[rcf100]

Hi everyone,

I posted a few weeks ago a couple of posts about starting up.  I've now got a hen house in place, a run that will be finished tomorrow and a breeder with some POL ready soon.

What I'm now stuck on is what do you use to put your feed in?  I need to remove each night as there are rats in the village.  A friend who has chickens just has a washing up bowl with some holes in it, I'm guessing for drainage.  I'm tempted to do the same - do you reckon that's fine?

What about water, just a pet bowl?

What are the no no's on giving chickens to eat? What are the must do's?

My hen house is only small and there is only 1 nest box, will I need to provide another, and what would you recommend for that?

My hen house has a pull out metal tray for droppings, should I put newspaper on this and replace it every couple of days?  What do I put in the nest box?

Clipping wings - to clip or not to clip?  They will have a 6 ft enclosure with no roof, until it's built.

Chicken feed - does it contain everything nutritionally?  Is scratching and food scraps just variety?  Need to worm, what else?

I think that's all my questions, any and all answers would be a great help

[grinling]

I suspend my water and food feeders with wire from a bamboo cane under the roof of their indoor run.
If rats are obvious then a rat trap would be useful.
I use sawdust in my tray and line the nestbox with a sheet of newspaper and straw.

[tortzblue]

Phew! A lot of your Qs depend on how many chooks you have. Sorry haven't seen your other posts.
Well I'm newbie too but this is what I've picked up so far -

Feeding - Don't know about wash bowl but youtube has loads of ideas for homemade things or pet shops have hanging ones. Many are rat proof.

Water - I have a large pet upside down bottle one from pet shop that is good (the kind rabbits use) My girls caught on how to use it very quickly. needs filling daily for my two girls. Again check out youtube for other ideas. Water bowls get stamped on and turned over and pooped in!

Feed - I feed them mainly layers mash or you can use pellets. Daily fresh greens hung up to peck at. A few handfuls of seeds and stuff cos they love to scratch and rummage. Also a small occasional treat of water porridge mixed with a few finely chopped cooked veg left overs. Not salted tho. Stick to simple basic stuff without added salt or sugar.

Nest box - 1 box I think will do up to three chooks.

Newspaper - I guess thats ok but I think they may scratch it all up. I just put wood chips down others use wood shavings I think. I do a daily poo pick and a weekly scrub down with dilute detol and dust with anti mite powder

Clipping - I did hear about a chook that cleared a 6ft fence so personally I think I would clip just incase. Till you get a roof anyway. They do grow back.

Worming - Check with supplier They may have already done it. But it does need to be done regularly I think. How often depends on you really.

Hope that helps and if any of that is wrong somebody will let us know I'm sure!

All the best!

[rcf100]

Sorry, 3 chooks, run is fixed on grass which will disappear quickly I guess, then I will dig over regularly and add bark or wood chippings.

[rcf100]

Also I'm in a very wet area of the country.  I've got the house on stilts with some bars to stabalise it.  No other covered area for now, plan to change that before we get into winter though.  Would you put the feed under the house to keep dry or build a little shelter for the feeding area and keep it seperate?

[GrannieAnnie]

If for only 3 chooks, 1 nest box is fine.  Also another nest box in the coop will mean even less space for the chooks.  I try to give mine as much room as I can, both inside and out.

Things like washing up bowls are very easily tipped over and the feed goes everywhere.

I have proper feeders, but as I have quite a few chooks, some have drinkers, the others have cheap half height buckets that I buy from the cheapy shop for £1.

Yes they do get a bit muddy, and sometimes get pooped in, but they are cheap and easily cleaned.

We only ever use shavings, both in the coop and the nest boxes.  Straw is hollow and can harbour mould spores which can lead to respiratory diseases.  Sawdust is very fine and can also lead to RD.

The only thing with newspaper is some chickens will tear it up and throw it all over, so it just makes a mess.

We feed layers pellets as they are less messy than mash.  The girls get as much greenstuff as I can give them, and the occasional handful of grain in the afternoon as a treat.

[syman]

I am pretty new to this myself. I adopted 2 girls from the school i work at and originally had with an integral run on a concrete base. I have now extended the run area to take up the whole of the concrete base giving them about 4sqM to mooch about in. I have bark chippings at the moment, but will replace with wood chips when i clean it all out next weekend.

In the coop i use wood shavings and straw in the nest box. I do a daily poop scoop and intend to complete replace the bedding and shavings every 10 days or so, sooner if it is needed.

I use a bucket to for their water, a flatish tray for layers pellets and a flower pot for grit. the pellets are placed under the coop to protect from the rain.

the girls get a daily run in the garden for as long as we are around, so i think they should get plenty of grass to eat, along with slugs, snails and worms LOL.

Finally in the evening, they get a handful of mixed grain for supper and to entice them back to the run. and then they are shut in for the night.

[rcf100]

I've been having a look on youtube and came across this video.  Am about to get hubby to build it for me if you guys reckon it's good

IapmzdzGFaw

[tortzblue]

I've been having a look on youtube and came across this video.  Am about to get hubby to build it for me if you guys reckon it's good

IapmzdzGFaw

Make sure it's off the ground cos of rats and also covered from the rain.
I made a different one to this on youtube. Made from waste pipe too but it was an advert to buy it in USA, not a how to do it video. I watched it over and over and worked it out.
I don't know how to post a link - sorry. but the is what the name is - on youtube, see what you think it's a bit more complicated but keeps the rain out tho!

 Dine-a-Chook Chicken Feeder.mp4

[rcf100]

B&Q didn't have the stuff so I haven't got it.  I'll check out that vid before I head down to travis Perkins.

I'm planning on lifting it out each night for the rat issue and having it on the house so it can tuck underneath to keep it dry.  Was just going to put some hooks on the house and get some bungy cables on to attach it

[tortzblue]

Sounds like a good plan!
I was lucky OH has a garage like Aladin's cave, you name it, it's in there somewhere! Anyway hope you find what you need.