[solairesgrandad]

Hi all,
we've just started with chicken keeping on our allotment. We intend to build up to about 8 chooks. The first two we bought from a breeder and the rest we'll get from a rescue centre eventually.
We've got two Blubells and where told they're 17 weeks old. We weren't expecting any eggs for a few weeks yet. Not just 'cos of their age but they had to be settled. We got them just under 2 weeks ago and one of them (Stashoo) has been laying an egg a day for the past 10 days now. Who's a clever girl.
A couple of points though. Although she's laying alright and the eggs taste great, the eggs are kind of on the small size, although they are getting bigger each time, but when I compare them with other chooks on the allotment they do seem to be a lot smaller at the moment. Will the eggs get bigger as the bird gets older and larger?

The second hen (Attilla)  laid last night at about 7p.m. The egg was about the same size as the other ones but it was soft. Afterwards she seemed to be a bit shell shocked (no pun intended). She seemed alright today though. We were up at the allotment earlier than yesterday so she hadn't laid anything then, but I'll check in the morning. Is this something that does happen?

We've tried feeding them on Layer Pellets but they don't seem to be too interested in that. We've tried corn but that's doesn't really excite them either. We bought some Growers today and they seem to enjoy that. They've also got grit as well. Each evening we let them out into the allotment to free range and they go mad for ants and bugs.

We don't think they're sleeping in their hen house either, although they are using the nest boxes. If they are sleeping in there they're exrememly clean in their ablutional habits. Though you should see the state of the hen house roof.

I'm fairly certain there are no problems with them 'cos they do seem to be very contented chooks and very cuddly and also seem to watch us go from the top of their hen house and are always pleased to see us 'cos they already know they'll get let loose.

I'll let you know what the run and coops are like when I get around to uploading the pics and also when I've extended their run area.

Cheers
Soliaresgrandad

[Vi]

Hi there,

Welcome  

Our girls started laying small pale eggs and as they've matured (they're not that old really) the eggs have gotten larger and darker.  We used to be able to tell who layed which egg by the colour but it's getting harder with the older two (Goose and Road Runner) because they're both brown eggs and Duck the youngest one's eggs only look lighter in bright lights.

Our first chook to lay seemed a bit surprised for a while when she layed but she's been fine the whole way through otherwise.

Vi

[Roughlee Handled]

Firstly solairesgrandad welcome to the mad house.
The must be feed on Layer pellets or mash, but pellets are better.
Layers are formulated for Layers
Growers are formulated for Growers (putting on weight) A fat hen never lays eggs!!!

Second they MUST be shut away every night in the coop. You will either have to go and shut them away or purchase a pop hole closer.  You can not leave the pop hole open.  Your Chickens will suffer from a draft in the winter (this is not good and can cause illness). Lets face it I bet you do not like drafts!!! They also must be kept in because foxes can dig into your run and then get your chucks. Believe me it will not be long before that will happen if you leave them outside. 
She is laying pullet eggs it is normal for them to be small. I am not sure of your age but if you are of the older generation can you remember being sold pullet eggs (smaller and cheaper) .

Hope this helps.

[solairesgrandad]

Thanks for those couple of replies. I've been reading some of the other posts and, really, if you can't find the answer here then you'll probably not find it anywhere.

Now then, as for the run and hen houses. We built a run first of about 12ft x 6 ft and slopes down from 7ft at the front to about 5ft at the back. It's coverd in wire mesh on the outside  with about 1t jutting out under the ground. We aslo bought one of the "3 Large bird" Chinese coop and run. Ha! 3 small chicks more like. The good thing though was that I then had the plans and construction method to build our own which is about 6ft by 3ft. That one sits inside our own run and the smaller one is fixed on the outside with acess to the main area. We don't let them use that. We'll use that for any problem birds we might get or as a hospital wing. We then run an electic fence ( 2 wires at Fox nose height) all the way around it to keep Mr. Fox out.

What we will be doing is extending on the end of the run once we've got our onions lifted. The whole allotment is fenced in to a height of 4ft but we'll extend this upward with netting (I think that both our hens seem to have been watching The Great Escape or Chicken Run)  and then cover the whole with netting. We've got a few fruit trees in this allotment and the girls love scratching around in it. We only let them into this bit when we're up there with them, which is why we want to extend the run, put some electric mesh around it and let them free range as much as possible. By the time we're finished they'll have an area of about 5M x 5M, without the orchard part, so they should have enough room to run about in.

I'll also take on board the bit about the pop hole closure as well and try that.

Thanks troops.
Sid

[Flowerpower136]

I'll also take on board the bit about the pop hole closure as well and try that.

Thanks troops.
Sid

New to this too, in fact so new, haven't even got the girls yet.  But, getting well prepared thanks to this forum.  Have taken advice from here and splurged on an automatic pop hole opener.  It's installed and on trial, and is working beautifully.  Will take all the worry about 'Did I or Did I not..........?  Also give the girls maximum possible daylight hours, and will mean a little less to ask of neighbours if we're away.  Would recommend despite the expense.

[Roughlee Handled]

ON the pop hole openers if you have installed it on a wooden door, be aware the string can break when the door freezes closed in the winter. I have added a screw either side that the door sits on, as this happened twice to me last year.

[joyfull]

thanks for that tip Ruff as I have just ordered one of these and waiting for it to be delivered 

[Flowerpower136]

ON the pop hole openers if you have installed it on a wooden door, be aware the string can break when the door freezes closed in the winter. I have added a screw either side that the door sits on, as this happened twice to me last year.

As we were building from scratch, I bought a steel door to be sure the weight was OK, and the frame has screws as you describe. Gets seriously cold up, so it's bound to happen at some point.

[Sparkle]

Yes we've just installed an auto pop hole thingie - works really well and is great idea for lie ins
cheers for the tip about the door freezing in winter - will look out for that!
Sparkle