recently, but its possible they could have been wormed earlier in the year and i just didn't notice. I know red mite have been an issue in the past and the staff member just tended to burn whatever shelter/coop had it. I don't recall it being mentioned last year.
It almost seems to be from a few weeks of reading about chickens and seeing how other people look after theirs we might be better just starting from scratch !
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Chickens might be dustbathing under the shed.
Water and food should be available all day with oyster shell available as well. grit is optional as they will find it naturally.
red mite check, run a piece of white tissue along cracks or end of perch, this will squish them and turn the tissue red.
Wildlife incl mice and birds will eat the food.
winter concern is water freezing,so someone should be going in daily. footwear should be in disinfectant.
house and bedding should be dry with enough perch space.
worming was probably done with pellets.
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Questions were also raised if their even fed at weekends when no one else in over in winter, would they be able to scavenge enough food from the run like you mentioned they might?
No they wouldn't Steve. Free range chickens, or ones in a very large run, often eat less feed as they find a proportion of their own food. I was trying to say that bags of feed might last longer in that situation, but it really is not acceptable they may not get fed at all at weekends. That needs addressing immediately, as does having clean (unfrozen) water every day. If they just get a single morning feed, I would consider that cruel, let alone going without for 2 days. What happens on bank holidays? I think you need to get to the bottom of that one fast.
Mine are in a much smaller run than yours and have food and water available all day. I take the food out at night to avoid rodent problems. I do know someone with a big set-up like yours and she scatter feeds midday when they are out, but hers have a smaller run area around their coop where there is food and water when they are shut in. She takes the food out when the door is open to their larger area, to stop wild birds eating it. Is that an option at the gardens?
If it can't be guaranteed that they get adequate food and water daily, the rest of the improvements to living quarters and shelters are a bit redundant. Sorry to be a little harsh, but I know you have the welfare of the birds on your agenda and I think you would appreciate to hear it how it is :)
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For sure i'd much rather hear how it is, no matter how harsh. It also helps make me far more confident in being forceful/insistent something is done, rather than being "i'm not sure, but..".
Yes, at the moment when i'm not in its purely one feed a day in the morning and whatever they can scavenge, when i'm in i make a point of going down and giving them a full tub mid afternoon and changing the water. Its all scatter fed as well, feeders aren't used at all. Bank holidays are just a normal weekday to us being a tourist attraction, so someone will be on site, but the chickens are pretty much entirely left under the care of the staff member.
Bringing in the food and leaving it out inst really viable in our situation, it might be done for a bit but it wont be a guaranteed thing. I saw a "treadle feeder" on google which looks like a good option for us as we'll need to be able to have it so the chickens can be left alone for a day or so at a time, or looked after by someone with zero experience of animals. Although i've never seen or heard of them before so have no idea how well they actually work in practice!
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I did reply before but must have hit the wrong button & was going to suggest a treadle feeder. I’ve got 1 for my (now) 6 chickens & it works well, lasts them 4 or 5 days, you can get more expensive,robust ones that take a full bag of pellets I think. Mine was about £25 off eBay, they also have an automatic drinker, fed from a 10litre tank into little cups that work by when they drink it fills back up.
Mine don’t free range at all but have a biggish pen (on my allotment) .
If you are on the board of trustees/committee. I would raise your concerns at a meeting & the solutions as you see them, sounds as if the staff member is not filling their role as prescribed or maybe they don’t know how to keep chickens. I would go down the animal welfare route & how it is a, wrong to keep chickens that way & b, how it would appear/bring the charity? Into disrepute maybe.
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I haven't used a treadle feeder, but I was going to suggest you investigate this. I'm not sure if the ducks will be able to work it, so you might need to ensure they are fed differently. Perhaps a morning and afternoon/evening scatter feed with a treadle feeder as well would be a good compromise.
I think it does need more people involved in the care of the birds. It is not hard so even an inexperienced person should be able to cope. The jumping up you mention was due to anxiety over being fed late and they meant no harm, but anyone a bit wary of birds might find that off putting.
Chickens do poop constantly, so the 'beds' are dust baths and no it is not ideal that you cannot get to them to clean them. More shelters would hopefully get them out from under there.
The coop needs waterproofing so it does not leak and could use some more perches, so there is plenty of room for everyone. It needs to be kept clean (some people do a daily poop pick it to give you an idea of how much they produce) and the bedding needs to be dry.
You have been given advice about worming and red mite by Grinling and there is a lot more info on the links I gave you.
