Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Chicken Chat => Topic started by: JaneS on August 07, 2012, 21:17
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Been sneaking around here reading lots of posts and thought it was time to say hello! Got my girls on Saturday night and they are settling in wonderfully. I was lucky enough to get a hen house from my father in law who had 3 rescue hens for about a year before they went to the great chicken heaven in the sky and he decided not to get any more so I got the house. Hubby built me an extended enclosure, hopefully fox proof and the girls moved in. I got 4 light Sussex, called them Agnes, Betty, Coraline and Demelza (note the alphabetism....!) though they all look pretty much the same so not really able to tell them apart yet. They are starting to loosen up a bit and chill out now, enjoying the different height roosting perches hubby built into the enclosure, scratching about, eating worms and other creepy crawlies. Bought a £20 tub of mealworms for treats and a hanging up treat bar which disappeared incredibly quickly! Eating their pellets and drinking fine so I'm happy. Getting their pecking order sorted out too without too much fuss and drama.
No eggs yet, but my farmer supplier man reckoned it would be another 2 weeks, I check excitedly every morning but no sign yet. Doesnt feel like it matters though as they are giving me so much pleasure that the arrival of eggs would simply be a bonus!
The arrival of hens is another step in our aim to become not wholly self sufficient but at least part of the way there. We have raised beds in the garden for salads and bits and bobs, few fruit trees and bushes. And two allotments on the go as well which is giving up oodles of produce at the moment, hard work keeping up with two of them, especially as they are on different sites, the hope is to eventually have two next to each other but until then we manage!
Anyway, off to do some reading on diatom and stalosan as both tubs have arrived today and I need to know what to do with it all!
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Welcome to the site JaneS. Like your introduction and look forward to seeing photos of your hens and set up. We do love photos on here. :D ;)
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Hi Jane this site is very good for advice and everyone is really friendly. As a new keeper myself (3 weeks) my girls have just started to lay last week the first eggs are like winning a gold medal well worth the hard work. They taste so much better than shop ones.
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Here is a piccie for you!
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Hi and welcome, lovely looking hens you have there :)
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Lovely hens JaneS. You'll find this site invaluable to help with advice, for those nagging little problems and major panics. It's also great to be able to share anecdotes and funny moments with people who know where you are coming from. Enjoy!
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They do look lovely and happy in their new home.
Looking at the colour and size of their comb I wouldn't be expecting eggs in the next couple of weeks. You may have to be patient but they are well worth waiting for. How old did the farmer say they were?
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Hello and welcome to the world of henaholics :D
Lovely hens but I agree with ANHBUC their combs still look quite pale, they will turn almost blood red when they are ready to lay, its sooo exciting when you find the first egg :D
Be careful with the treats too, mealworms should only be an occassional treat (its very hard to resist the temptation to spoil them)
Have you seen them sunbathing yet? The first time one of my did it I thought she had collapsed and was taking a fit :lol:
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Welcome! What lovely looking girls you have :)
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Thanks for your lovely responses, the farmer said they were about 20 weeks and to expect eggs in about 2 weeks, but I'm happy to wait if he's got it a bit wrong, he seemed to have hens of different ages in the pen so I may have a mixture of ages anyway, certainly one of them is a lot paler than the others. He was feeding them on layers pellets but I've been giving them a mix of growers pellets and layers pellets because I was unsure of age..... advice on this most welcome!!!!
Remark about the mealworms duly noted! :D
Not seen them sunbathing yet, but saying that... I havent seen the sun since we got them! Miserable summer. Hopefully get a break in the weather tomorrow here.
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You can keep them on growers until they start to lay. Here is a picture of my light sussex bantams at 15 weeks for you to compare. Cockerel at the front and ladies at either side.
My Black Rocks were 26 weeks old before they started to lay.
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Do please announce your first egg - it's a great moment!
I love light sussex hens - when this one snuffs it (probably won't be for years) that's what I'll get.
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:wub: Hens told me off this morning.... overslept (well it is a day off for me today!) and didnt let them out until 8.45, talk about having a grumble!!! Poor things! Did their enclosure with Stalosan today and Diatom in the coop so hopefully that will help keep the nasties at bay. They were so good whilst I was doing it that I treated them to a wild strawberry each, happy hens again now!
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I got an auto pop hole and a treadle feeder - she gets her own breakfast - easy life!
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Nice idea nurdle but I'm usually up early so it shouldnt be too much of a problem. Just felt velcroed to the bed this morning as the cat was sleeping on me!
