My hens are here!!!

I get broodies that have been seperated from the others for only a few days fighting!

 

Do you pick them up and cuddle them at all? I'm sure I would want to. :D

Val

 

There are some who would say that chickens are not cuddly. However some chickens love being picked up and will sit on a knee or in your arms...providing there's something in it for them, usually food.

Several of mine positively hate being handled though and will scream the place down if you try!

 

Oh Vicki those are gorgeous ! :luv:

 

:thumb: YEs lovely little fluffy hens silkies are, great photos you took too - we also have 3 silkie bantams in amongst other assorted chooks - agree they are very cute and friendly & all have very different characters. Lovely eggs too! Must get yourself a compost heap sorted somewhere...by spring you will have a great spread for your veggie/flower beds.

 

Hi Victoria

Your girls are gorgeous!! I would really love some Hens but the other half is not keen!

Are they very noisy? We only have a small garden in quite a built up area, are there any laws about having hens in close proximity to the neighbours etc?

 

Hi Lolly
You will need to check on the deeds of your house as some newer builds (and developments) have a covenant on them specifically prohibiting the keeping of livestock (which chickens come under, rather than pets). However...I have been reliably informed that Allotment Act of 1950 over rides any covenants such as mentioned above.

Of course, if you are renting, check with landlord first!

They aren't too noisy, although if they get spooked they 'announce', which is similar to an alarm call. Then when they lay they do similar - a throwback to their ancestors in the wild, leading predators away from where they had laid eggs. It's the luck of the draw whether you get noisy hens or not, as it is down to character and temperment, although some breeds are more raucous than other.

Of course a cock is out of the question in a built up or even semi-built up area. All it takes is one neighbour who has had his or her sleep interrupted once too often (4am on a Sunday morning in summer) to complain to the local Environmental Health Officer and you will have them knocking on your door. They can't stop you keeping chickens, but a cock crowing is deemed a nuisance.

 

Do you not need the 'presence' of a cock bird to get them to lay?

Val

 

So far we don't find Silkies at all noisy, although I realise they are not at laying age yet. They seem to make a noise somewhere between a chirp and a cluck, more than anything. I contacted environmental health and asked if it was ok to keep hens here - knowing it was because we see them down the road free ranging, but I wanted to check. Also had to be careful because we live in a little estate (not sure if you could call it an estate but a cluster really!) of houses, all be it only two rows and surrounded by fields! I just wanted to make sure that if my neighbours did ever complain I wouldn't have any nasty rules saying I shouldn't have hens in the first place.

They are totally lovable and we make sure we handle them a couple of times at the weekend. During the week they are a bit hard to catch for me, although I did catch Nessa yesterday for my mum to stroke. To be honest that isn't much of an achievement because she's so laid back about everything she's practically horizontal!

We haven't tried to handle the new ones yet, we're giving them a week to settle in and establish a 'flock' which seems to be happening at last. There's still the odd flap and bit of pecking but they all trot around together and lay in the sun together too.

I decided to open the run door to let them into the pen on Tuesday and they've been much happier since. I let them out in the morning and they come in and out of the pen as they please, but I leave the window open a tiny bit so I can hear any noise, in case of cats. Now we have the bigger ones I'd like to think there's safety in numbers - I wouldn't mess with Dorothy or Betty!!! If I go out, or if I can't keep checkingon them, I keep them in the run. We have a clear view of the pen and run from the sofa - so I have an excuse to sit down often! Hee hee! :hehe:

They went mad for sweetcorn yesterday, which my toddler refused to eat for tea. They love apples from the tree and any cucumbers which grow slightly deformed! They have now dug a dust bath - Lucy showed them all how to do it. She's keen to impress and work her way up the pecking order.

We've decided to get rid of our flower bed under the hedge at the end of the garden, it's always been a struggle to get things to grow, so it's going over to chicken space!

 

Excellent news - glad you have fallen in love with them and they are settling in so well. In a year, you'll wonder how you did without them.

Val, hens will lay with or without a cock - they have been bred and developed over hundreds of years to do just that, the result being some breeds that can produce up to 350 eggs in one year.

 

Or in the case of Silkies a hundred odd! Not quite such a good egg tally is it?! I love them anyway.

It's windy today and they keep trying to brave it out in the pen, rushing round like 'Henny Penny' squawking something about the sky falling in, and then dashing back into their house. So funny!

I know Silkies go broody often, but what does that actually mean in real terms? I read on another forum a post from a woman who had been hand feeding a broody hen because she won't budge - sounds pretty high maintenance!!!

 

When they go broody, shout I wrote a guide to dealing with stubborn broodies a couple of years ago for a poultry forum and I am happy to pass it on.

In preparation, get a metal cage - the sort of thing a small dog would travel in, with bars all round and on the 'floor'. You have the time now to look in car boot sales etc, before they go broody. I promise the guide isn't cruel, although it does sound it, but it's for their own good

Oh course, you might be lucky and none go broody, but with 5 Silkies....I think not! x

 

Well, I sympathise with them - with three boys and coming from a large family I guess I have a reputation for broodiness myself!

Thanks for that Aaron, I will start looking out for one!!! Watch this space.. :thku:

 

Hi Victoria, How are your girls getting on?

 

Really good thanks

Although yesterday there was a hell l of a noise from the garden, so we jumped up to find a cat running away from the chicken pen, Dorothy with neck stretched high (making her look twice her size!) and making a really loud alarm cluck. They were all going mental.

I take great satisfaction in the knowledge that they frightened the cat off themselves, but I'm a bit concerned about all the bloomin' cats round here!