Four new hens

thats terribly sad M, still she would have had more living in the time she was with you than all her less fortunate 'cage mates' would have had combined! & thats naught to be sniffed at i was only looking at the ex battery hens on facebook t'other day, so sad & depressing, makes me want to get a couple of them instead of the Silkies.

oh i should have phrased that differently! don't worry, i didn't mean it literally...i just meant im quite desperate for chucks at this stage the more i can get the merrier but it wont be less than two come what may

 

6 Eggs today! (for the first time in ages) All the noobs laid.

Plus some fun and games. Mona (AKA Moaner) got up early had started having a go at everybody, yes everybody including the other 2 existing hens, but this seems to have tired her out and she went into the coop to roost at 2:30am.

Ginger and Wanda, the other 2 existing hens, are trying to eat as much food as they can in an effort to stop the noobs from getting it, so much so that I saw Ginger with her beak so absolutely stuffed with it that she couldn't swallow whilst all the noobs were scoffing away. All that food into that pair seems to have resulted in 2 eggs out.

And Gwen flew up onto Mrs Scrungee's shoulder and looked in her ear as if she suspected there'd be some titbits there - thought about buying a cheap small punnet of grapes on Super 6 at Aldi as nearly all hens love grapes (and you if you provide them).

 

They can be odd things, used to feed mine spiders out of a superking's packet, mrs never worked out why the chicken used to go mad everytime she picked her fags up

 

I have 1 that flys up on me and when i fill the feeders up i come away with muddy foot prints on my back
Try them with some yogurt,mine love it.

 

Don't over do it with the yoghurt Joolz, birds don't produce the right amino acid to digest dairy products, can give them the runs.

Cuttlefish bone is a better way to give them calcium

 

What a nice thread

 

Our's really like some grated cheese on pasta with some home made tomato & basil sauce.


Very quite today, apart from a few squawks resulting from assertive behaviour, they generally they were starting to get on put up with one another, except when they got their greens and scraps specially prepared hen treats, but we have put in 2 feeders for layers pellets, plus we're using 2 bowls for scraps treats and 2 spring clips suspended on baler twine holding the green stuff for them to peck at (noobs sometimes take a while to pick up the trick of holding leaves to the ground with one foot whilst tearing away at it). We bought a couple of Savoy cabbages from Aldi on Super 6 @ 49p each to provide the hens with tasty distractions.

So it looks like yet another successful introduction. In two years time it will be all be happening again.

P.S. Gwen flew up onto Mrs Scrungee's head this morning and didn't want to leave.

 

You don't grow Cabbage? My neighbour a few doors up keeps Chickens, and they get all my Cabbage scraps.

 

I've always failed to grow them, but good neighbours (like yourself), etc., save their outer leaves/surplus for us. Generally we grow leaf beet/chard/seakale beet, but it's been rather slow growing here with a drought, which is why we splashed out a couple of cheap cabbages for the hens to peck, rather than each other.

 

I once considered keeping a few Chickens (SWMBO wanted them), but it seemed a bit too much bother, especially when it comes to going away. Getting someone who can be trusted to look after them during this time, being the issue. Maybe one day....

 

Yes, you need to provide a trusted a neighbour access to your hens, water, feed supply, etc., and organise any new additions so they don't occur just before somebody else takes over. Having a few other hen keepers in the street really helps.

 

My neighbour gave me 4 cabbages and 3 cucumbers for the chooks yesterday: I think my chickens have the best neighbours in the whole wide world (I'd already hung half a dozen eggs across the fence for him

 

First signs of fraternisation today!

 

Got another four new hens this morning

 

Lovely girls!