Maria
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I have chooks - woo-hooIt's happened at last. I've been umming and ahhing about chooks for ages now. I've been putting it off for all sorts of reasons...worried i'd not be able to give them enough room/time - haven't finished the hen house/run etc.
Well - this weekend saw me 'planned' by FMN's lovely hubby - and now we have 4 hens clucking around in their new home. Enormous thank you's needed for FNM and family. And as if the news couldn't get any better....they laid 2 eggs this morning. Hopefully a sign they're settling in well.
I'm as nervous as can be and only an hour or so after FNM had gone was on the phone to FMN the 'chook doc' to ease my mind about them bedding down for the night. 
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Forget-me-Not
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HensCongrats Maria and Co! We know you will be the very best chook owners and your hens are very lucky indeed.
Big Hugs
Beth 
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Smooth Hound
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Smooth Hound
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i just wanted to see what the washing line one looked like 
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Maria
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It's bucketing it down here, not the weather for line drying...and yet the daft chooks are stood in rain. Erm that was another call to the chook doc earlier to see if it was normal.
Have built them a wee table type thingymibobby so their food will stay dry and they have somewhere to shelter. They seem to prefer having a shower though. 
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Townie
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Congratulations ... You will have many a happy time watching them pottering around the garden
Well done FMN & Family too 
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Sassinak
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Don't worry if they lay for a few days and then go on strike for a couple of weeks.
They will often lay the ones that are "in the pipeline!!" and then get stage fright because things have changed. They will come back into lay in a couple of weeks 
Enjoy !!
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Forget-me-Not
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Hi jacking thread ooops Maria sorry!While I'm passing by and befiore I forget..... (hope this ok) read a new thing about chooks today. Apparently if introducing new chooks to established group, sprinkle them with talc to disguise new smell and they're welcomed more. dID'T SAY WHETHER YOU HAD TO SPRINKLE OLD CHOOKS FOR A WEE BIT FIRST  (oops caps)
Beth
Also interested about Sass' pipeline news, worth remembering.
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Ironworker
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Congrats on getting the 8 legged shredding machine
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Smooth Hound
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Re: Hi jacking thread ooops Maria sorry! | Forget-me-Not wrote: | While I'm passing by and befiore I forget..... (hope this ok) read a new thing about chooks today. Apparently if introducing new chooks to established group, sprinkle them with talc to disguise new smell and they're welcomed more. dID'T SAY WHETHER YOU HAD TO SPRINKLE OLD CHOOKS FOR A WEE BIT FIRST (oops caps)
Beth
Also interested about Sass' pipeline news, worth remembering. |
that may just be of assistance
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Maria
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Will be keeping my eye on the little fluffy creatures that have taken up residence here. Think i'll have to move them into the ark thingy that A Fine Malt made...at least for some of the day. They've already shredded a bit of the ground into a small muddy puddle after all this rain. Do you think this will confuse them...they already seem to be one of the daftess creatures i know...apart from me i guess.
We're all finding it a bit tricky not to go and peek in and say hi to them with extra garden goodies. Don't think I'll have much of a veggie patch left if we go too soft on them. A's happy enough with them being fattened up.  Don't worry FMN i'm a watching him and that bbq skewer. He might threaten them with it if they go off lay for too long though.
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Smooth Hound
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just keep them way from the vege patch  sorry its your garden it just becomes habit, dont be soft with them,
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kimmie
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and dont worry about them....if you decide to introduce more later...put them in with them at night...when the others are asleep....they all wake up together thinking they have known each for years (after the pecking order is sorted of course).
mine go out in the rain....some will stand and huddle together, even though there are plenty of places to shelter....others will wander around in the rain...just remember they come from a forest...where it rains heavy from time to time.... so dont need to panic with them
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Sassinak
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I did hear about a woman who complained about the rain and wished it would stop because it was taking so long to dry the chickens at bedtime so that they didn't go to sleep cold and wett !!!!
Just see me going round with a towel LOL
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Townie
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Ok... this is going to sound mad... I do give my chickens a towel dry if they get wet so that they dont have to go to bed cold and wet
Also I found wee white lice on my 2 big hens last year, I took them in one at a time and gave them a shower and used the dog shampoo on them, rinsed them thoroughly, gave them a good towel dry, then took them into the kitchen and gave them a blast with the hairdryer to dry them off... took them outside and gave them a good old dusting with diatomaceous earth
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Smooth Hound
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, i can just picture it
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kimmie
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| Quote: | | Also I found wee white lice on my 2 big hens last year, I took them in one at a time and gave them a shower and used the dog shampoo on them, rinsed them thoroughly, gave them a good towel dry, then took them into the kitchen and gave them a blast with the hairdryer to dry them off... took them outside and gave them a good old dusting with diatomaceous earth |
Did you give them a blue rinse and perm too? hehehe only teasing
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Sassinak
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I'd have to set a couple of days aside to do that with my lot LOL
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Forget-me-Not
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ChooksJust picturing them in the bath!
Most of mine have always wandered around in the rain, some prefer to perch under the tree. I think they're really quite hardy really except for certain breeds.
Also the mud doesn't hurt their feet immediately. We've had a patch that gets muddy when it rains, the entrance of their area. We're re sorting the path in, to improve it but we aren't panicking, we just keep an eye on them. We have thrown grass cuttings down en route to the copost, it fills up the mud. They scratch around and a few days later we scoop some up mixed with poo onto the compost. It doesn't seem to do it any harm.
Hens have pottered round muddy farm yards for thousands of years.
Beth
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