I would suggest you also think about re-homing male birds. Do you need them breeding and increasing in numbers every year? You could buy in pullets when you need them, rather than hatch your own and that might be why you are not getting so many eggs to eat/sell. Hens sit for 30 odd days on eggs, don't lay when they are raising chicks and produce males as well as females.
Your instincts were right so I think you should more confident about taking this situation in hand. It might be that the staff member is doing an OK job when you investigate a bit more, but it may not be the case. They might be using your garden chickens as a breeding pool, nabbing the young layers and ditching older hens and males on you. They may have their nose out of joint at the changes that have been made as to the eggs and who owns them. I don't know, but a bit of polite but determined fact finding would do no harm in my view :)
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nice to know the treadle feeders work in practice, i think i'll suggest we go down that route when i talk to the manager on monday (that's going to be a fun conversation! :().
so to recap, i've got the following now
Coop + Shelter
1 - Deep clean of the current coop with chicken safe disinfectant, checking for signs of red mite, also possibly a dusting down with Diatomaceous Earth afterwards
2 - Repair the current coop until a new one (or 2) can be purchased
3 - More covered shelter around the area, can be done with materials in house for the short term whilst more permanent structures are brought/built
4 - Possibly creating a big “dry” space around/in front of the current coop so the chickens can stretch their legs without getting wet?
Food+Water
1 - Deep clean current unused feeder, place raised up a little and keep filled with feed until treadle feeder (or 2) can be purchased, then switch to that.
2 - Deep clean current drinking bucket and purchase another.
3 - Put both under shelter, possible in mentioned dry area beside the coop.
4- Switch feed to layers pellets only? I've heard that mixed corn is a “treat” and shouldn't be used as daily feed?
Dust baths
Create a new one under shelter to also help keep them out from under the shed
Health
1 - Check when chickens were last wormed, worm if more than 3 months have passed?
2 - Check for obvious signs of illness, see about picking them up and checking for mites
3 - Get a proper routine for cleaning and checking food + water etc
and also look at re-homing males as being utterly unneeded!
Think that covers everything, can you guys see anything i may have missed?
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As you say corn is a supplementary feed at the end of the day, if they are mainly having that ,that may be why they’re not laying so well, layers pellets- it’s in the name 😊.
Diamatamous earth is a standard not preferential, I dust the nest box every time I change the bedding.
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It seems we have given you a big list Steve, but I hope also some confidence that you do know a thing or two now and can tackle that tricky conversation with the manager.
Layers pellets are the standard feed used, but I think the mixed corn might be a winter feed while the chickens are not laying and/or because you also have ducks running with your flock and/or because that staff member who currently looks after them knows they only get fed once daily and that a scatter feed of pellets would be nowhere near enough. Grain is much more calorific and that is why it is a treat if the birds have constant access to pellets.
I have no experience of ducks and am not sure your current feeder would work for them. I found this old thread here that might help.
https://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=101834.0
Good luck for tomorrow. You are doing the right thing in picking up the baton and making sure your garden poultry are well managed :)
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Diamatamous earth is a standard not preferential, I dust the nest box every time I change the bedding.
good to know! I'll add it to the list of things that will need doing regularly
It seems we have given you a big list Steve, but I hope also some confidence that you do know a thing or two now and can tackle that tricky conversation with the manager.
tis a big list, but all entirely doable :)
Layers pellets are the standard feed used, but I think the mixed corn might be a winter feed while the chickens are not laying and/or because you also have ducks running with your flock and/or because that staff member who currently looks after them knows they only get fed once daily and that a scatter feed of pellets would be nowhere near enough. Grain is much more calorific and that is why it is a treat if the birds have constant access to pellets.
I'm not so sure, knowing the staff member i wouldn't put it past them to have planned to make that bag "disappear" down to his chickens, normally i'm not about when he gets the food so dont know, easily checked though by looking at old receipts to see whats been brought when and how much. The ducks might figure it out, although its been muted by other staff members to either reduce their number or get rid of them due to the sheer amount of poo they leave everywhere!
Thanks again everyone for the advice, it really has been helpful and very much appreciated!
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well, for those following this, i've now been given full freedom to look after the chickens and do anything i might think is required to keep em happy and healthy, the staff member has also been banned from having anything to do with them from now on. Work starts on improving things first thing tomorrow.
guess i'm now a fully fledged chicken keeper! <gulp>
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Ahh so your suspicions were correct by the sound of it, do you get some money to spend on them too?
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Well done, be a good idea to check the birds over, if you could have someone with you with a phone to take pics in case you have questions for us.
