General Chat

About the hen poo in the compost, I haven't as yet used it for the garden, its still in the huge bins rotting away happily, when I turn it regularly it is loaded with worms, I haven't got a veggie patch any more, my hens have it lol, perhaps next year i may start another patch up, the gardens big enough.
I do have gardens either side of my large pond that we have Koi in, at the moment one is full of roses and sun flowers!

Does anyone know how long you have to leave chicken poo to rot before adding it to the garden, i know it's got a lot of amonia in and that will kill the plants if used fresh.

Gillie XX

Thanks Glenys. Will do xx

Hi Muffy. I've only read the first few posts so far, so at risk of repeating anything: here in Devon we have a wonderful lady, Jane, who rehomes ex-battery hens. It appears to be a growing trend (if that's the right word) now, to do that, and I'm all for it.

Have a read of this:-

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/3262109.stm - 28k

Glenys x

Thanks for all your replies.

I have to say I like the idea of rescuing the chickens I may try two from the friend of a friend as test pilots and if all goes well then I'll look into a rescuing others. xx

Start learning the word's Muffy lol.

Chick, Chick, Chick, Chick, Chicken
Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken,
Lay a little egg for me.
Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken,
I want one for my tea.
I haven't had an egg since Easter,
And now it's half past three.
So, chick, chick, chick, chicken,
Lay a little egg for me

Just seen about the poo mixed in with your compost-- you need to leave it quite awhile before using it on your garden as its too strong and can kill off some stuff

xx Jill

We are down to one hen and a cockerel plus our three pet ducks after a fox wiped out all of ours over the past year.We do put ours away as soon as it gets dusk but some of ours used to hop over the fence and wander around the orchard.We lost about 30 including some very pretty silkies.
It is great having fresh eggs and they have so much more colour and taste than shop bought, but will not replace our lost ones just so the b***** fox is kept in food.
We did walk our German Shepherd around to lay his scent but it didn't work.Hopefully the local farmers will soon have it sorted, then we might get some more.
If you do have a safe area for them , you should give it a go :))

xx Jill

I have been looking after my sons 3 chooks for the last 3 weeks. We got 3 eggs per day at first. Then it was down to 2. We found one of them ways laying in a patch of long grass.

The only way to get 3 eggs was to leave them in the pen for most of the day.
The Golden retriever keeps the foxes away, but you have to watch she doesn't eat the chook food.

Go for it Muffy,micks idea of [rescued] chickens is sound,and ,just think of all that chicken poo mixed in with your compost ,cor ,you would have giant veggies to go with your giant rabbit,wish i could have some chooks as well ,but don't have room [sniff]
Fred.

The second hand battery hens or barn layers are a good idea - usuually you can pick up 18 month old hens very cheaply from your local egg farm.

I've been keeping chooks here for 19 years.
The only sure cure for the fox problem is an electric wire at fox nose height - works all the time.
Interesting what you say about guinea fowl Ian,
the foxes took alll my females and my peahens because they insisted on laying clutches out in the paddock, - but the male guineas would chase foxes away. It sounds amazing , but I watched 3 of them chase a fox across 3 paddocks last year.

xxxx mick

Muffy, have you thought about getting some rescued chickens?
There are places that collect redundant hens from the battery farm places and they apparently soon recover and learn to live naturally rather than in a cage sort of environment. Think they are free or cheap and you would be saving their lives.

Good luck,
Lizx

LOL.xx

I'm now picturing one of the nasty big rabbits/hares in watership down beating up a rat lol

Marion

My cats usually sees the majority of them off Marion and I have a HUGE rabbit the size of a dog that scares the living daylights out of the rare ones who manage to make it through lol xx

Maybe these ones werent looked after properly then.I dont suppose the heat helped either...phew lol

My parents had some little chicks and they got eaten by rats. I was only about 5 so I dont know the ins and outs of it.

Marion

Hi Gillie

I live in Cambridgeshire and it's a friend of a friend who has them.......I'm going on Monday to have a look around at them before I give a definate answer so if they look dodgy I'll just walk away and go somewhere else.

There is a place about 5 mins from my daughters school that does the feed and the accessories so that shouldn't be a problem either. xx

I dont know where you are Muffy but look for local breeders, make sure your hens you buy have had vaccines, when you go and look for hens, which the breeder shouldn't mind you doing, make sure they are clean and there sheds they keep them in are clean, you'll know if a hens healthy by looking at some breeds on the net, not moth eaten or bald in any way, that way they should stay healthy.
I bought mine from the Dorking area in Surrey. I have my food delivered free as it is from a company not 5 miles from me. they do deliver all over the country.

I've not had a problem with rats, I rake there run most evenings and spray it about once a week with a hose, my hen house is up on blocks, and every so often I dig over the run to keep it fresh.


Gillie XX

Hi Marion. I don't remember my chickens ever smelling . I think as long as they are cleaned out regularly there shouldn't be any more odour than a rabbit or Guinea Pig makes?.

We DO get rats at certain times of year here already because of the rabbits **we live next door to a huge field too !!! which doesn't help........ but they are dealt with lol xx

The plus side is definetely fresh eggs - far better by millions of miles than the shop bought 'free range' ones.

And they definetely have character! I wish I could keep them, but just dont have the time in the winter to devote to them.