Newby Chicken/Duck

oh yes, we are adding additional run space for the chickens - I agree that despite the coop being designed for 6 chickens the run space is limited so we're adding some on to it. The ducks, unfortunately will have to wait till we have ourselves set a bit more and can take on the additional responsibility and care!

Good to know that some will take care of the slugs! Used to live in Devon - miss it all the time!

ok - so chooks here and have started new questions on them!

1. We let them out to free range a bit - supervised for the moment as they're still new and we want to watch where they go but we have thought about putting a run a bit further out for them but not necessarily alway attached to their current coop/run (so a corral). So I am looking for a mobile sort of thing and know about omlet's products, are there any other suggestions out there...not looking for more expensive options as we want to keep a bit of a budget so omlet price or less would be what we're looking for.

2. Omnivores - the chickens seem to like their feed and some feed that has corn in it (big treat for them!) but much else seems limited. I've brought them fruit home, like strawbs, melon, mango - and they pick at it a bit but mostly it goes to waste. We've tried to give them worms from the garden, snails, slugs - they - may - poke it a bit but then that's it too. So I want them to have a good well rounded natural diet that hopefully includes something other than just feed but can't seem to entice them with much else. Any suggestions? Any ways in which to coerce them to eat something else (oher than starvation tactics)?

Thanks for the help!

If your chooks are point of lay they are still maturing and testing out new foods. Whilst it is good that they eat slugs and snails you need to be aware that they often carry worms so will need to factor this in to your worming regime.

You should find that they start to take bits of fruit and veg but sometimes need to acquire a taste for it. Sometimes they never eat certain things such as lettuce. If they are free ranging and have plenty of grass they should be able to get a good natural diet.

Their main food should always be layers pellets or mash as this is a balanced food providing them with everything they need. Too many titbits will make them fat and possibly fussy with their food - then they will train you to give more titbits. They can live on a diet purely of layers.

Do make sure they also have access to grit and oyster shell.

And enjoy!

Thanks for the info too - good to hear that they could get variety in their diet with age and exposure...it's nice to bring them home treats or have them be little bug catchers in the garden. All the food is just fresh fruit, which wouldn't be something they couldn't eat quite naturally in the outdoors and we did get them grit - it is best to mix it in with their feed or as I find when we throw it on the ground, it seems to get lost in the grass and they aren't interested (maybe they eat it later??)

They had their first dust bath today - well the first one I've ever seen. We're re-doing the garden a bit and moved some trees and bushes which exposed lots of dirt and they had a ball with that. It was so fun to watch them  And they're so good about going to bed - never have to ensourage them as they go into their coop pretty much same time every night on their own. They seem to like the nesting boxes and not so much roosting. Our Ginger will generally squeeze herself in with one of the others into one nesting box - despite the fact that there are 3 boxes giving each of them their own! 

I'd say just go for it, asl ong as you know how to care for chooks and ducks, do it.

to stop them using the nest boxes you can either block the nest boxes off at night or after they have gone to bed gently lift them out and place them on their perches. You may have to do this for quite a few nights until they get the hang of it