Look at their eyes and listen to their breathing, both should clear.
Look at their legs, if not smooth, takes pics
look under their feet, no black marks/
Also check under wings and belly, moving feathers to check for little yellow things...lice
Do this by keeping chickens in house and grabbing one at a time. Keep bottom facing away.
For the house/run, I would build a roofed area about 3 times bigger than coop roof to stop rain getting anywhere near the house. You could hang chicken feeders from this for the hen, I use a chain with a wire hook. (do the ducks have a separate house as they sleep on the floor. They also graze rather than peck)
I use a washing up bowl raised on bricks for water...very easy to clean.
Hillfooters slurry (on this site) is fantastic for red mite. I have this painted inside the coop.
Chickens cannot have hay and never mown grass. I use newspaper in the bottom of the house as well as lining the nest box with straw on top.
I would also recommend buying a bag of layers pellets with worming powder added.
Also Haynes have a chicken manual which is brill
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Ahh so your suspicions were correct by the sound of it, do you get some money to spend on them too?
apparently the manager was also having concerns but just hadn't gotten around to it yet! And yes i get some money to get a few treadle feeders (anyone have good recomendations?) and another water bucket, as well as proper feed, bedding, mite stuff etc. Also agreed to purchasing new coops as well in the near future, we were thinking 2 coops holding 6-8 birds each, one at each end of the plot, each with its shelter, food and water etc
Look at their eyes and listen to their breathing, both should clear.
Look at their legs, if not smooth, takes pics
look under their feet, no black marks/
Also check under wings and belly, moving feathers to check for little yellow things...lice
Do this by keeping chickens in house and grabbing one at a time. Keep bottom facing away.
Thanks for the tips grinling! The birds are super skittish so its pretty hard to get close to em, although i did manage to get one of them to come up to me and eat out my hand, so with patience i'll have em liking me in no time i hope :) Picking them up will be interesting, never picked up a chicken before! Watched a few videos on how to do it and doesn't seem to hard though?
For the house/run, I would build a roofed area about 3 times bigger than coop roof to stop rain getting anywhere near the house. You could hang chicken feeders from this for the hen, I use a chain with a wire hook. (do the ducks have a separate house as they sleep on the floor. They also graze rather than peck)
I was thinking of the same sort of thing, it'd be a very jerry rigged affair for the time being using tarps and left over wood from the raised beds, but it'll serve until more permanent things can be arranged.
Thanks again for all the advice folks its been a huge help, no doubt i'll have more questions whilst turning things around and learning!
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I’m thinking of changing my coop to an open perch same as another plot holder, mine are in a secure run but at the moment is weldmesh all round but I’m going to look at covering it in with plastic, at the base it will remain fixed but there will be removable pieces higher up for the summer months to allow better ventilation. My plot neighbour has this type & says it helps with preventing the ‘pecking’ order. I’ve been having trouble since before Christmas since I added my granddaughter chickens in to the run(but segregated). The first 4 turned on one of their own & now that one has turned on 1 of the other lot.
Do a search on here to see run set ups & coop ideas.
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You might be a novice chicken keeper Steve, but I'm pleased to hear you are now in charge. The more you told us about what was going on, the more doubts I had about it all as well. You have the welfare of the birds at heart and are prepared to ask questions and find out what is needed and that is great news for the poultry you have at the gardens.
I have never bought a treadle feeder so can't help you with that I'm afraid, but I think the idea of using a traditional feeder and hanging it up under the new roofed area is a good one.
It would be also be a good idea to move a water drinker under there as well. It won't offer loads of protection, but might stop water freezing quite so fast on cold days.
ps I forgot to say I have logs in my run for the chickens to sit on and also a large branch secured between breeze blocks as an outside perch. They love sitting on there and watching the world go by. It would be quite easy to find stuff around the gardens to make some similar bits under the roofed area. The shed cave might get ditched fairly quickly if they have fun stuff like that elsewhere :)
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I use corrugated as my roof, suggest a height which is easy to stand under, you could also board the side where the rain comes from. Tarp will be noisy and can upset the birds.
Ducks, I think, have difficultly with treadle, but google nearest feed merchant and see what they have. Hanging feeders come in various sizes,but have 2 for ease. I would keep both houses together as chickens like safety in numbers, should be possible to join and have some separate nest boxes. A separate house for ducks, they are unable to jump up into small doorways.
Washing up bowls for water are easy to clean. I have a pic of my run arrangement on a post, I now have an add on for grass.
