We are getting chickens ! Tips please

[tessybear]

Dad has built a huge run for them ( spoilt birds) and we are hoping to get 3 never owned chickens before so what would you advise putting in the actually nesting box area and in the run floor ?. Dad has put in mesh a good way under the ground incase there are foxes about and it's very secure but just after some handy tips for first time owners


Tah !

 

[Elsiecat]

Ours like digging in bark on the floor of their run. If you've built a huge run and have a big house you may find they need more to keep warm in winter

 

[AdorableAlice]

Marks and Spencer Korma sauce and a nice nan bread.

Sorry, couldn't resist that one !

Ours have shredded paper for bedding and are in a large pen.

 

[WelshD]

No. Dont get chickens they are fully addictive!

We started off with three and now have more than I can count lol

The Omlet and Practical Poultry forums are very good for encouragement and advice. Omlet is more fluffy but has some very good knowledgable core members (plus a team of really nice decent and helpful mods which naturally includes me lol) Practical Poultry is a bit more practical lol

I would suggest not going for hybrids personally but it depends on your requirements for them.

Hybrids have a shorter life span, get more problems associated with egg laying and can be very rough with each other, vices are more common too. On the other hand they lay more eggs and for most of the year too

Pure Breeds, especially the heavier classic farmyard chickens like Sussex, Marans, Wyandottes and Rhode Island reds are usually much more laid back and less prone to all kinds of problems. They will usually take a break from laying over winter, they will live longer as a result though

As for the run... woodchip is ideal if the run does not have a roof, B&Q sell it but I get mine locally from a wood processing place. Hard wood chips are better than soft wood chips

Dont use bark as it contains harmful spores, it also gets slippery when wet

If the run has a roof then your floor covering possibilities are wider, Bedmax is good and if the run is sheltered then Aubiose or Softbed is ideal

Basically you have two options, go for a more permenant flooring like the woodchips then dig a load out a couple of times a year or you can have a thin layer of a more disposible bedding and shovel that up and completely replace when its dirty

In the nesting box you could use shredded paper, woodshavings, straw or one of the many horse beddings there are about. Dont use sawdust or hay though

 

[Elsiecat]

We have woodchip, not bark, I got confused!

 

[Evie91]

My tip - don't read the thread I posted "chicken help!" - it could well put you off!
I've not much to offer - will have had my chucks a week tomorrow. Love them already - be prepared that you end wasting a lot of time just watching them, they are very entertaining!

 

[Bestdogdash]

I am addicted to my hens - they are fab ! I have 5.

In the house I use Bliss over newspaper on the floor - very absorbing, smells nice and they dig a little hole in it to sleep (for some reason, mine don't roost). I put newspaper in the nest boxes with a lovely bed of barley straw. I muck out the house once a week. Mine are free to go anywhere, so can't help you with the run materials.

Enjoy - they are wonderful.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I am fond of my chickens-they are very entertaining and the only animals I have that oay for their own food. Although the commercial 'garden' hybrids lay well in their first year, the second year they aren't that impressive IME and the problem with those types is that they aren't bred for productivity long term.
they are addictive, I've just rehomed a fair few and culled some boys to cut down a bit and am now itching to replace them.

 

[Honey08]

We have ex-battery hens. We went for three, came back with six! Now we have 12. They're so cheap and easy to keep - ours lay all year round, so we sell six boxes of eggs a week, which pays for their feed. We have strangers asking for eggs when they walk past! We leave them on the wall outside the house with an honesty box.

We use straw for the house floor and nesting boxes - we started with shavings for the floor, but they rolled in it and scratched it all over, straw patted down was just easier. Its a small house, so I just skip out daily with rubber gloves on.

Our run is part hardcore/gravel and part earth/grass (they eat the grass and strip it away). They like to scratch and roll in things - we put a pile of shavings out on sunny winter days for them to roll in, they love it. You can kill two birds with one stone and put mite and flea powder in the shavings so they douse themselves at the same time!

 

[cremedemonthe]

I've had them on and off (just got a few last week) for 35 years and am still learning.
I always double skin the runs with wire as foxes can bite through one thickness.
I sink wire into the ground too to stop them digging underneath and have the timbers of the run on a course of bricks, helps stop foxes or mice digging under and stops the timbers rotting so quickly.
Make sure you have oyster shell grit readily available, especially when they come into lay or the shells will be thin.
Oz

 

[MotherOfChickens]

give them a slice of hay occasionally, they love scratching around in it and making a mess. I put wood ash (never use coal ash) in their dust bath-helps against parasites. worm them properly with flubenvet-don't fall for the herbal stuff. when they moult, give them something like Respite in their water-its a great pick me up for them in crappy weather as well.

