Off to collect our hens this morning .....

Very excited here. Hen house completed yesterday so went off to our local animal feed yard to ask about hens. In the yard there was a run full of turkeys, cages of rabbits and another cage full of young chickens (very pretty speckly ones) but these apparently are for meat and there in an outbuilding were 7  brown chickens sitting in a row in wire cages.  The man said that they had just started to lay and there was certainly evidence of that as the cage floors sloped away to allow eggs to fall forwards and there were several eggs sitting there. Off this morning to collect them (5 euros each) and a bale of straw and bags of feed and corn.

Although they were in wire cages they looked very healthy and alert. I presume they will learn easily enough to climb up their ladder to bed, roost on their perches and lay their eggs in the boxes.

Watch this space.......

Dawn

ooh good luck withyour new additions, have fun today its so exciting bring them  home.  Look forward to seeing them here
Sandra
xx

Don't forget to give them names...   Then you won't be able to eat them  

As requested photos below. Unfortunately when we arrived 2 had been sold to someone else because the man left in charge hadn't been told that they were reserved so only 5 came home. Probably add 2 or 3 more next week.

I was told to take the 5 eggs that were sitting in their cages from this morning and we ate them lunchtime in a tortilla - yummy!

We put them in their house with the pophole open but after an hour or two noone had ventured out so we opened the doors and lifted them down. They made for the food and water straight away and loved the dirt tray - you will see that we had to swop it over for a larger one. They have also had some lettuce leaves which were popular.

I suppose tonight we will have to lift them back up - I wonder if the ladder is too steep.

They seem really happy already. Can't get anything done in the house keep popping down the garden as does OH and daughter. Daughter wants to decide on the names but they all look the same to me at the moment so how we will tell them apart I don't know. Coloured leg rings maybe.

Thank you everyone for your good wishes.

Dawn

I've only had chickens for a few weeks, but when we put them out they couldn't do the ladder either as the struts were too far apart.  We watched them grappling to make the gap between each one and slipping back. As ex-batteries their legs were probably a bit on the weak side as well. We put in some extra struts in between the others and they were soon up and down like a fiddlers elbow.

Update 2 - these chickens seem to be really clever - after a demonstration by my daughter they have got the idea of going up and down the ladder. We shall see later if they will put themselves to bed!

Aunt Sally - good idea about the deeper dust bath - ours have almost emptied theirs already - there is one in particular who just will not get out and rolls upside down like a dog waving her feet in the air and then stands and shakes herself so that the dirt flies in all directions.

When/if they go upstairs to bed and we shut the pophole should we leave them food and water overnight or just water?

Dawn