Ask if anyone on this site is near and show you handling. I am in Lincolnshire if ever heading south.
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so i spent all day yesterday cleaning out and mending the coop, not pretty, it was worse than i thought, i was literately scraping crushed poo from the floor and from the bit the nesting bars slot into! All clean now though with a nice thick layer of shavings and i even think its waterproof now!
As i mentioned the manager has now ok'd getting 2 new coops, i was thinking the following as it seems a good mix between cost vs quality vs looks https://www.chickencoopsdirect.com/devon-hen-house , if anyone knows of anything better (or anything bad about those guys) then i'm all ears, my only resource for purchasing places for coops has been google so far! We could build our own that suffice, but it wouldn't be anywhere near as polished as a purpose built one.
As for other shelter, the only other short term is tarp over old greenhouse hoops, far from ideal but after checking our wood store we'd have to buy in a lot of stuff. I'm going to put it up in the middle of their area away from the coop and see if they freak out or not, if they do i'll take it down, but if they don't it'll have to do until i can blag some wood and sheeting from somewhere.
I have never bought a treadle feeder so can't help you with that I'm afraid, but I think the idea of using a traditional feeder and hanging it up under the new roofed area is a good one.
To be honest that would be my preferred way of doing it, but we need to be able to leave it out at night because the core staff are all run off their feet as it is (we only have 3 others, 2 are full time in the office and 1 is 3 days a week, i no longer consider the ex chicken staff member as "staff"..), and as were in the country we don't really want to be paying to feed every single bird in the local area! I have filled the old green feeder (after a damn good scrub) and that's being left full for now. We've also switched to layers pellets, with half a tub of the grain in the morning and the other half in the afternoon, mostly for the ducks, as since leaving the feeder full the chickens aint really fussed!
We also no longer have to worry about the ducks long term, their going, a local farmer has said he'd take the lot to go with his flock :)
ps I forgot to say I have logs in my run for the chickens to sit on and also a large branch secured between breeze blocks as an outside perch. They love sitting on there and watching the world go by. It would be quite easy to find stuff around the gardens to make some similar bits under the roofed area. The shed cave might get ditched fairly quickly if they have fun stuff like that elsewhere
I was thinking of making perches for em ... after i took a trolley down to empty the shed a bit, and after turning around to put something in it ... finding several chickens perched on the handle bar rosey away at me :lol: I'm still working on actually picking one up, there letting me get closer to them now which is encouraging, means i'm obviously doing something right and they approve :)
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Hi Steve. I haven't bought from that company, but John (the site owner) has reviews on the main pages including the coop you are looking at.
https://www.chickens.allotment-garden.org/poultry-housing/
I would also keep both houses together, rather than split them up.
If you google greenhouse hoop chicken house a load of ideas come up. A field shelter is just a house or run without the end walls, so that might be useful. It would be the flapping of a tarp that really upset the birds, so making sure it was tight on the frame would help.
The easiest way to get hold of birds is while they are in the coop. They get much quieter one they bed down, but if you are not around then, try training them to come in. Treats rattled in a bag are one they learn very fast. Dried mealworms sold as wild bird food are about the most coveted. If they discover those via you, you will be able to get them to follow you anywhere. Don't feed too many though. They are full of fat so are special treats only :)
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Do they get shut in at night? Am I right in thinking they free range in the day?
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I was going to say half fill an icecream tub with corn mix. Shake when in the chicken area and throw some down, you will be loved
My house is from ebay and is about 12years old. It has always been under cover and it is on castors as I have a concrete floor and moving it on my own is easy (otherwise 2 people needed). It was modified by using bolts rather than screw together.It has hillfooters slurry on the inside.
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thanks for the link new shoot, somehow missed that when i trawled through the help pages last time!
Do they get shut in at night? Am I right in thinking they free range in the day?
no they don't (no one around to do it most of the year), and yes they free range during the day (or whenever they want!)
One thing i have noticed, is that now they have constant access to food their becoming way more lively, specially the younger ones who really do love getting in the way! :D I also put the tarp up, they seemed perfectly fine with it, the young golden one (my favourite now, last pic) even tried to sit on it .. and promptly slide off, which was pretty funny :lol:
Theres 2 birds i'm concerned about though, one has really horrible looking legs that almost look solid and i swear it has a little limp (the white one in the pics), the other is just very lethargic (grey one), both of them are eating and move about. Could be they're just old, but its another "that feels wrong" thing.
