Thank you to the people who gave me advice to my previous request.
I am probably naive and gullible. I had been considering keeping hens and had looked at coops and adopting battery hens but got seduced by a lady on our farmer's market and bought a package of coop, 2 hens, equipment, some food and bedding. The hens were about 13 weeks old. They were described as Amber and Goldline although I cannot find these breeds in identification sites - can anyone enlighten me?
On her advice I have
- been using sheets of newspaper on the floor of the coop which I replace daily as there is sooo much poo. Is this OK?
- using a mixture of wood chips, straw (although mosty books say this attracts red mite) and shredded newspaper in the nest boxes although these do not appear to have been used much yet.
Any advice re bedding/nesting?
Having read this site I have attached a larger rounded top to the perch/batton as the previous one was small and sharp edged. From the sites of poo piles it appears the hens are using this rather than the floor to sleep on. It is about 3" high now. Do I need to make a higher perch above the nesting box height?
I have attached a hook to suspend the feeder and brackets for removable wheels and handles so I can relocate the coop around the garden freqeuntly.
I feed layers pellets, mixed with a little grain given by the vendor. I have given them a bit of baked potato and a raw parsnip (not popular) for interest. Any other suggestions?
In this cold weather I have put a pot of water in the coop incase the outdoor water freezes and I put cider vinegar in their water.
I may have started off naively but I intend to do a proper job with the girls and who better to go to for advice than other hen keepers.
Thanks for all your help
PS my 2 year old grandchildren have named the hens - Quack (sorry - a hen with an identity crisis in the making) and Lily