New to all this and really need advice.

well done cant wait for piccies an all those stories 

I get all my chicken consumables from Flyte So Fancy and I can confirm that they are, indeed, very nice.  Before I found this forum and got my girls, when I was ordering everything I needed and getting set up, the lady there, Anne, was absolutely invaluable with her advice and, I felt, was very honest about telling me that there was lots of things that I simply didn't need to buy.  

It's probably a bit mad to order everything from Dorset when I live in Bucks (I know for a fact there is a supplier of the Ex-Bats Crumbs about a twenty minute drive away near Whipsnade) but there is the convenience factor of having everything delivered to the back door by the lovely Tony from a certain courier company (those bags of chook food are heavy!) and I think it is good to support local (ahem) small businesses who provide such a good service.  So I am a loyal Flyte So Fancy customer.  Advert over...  

Agree, I've had loads of bits and pieces from them, including their marvellous auto pop hole thing.  I'm not a girl for gadgets, but that one is brilliant, worth every penny.

Glad you've taken the leap, you definately won't regret it. Hens are a joy, and a worry .

I've just been perched with mine for the last 30 minutes trying to work out who is doing sloppy yellow poos.  I'm non the wiser, but I do know its not Pearl, and that's who I was worried about.  She's done a nice big firm one for me this morning   Clever girl.

The Battery Hen Welfare Trust recommended this too and it's what we did.  Although, generally, food and water don't go in the house, we put both in overnight so they had everything they needed and could get some peace and quiet and feel safe.

We got our birds from Coventry (still getting used to those Midlands accents!), drove them straight back down (since they were ex-batts, I was terrified that the stress of the journey would kill them and we opened the boxes with great trepidation when we got home), put them straight in the house (which we had all ready for them), shut the door and left them alone.

We opened the coop door into the run the next day, took the food and water out of the house and placed it just outside the door (of the coop, inside the run), and went away and left them to it.  They had all crept out of the house by lunchtime and have been getting more and more confident ever since.

Which coop did you get?  Tell us everything!

I Would go with what you have been told, They carry out this rehoming so many times and know best! We have always arrranged to collect birds in the evening so that they have been fed and are ready for a nights sleep. That way they seem to settle down quite well for the night abd are rested before they have to face the outside world. Havent had ex battery hens before but are on the list for 12 and waiting impatently.
Let us know how you get on and try not to tie yourself up in knotts before they arrive....plenty of time for that when they get to you

Oooh, that's a lovely house, I'm very jealous - I found Flyte So Fancy after I'd bought my house from another supplier (that I have seen mentioned on here) and the house was an absolute nightmare to put together, nothing fitted, all the screw holes were in the wrong place and, when I contacted aforementioned supplier, they said it "wasn't possible" that it didn't fit together, i.e. that I must be a liar.  Very bitter about the whole experience.

Yes, you'll manage it.  I'd never so much as touched a (live) chicken before I got mine home but the BHWT people just told me to put my thumbs on their backs and cover their wings with my hands when I lifted them out of the box, so they didn't flap and panic.  I did just that and had no trouble in popping them in the house (I did it via the larger back door rather than stuff them through the small front entrance) and then just closed the door and left them.

You wait, ol' Misery Guts will come around when they start following him around and being all affectionate!

Well wether he is a leg or a breast man a chicken has the lot