Had a nice evening with the hens - got to have cuddles with three of them whilst sorting out their coloured leg rings (so we can tell them apart!) The fourth didnt want to play ball so is ringless at the moment, but not too bothered as now we know which are which.
And discovered they like clover..... reading conflicting advice about whether they should eat it though so advice would be nice from a chickenologist!
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Chickens can safely eat some clover, they just can't have a steady diet of it. Like everything else, moderation is best and chickens usually decide what they prefer.
Also, there are a lot of different types of clovers so some may be far less toxic than others. If possible, have a range of palatable greens for them so there's a healthy variety.
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My sleepy morning eyesight read 'Dover' there for a moment - thought they were planning an excursion!
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My girls had their first explore out of their enclosure today.... freedom! Little bit unsure at first but soon got scratching and nibbling at things. Met our cats too and they went very well :D
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Hi, lovely looking girls there, they look very happy in the garden :D
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You might need to mow the lawn for them as they can suffer with impacted crop if the grass is long. They will love eating the new shoots of the grass and wild plants. ;)
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Good point, will have to do that, my lawn is usually full of frogs so I hate mowing it! Normally go around with a pair of shears instead, backbreaking but less carnage!
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fab hens there. I really do like the look of these sussex's. Take note ww, NO MORE HENS...... :unsure:
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fab hens there. I really do like the look of these sussex's. Take note ww, NO MORE HENS...... :unsure:
Yes beware of Light Sussex wildwitchy, all 5 of my Bantams turned out to be cockerels! :ohmy:
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On second thoughts, I don't think my Paddy and Sidney would take to anymore man friends, cept definate GIRLfriends. :lol:
Jeez, thats bad luck. You fell out with the big fella upstairs! :ohmy:
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I really hope not and the neighbours have been very understanding (well no one has complained yet!) Only 2 left and they are not crowing fully at the moment.
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Nice hens jane think i may get some of those,but how long will they stay white for when they have been dust bathing lol!!! :)
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Mine are staying pretty clean, had one with a muddy tummy once but next morning she was as clean as a whistle again.
Had one fly over next doors garden fence today..... was quite an amazing flight! I was quite impressed until we had to get her back again.....fun and games! Dont want to have to clip their wings so might have to get some high bushes put in between us and next door, cant afford to fence it, would cost a fortune! Currently there is a 4ft wire fence between us and a few similar height bushes. Not good.
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...it doesn't sound fox proof... does your neighbour have a high fence? My boundary with my neighbour isn't the strongest I admit as I didn't dig down but I'm hoping the hedge roots will block a tunnelling fox.
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The garden isnt fox proof but their enclosure is. We only let them out when we are in the garden, dont even go indoors, just stay outside with them. We do have foxes living in the area, our garden backs onto woodland and we hear them regularly, hence the fox proof enclosure! Still mulling over what to do about the fencing, we have a man living 2 doors away who is a professional fence putter-upper so will enquire how much it would cost to 6ft panel fence the last 2 sides of the garden, already have 6ft fence to the other neighbours side. If too expensive we are thinking about the 6ft bamboo fencing which would only cost about £100 or so and would need less maintainence.....
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Our fences are over 6 feet and the foxes clear it :(
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Loads of info in fox thread. I didn't want to spoil your fun and joy in your new hens - I'm new to it too and its a wonderful thing. :)
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When i had my new girls one loved to launch off anything and end up on the 6ft hedge every night! What a performance ladder out and a very unhappy screaming hen! However when she started to lay she choose to go straight in the coop and her flying days were over! hopefully they should settle down, if you do decide to clip one wing (as this unbalances them) there are different outcomes some can still fly up and over hedges so it doesn't always work.
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Not too worried about the foxes really, they often bring their young ones on next door lawn so we are used to living with them, hence Hubby making a very fox proof enclosure! I let them out yesterday evening and stood like a goalkeeper by next doors fence waiting for flying chickens! Luckily they behaved then it started raining and they all went to bed! Their flying only seems to happen when they get spooked, they dont seem to choose to do it voluntarily.
Really enjoying them, they are such characters!
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I got an old bench from the tip. I've had many a happy cup of tea on it whilst being hen-entertained.! Lunch ends up being shared.
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Got our first egg today! Woo hoo! Very exciting! And perfect too, about 3/4 size of 'normal' size. Clever hen. Not sure which one layed so gave them ALL a treat! Corn on the cob all round.
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:D First of many. Now you have to decide who gets to eat it and what to make with it. :D