 

[touchstone]

And buy some rat blocks.

 

[Evie91]

Sorry Tessybear - hope you don't mind me butting in. I've been watching your thread with interest as I'm new to chicken keeping to.
I just have a few questions regarding the tips you have already been given, so hope it's ok to ask.

I was just wondering if you are providing chickens with a dust bath what you use as a container - would a children's sandpit work, with sand in it?

Also when wood ash is used- does that mean the stuff straight from the fire place?

Are bark chips just the general ones from the garden centre?

Last question - what's wrong with them scratching and rolling in coop shavings?

 

[Clodagh]

Childrens sandpit is great, I use wood ash straight from the fireplace mixed with sand and a bit of molehill. They love it!

You can get both bark and woodchips I think from the garden centre, make sure it is the wood ones.

Nothing wrong with them digging through shavings but they like straw or hay best as they eat andy seeds and anything they find in them.

Hay shouldn't be used as standard in nestboxes as it can contain moulds, but if you have hens that won't use the nest box put hay in for a while, they love it best of all!

 

[Evie91]

Brilliant thank you

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I was just wondering if you are providing chickens with a dust bath what you use as a container - would a children's sandpit work, with sand in it?

Also when wood ash is used- does that mean the stuff straight from the fire place?

I did use one of those big shallow trugs with a mix of play sand and woodash (from the fire) but yep, a sandpit would work fine. they like a mix of ash, sand and dirt (love the molehill tip, will collect some today!)-its a very important activity for them and you'll often find them all heaped up bathing on warm days.

I use bedmax in the house and laying boxes but have also used shavings and cardboard bedding as well.

I also have a small permanent pen that is earth and its fine-I lime it once a year, dig it over and top it with sharp sand. I just have to treat anything in there for scaly leg mite.

I don't feed grit-they get enough from their surroundings and I wouldn't feed oyster shell if they are on layers, as they'll get enough calcium from that.

 

[Honey08]

The only reason I don't like them rolling and scraping in the coop is the muck then sticks to the floor, rather than falling on the bedding, making it harder to skip out. If you have food and water in the coop (which I don't anymore) the shavings get flicked in it too..

I still feed grit and/or oyster shell with my layers pellets, the shells still get thin if not.

The rescue that rehomes the ex-battery hens uses wood chip from local tree surgeons in their run - its new and fresh and they love scraping about in it. Lumberjacks often give it away free too. Keep an eye out for people felling/trimming trees - often the electric board cuts trees under their lines and chips the wood there and then..

 

[Evie91]

How often do you muck out? I currently poo pick twice a day and did full muck out at the weekend ( after one week), felt a bit guilty though as the shavings I threw away weren't too bad ( I wouldn't have chucked them out of the horses stable!).
Also what do you use? - currently poop pick with rubber gloves and muck out with dust pan and brush. I'd really like a mini version of the horse poop scoop!

 

[Clodagh]

I do mine weekly, I don't poo pick. I use empty feed bags cut open in the houses so its just roll them up and burn them.
For poo picking would a cat litter tray scoop work?

 

[Honey08]

I just skip out with rubber gardening gloves - pick the poop out of the straw, or scrape the lot out if need be. The whole bottom of our coop slides out so I wash it out now and again. Generally speaking I don't like the slide out design though, its too drafty in bad weather.

 

[Evie91]

Good idea will try litter scoop.
Also should I treat the house for mites - even though I don't think we have any - as a precautionary measure?

 

[JenHunt]

hens are epic fun.... we have rare breeds and usually bantams (miniatures!)

the bantam wyandottes are the funniest, they have proper small person syndrome! the one we have at the moment was busy chasing crows and pheasants off mum's bird feeders this morning!! they all have their own little characters though....

we use easybed in our nest boxes, but the hens usually ignore them and nest whereever they happen to sit.... and as they are free to roam it can be anywhere!

 

[tessybear]

going to look at some chickens tomorrow from a lovely guy with years of experience so he will help us

 

[Richie]

The best tip must be to make sure foxes can't get at them!

Please check out this clip of a friend's hens:
http://youtu.be/a7qwcTM9hYI

They are contained by a 4ft chicken-wire fence, and a three strip electric fence.