A few hens

[Greythundercloudys]

My daughter, she's nine, wants A few hens to look after, we got a small coup of gumtree, it's New, so thinking of getn six or so, will they need shut in for a week to get used to the coup, have it in a grassy paddock next to house??

 

[twizzel]

Probably need putting to bed for the first couple of nights. If you can put a small run/area on the house for the first week that’s better than shutting them in it, they get used to popping in and out then and you haven’t got to chase them round the whole paddock at 10pm

 

[Grassman]

My daughter, she's nine, wants A few hens to look after, we got a small coup of gumtree, it's New, so thinking of getn six or so, will they need shut in for a week to get used to the coup, have it in a grassy paddock next to house??

Just make a bit of a pen round it till they accept it as being home.

 

[Greythundercloudys]

Yes that's true, like Rocky.

 

[hendrebc]

I hope you have lots of family and friends to give eggs to. 6 a day soon mounts up

 

[Lili]

Hens are great for children. Have fun.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

But look out for basil...

 

[Woolless]

I hope you have lots of family and friends to give eggs to. 6 a day soon mounts up

2 poached eggs on toast for breakfast, the odd omelette for tea, encourage cakemaking

 

[chaffcutter]

Don’t forget to shut the coop every night

We used to have 17 ducks on our pond, lived on the island, but not far enough away from Reynard, down to 3 now!

 

[hendrebc]

2 poached eggs on toast for breakfast, the odd omelette for tea, encourage cakemaking

I always found women stop cake making around new year when they decide to lose weight again then i had to make my own cakes which just werent as good. Then the dogs had very shiny coats after having eggs with their food after a while

 

[Av Gorritt]

I hope you have lots of family and friends to give eggs to. 6 a day soon mounts up

Lot of non farming people expect one egg a day per bird . We had a friend in a council house with a very small wooden ark and run on the lawn, holding 3 New Hampshire Reds . He asked me one day if I would just have a look at them as they always had 3 eggs a day and yesterday they only had 2 ! . He thought one must be ill . And that was on a diet of mixed kitchen scraps too !

 

[hendrebc]

Lot of non farming people expect one egg a day per bird . We had a friend in a council house with a very small wooden ark and run on the lawn, holding 3 New Hampshire Reds . He asked me one day if I would just have a look at them as they always had 3 eggs a day and yesterday they only had 2 ! . He thought one must be ill . And that was on a diet of mixed kitchen scraps too !

I had 18 ex layers for free from the leftovers of my friends free range shed when they changed over. They looked awful so i took them all expecting most of them to die. They never missed a beat i averaged 21 eggs a day for the next 6 months! They eased off then but still had about 15 a day till the slowly started dying off. A missed day would have been a blessing i was giving eggs to anyone and everyone who came near the place

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

Don’t forget to shut the coop every night

We used to have 17 ducks on our pond, lived on the island, but not far enough away from Reynard, down to 3 now!

I now have all mine in a netted pen wired to the mains.

Only ever had a problem once, when a Monkey-Jack got tangled in the live wires at 2am

I used to have them all wandering loose, the hens would go to bed when it got dark, the Aylesburys would just curl up wherever they happened to be when it got dark

 

[twizzel]

Ducks are flipping nightmare for going to bed. Chickens will take themselves off every night, ducks sit outside the house in the dark even if the doors open hence why my chickens have an auto door opener and live on the other side of the farm and the ducks live in my back garden

 

[hendrebc]

Ducks are flipping nightmare for going to bed. Chickens will take themselves off every night, ducks sit outside the house in the dark even if the doors open hence why my chickens have an auto door opener and live on the other side of the farm and the ducks live in my back garden

Ive been tempted by those auto door openers are they as good as they should be? Expensive?

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

Would they chop my Cockerel in half if he sleeps in the doorway?

 

[Chasingmytail]

I love my girls I have 30 odd (far too many). Best if you can move the house around bit like rotation. More bugs, less worm burden etc. If you have an old electric fence us that to keep them in, its lovely to see them out but this causes problems with egg laying and staying out all night. I have sadly now have to have a bird net covering because of the gos hawk attacks. At 9 she should get into the routine of letting them out around 7am and shutting the door around 9pm.

We eat a lot of eggs here, snacks, sarnies, baking, omelettes etc. Id say about 60 a week.

 

[twizzel]

Ive been tempted by those auto door openers are they as good as they should be? Expensive?

Yes I love mine. Had it 3 or 4 years now, the chickens are on the other side of the farm so whilst I can get to them every day, I can't necessarily get down there first thing to let out and then shut in again later. Mine is a chickenguard one- I set mine on the timer to about 30 mins after it gets dark rarely get hens shut out. This time of year they are out at 5.30am living the dream! Noticed a lot less bullying in the house than when they were waiting to be let out manually, the hens seem happier. Maybe uses 2 AA batteries a year. I think it was about £120, seems expensive but the chicken pretty much look after themselves and I just collect the eggs. If I go away on holiday it means nobody has to fuss with them or forget to shut them in, they have a big hopper feeder and just look after themselves

 

[joe soapy]

there are ways of dealing with basil,
the French put house on stilts with a wobbly ladder
an electric fence is affective.
if within range of house, a wireless driveway intruder alarm and cctv will warn you basil is near enough to be told off

 

[The Ruminant]

there are ways of dealing with basil,
the French put house on stilts with a wobbly ladder
an electric fence is affective.
if within range of house, a wireless driveway intruder alarm and cctv will warn you basil is near enough to be told off

I’ve seen those houses up high with a wobbly ladder and often wondered if they’re effective. Are they?