Help and advice please

dominobrown

dominobrown

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(not horsey)Hi,:confused:
I am hopefully getting chickens soon, I have a chicken house and run and water drinker thingy, I don't actually know much about the chickens so any tips and advice???
Also does anyone has a rooster or know where I can get one??
Thanks

Also think I have sold my 3yr old! yeh- complaining about how difficult it is to sell a horse then had about 10 enquiries without even advertising! And nobody haggled about the price! yey
(Now I can start to looking for a horse to buy- the fun bit!!! If anyone knows about a point to pointer or an ex race horse which has good form over fences let me know! I am looking for something to point myself and it will have a permanent home.)
 
People will give away roosters usually, look in your local paper, personally i wouldn't bother with one unless you particularly want chicks.
 
Hi, Try one of the well known charities for a rooster, they are usually quite hard to rehome. Have you an age range for the pointer?
 
Don't get a cockerel unless you have no neighbours, they are very noisy! They can also be very aggressive. One of mine has just gone to heaven after trying to claw my eyes out one too many times! Also, don't forget that if you breed you will probably have to cull male chicks so only do so if you are prepared for this.

You should ideally have a minimum of three chucks, pick a hardy, friendly breed. They should be fed layers pellets and corn and also like sweetcorn, cabbage etc. They'll also need grit, especially if they don't free range. They should be wormed every 3 months or so with something like flubenvet. You also need to keep on top of parasites, including the dreaded red mite.

Be prepared to spend hours watching them, they're much more interesting than you would imagine!
 
hens are sooo much fun!

choose a good quality feed as you'll actually feed less. Allen&Page do a good one, as do FancyFeed.

offer your hens a pan of oyster shell grits ad lib - it helps keep their bones and egg shells in good condition.

Change the water frequently as they'll get all sorts in it!

If you feed corn during the summer use it as a treat and to get them into their coop at night, and feed layers pellets the rest of the time or they'll gorge on the corn.
Feed corn in the winter as it's higher calorie and they're laying less so they don't need as much of the layers pellets then

They'll rake over your garden/paddocks/veg patch given half a chance so wire up anywhere you don't want them to get to!

They'll pick over most kitchen scraps, but suprisingly last nights rice isn't as popular as you'd imagine!

We have 3 Black Rock girlies (a cross between the Plymouth rock, and a black breed) who are hardy, and quite friendly but lay well. They boss the dog and the cat about!! Before that we had 3 wyandotte bantam hens, they were more friendly but being little didn't lay so well.

Don't bother with a cock unless you want chicks, they're more hassle than they're worth! our last one had a penchant for laddering your tights just as you left the house to go to school/work!

Have fun!! Ours are "trained" to come when you call "henny henny henny, chick chick chick" (and shake the feed pan!) and the sight of 3 birds thundering across the garden inevitbaly ends up with us in hysterics! ;)
 
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