[ReaderRabbit]

Hi all

have been lurking for a while and am now the proud owner (slave?) of 3 chooks.  I have got a laurel branch (freshly cut today) and was wondering if it is safe to give to my girls with the leaves stripped off?

I know the leaves and berries are poisonous but are the brances OK?

Any advice gratefully recieved.

Thanks

RR

[Vember]

Hi ReaderRabbit

Welcome to the mad house  

Can't really help with the laurel question, but i'm sure someone will be along shortly who can


An if you've been lurking for a while you'll no about the RULE for Photo's  


Sarah

[ReaderRabbit]

Thanks for the welcome.  The girls have not been very cooperative on the photo front and every time I've tried to take one they walk away  

I have managed to get a few shots and hope they've uploaded properly.






The White Wyandotte is Tori and she is definitely leader of the pack.  Lacy is the Gold Laced Wyandotte (no bum feathers but starting to fluff up a bit now) and the speckled brown Barnebar is Ophelia (from Shakespeare's Omlet).  

Lacy and Ophelia have not quite worked out who is higher in the pecking order yet.  Lacy gives Ophelia the odd peck but Ophelia got her own back yesterday by giving Lacy a swift kick to move her out of the way when she was sitting sunning herself.

We've had them for 9 days now and they are around 19 weeks old, so they are still quite shy with us humans.

They are totally mad though and go wild when an insect flies into their run.  Oh and they duck when an aeroplane flies overhead  

Looking forward to joining in with more chicken news in the coming weeks.

RR

[agingchick]

Hi mine don't run away they run to me so all I get is a close up of their head. They follow me round the garden and are at this moment pecking at the patio doors to get my attention. So cute. I've had them a week and can't stop watching them

[Vember]

Get them some dried mealworms and you'll soon have them eating out of your hand

[ceri green]

hi
as far as i know, the sap is also very toxic (to humans too so you shouldnt get it on your skin or beathe in microscpic particles)....presumably there will be sap in the branch!
i wouldnt risk it unless anyone knows the definitive answer!

and good luck with your chooks  

[poultrygeist]

I know the berries are poisonous but didn't think the leaves were. We have one in the chook run so if so, I'll need to dig it out  :shock:

They haven't been eating any of it as far as I know but don't want to risk anything.
Apparently, it depends what variety it is.

Rob

[Vickie & Richard]

Find some worms in the garden, they go mad for them, i've had my girls just over a week now and they got mad for treats.  And I've just had my first egg this afternoon, yay!!

[poultrygeist]

Congrats on your first egg V&R !!

You'll have to post a photo on the Chicken Chat !  

They do indeed love worms and slugs and almost anythign they can dig up, but it sometimes takes them a while to figure out that they are edible.

Rob

[ReaderRabbit]

Had the girls out this evening free ranging for the first time (first dry evening for a week).  They had a great time having the run of the garden and were quite happy coming right up to us in exchange for meal worms and corn  

They've got a routine bedtime and even today they found their way back into the run then into their coop about 8:20pm - clever girls !!!

The only thing we need to do now is teach them that the dust bath (washing up bowl full of earth and sand) is for bathing not eating  

RR

[chickenlady]

hello! we have had 3 of our chickens since eggs and 2 for 3 weeks, for the last 2 months they have happily lived under 2 huge laurel trees with loads of extra branches fixed around for them to clamber on, which they love! they have stripped a few new little leaves to no ill effect but tend to leave them alone so i dont think they pose a problem, our girls get so much fun from them, jumping from branch to branch ! by the way this is my first post and i love it! my girls are princess layer and nugget, (goldlines) anikhen, (babcock) and roastie and paxo (ambers). will put some pics on as soon as ive worked out how!

[poultrygeist]

Welcome chickenlady. Are you in the 'bottom' part of Lincs or near the 'head' end ?  :shock:

Sounds like you've got a nice setup for them.

For posting photos, take a read of this and feel free to ask questions if it seems a bit confusing...

http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?t=19476

Rob

[chickenlady]

hi yes we are spalding way not far from boston! can anyone tell me if flubenvet is easy to use and if you can eat the eggs whilst treating? (not that any of ours are laying yet!)the 3 youngsters are 14 wks and the ambers are aprox 18-20 wks cant wait for our first egg! its gonna be the most celebrated event this year!

[poultrygeist]

Yes. Fulbenvet is very easy. And yes, you can eat the eggs during treatment.

There's a topic about it HERE

Did you get your hens from (Grannie)Annie ?

Rob

[chickenlady]

thanks for the advice, had bought verm-x but everyone keeps saying its rubbish, unforunately we didnt get our new girls from GrannieAnnie (sorry!) I really wanted some pol ambers cause im impatient for eggs! (still eggless) but when hubby is convinced we need more! (im working on it) I will definately check out her stock! she has been really helpful with my youngsters and i wouldnt of found this forum without her, here is pic of the girls minus roastie cause she was having a bath!!!