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I think that ‘leg’ one is scale leg & I think the treatment is to slather Vaseline on the legs. I’m happy to be corrected when someone more knowledgeable comes along, it’s a mite that burrows under the skin.
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The white one could have scaly leg. It could be old age as well. I have a very elderly hen with legs way worse than that and she does not have scaly leg. She does have a touch of arthritis in both legs, which has thickened the joints, but manages fine at the moment. She does sit and rest a fair bit.
The grey one could just be getting old as well, but it could be an indication of another problem. Without getting hold of her, it is hard to say. It might be worth worming them all to see if its is that. She might just be carrying a heavier burden than the rest.
Eating, moving around and generally seeming bright are good signs. If they are ill, they sit hunched up, tail down and look really miserable.
What I do see is chickens with nice full crops. That is why they have a slightly bigger bulge to one side of their chests. I think they are hanging round you as they know you are the food giver and they are very happy about that. Nosy chickens under your feet checking out what is going on are the norm, so get used to it :)
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I'll see if i can get closer to the white one or bribe it to come closer and try and pick it up and get a good look.
Next on the job list is making perches for em to sit on during the day, any maybe try a few things i've seen others do to give them something to do, i'm dying to try putting a mirror in but i doubt the rosters would be to impressed with that :lol:
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Well i must be doing something right, was met by these two beauty's this morning :D
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Glad it is going well, beware of snow on the tarp as it is very heavy.
It might be easier catching a chicken inside the house, but wear heavy duty gloves as the cockerel will be protective, beware of his spurs.
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just a little update for those wondering!
up to 29 eggs total now, having 6 per day over the last few days! Not bad for hens that "weren't laying" last year ;)
the new coop to give them a bit more room is in and being used, for the price its pretty good although the nest box lid is a weak point and i can see it snapping off at some point, but other than that its pretty solid.
Weather shelter is still an issue though, i'm starting to think were going to need a proper run so that we can fully cover it from the weather and also put the wood+water in it as well. I've been eyeing the Omlet run, its more pricey, but it does look better than wood (or silver galvanised hoops) with chicken wire stabled/tied to it, and it wont rot. Don't spose anyone has any experience of it do they? I've had a good hunt round and the only negative things i can find are that the clips are fiddly! https://www.omlet.co.uk/shop/chicken_keeping/walk_in_chicken_run/
The grey chicken i mention before is also running about and seems perfectly happy now as well, which is a relief. The white one still has a slight limp but can also shift when she wants to, so it may well be old age.
All in all, going well :)
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Glad it is going well Steve :)
My big run is built around a pergola that was already in the garden when we moved in. We just painted it dark brown with wood stain, covered it in chicken wire and put roofing sheets on the top. I know you won't just have a pergola lying around, but it could be worth buying one and it would be a cheaper option. At a distance, you just see roofed pergola, rather than chicken shack.
I have not used the Omlet walk in run, but the clips are similar to the small run I have on my Eglu and yes they are fiddly and seem to break quite easily.
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All sounding good there Steve. Sorry I can’t offer help with the omelet run as my husband & I built ours from weldmesh & tantalised timber to fit the space I had available,plus we then put onduline roofing on to give them all weather protection as they aren’t able to free range as yours do.
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the pergola idea might work, but im not overly fond of yet another wooden structure to keep on top of though, we already have a bunch of pergolas around the garden. What's super annoying is that before Christmas we got rid of a gazebo from another area of the garden which would have been an ideal shelter. If i only knew then what i knew now n all that! :(
Basically just looking for ideas on something that would provide year round shelter from wind/rain/snow where the food and water can be kept and which doesn't stick out like a sore thumb! Although it seems the only options are either DIY from timber, or more expensive cages :mellow:
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If you google field shelters there are lots of plans available - most are for horses, but the same idea would apply to chickens. They are just a shed with an open front really, so you might be able to source a second hand shed to customise. That would not look too out of place.
If you roof a pergola or any home built structure, it will help stop the wood rotting. Our pergola has been there for years and never gets any care. In the summer, I shade the inside by putting a camouflage net up along the front wall. You could do the same year round on any sides you felt were too exposed to view. Plant a couple of evergreen shrubs in front and the whole lot will meld in. My lot love napping under the evergreen shrubs in my back garden on summer afternoons, so they would do double duty :)
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small polytunnel would work, but not the ones with green cheap ones but a proper one.
We use square outdoor wood in metposts from screwfix an galvanised roof,came with the house
You could cement in cement fence posts and use fence panels,then onduline roofing.
In this weather,check wind direction,so weather hits the back or side of the structure