Newbie

[Tracey]

Hello

I have 5 chickens arriving today with an Omlet Cube. 3 Gingernuts and 2 Miss Pepper Pots. I've never kept chickens before and would love to receive any gems of wisdom from any seasoned chicken keepers to get me off to a good start. Also, it would be great to compare notes with any other 'newbies'.

I'm sooo exited, I keep dreaming about them. I've wanted to keep chickens for ages but I was put off by the bird flu scare.

Look forward to any replies.

Tracey

[Hazel at the Hill]

Hi Tracey - lucky you to be getting chooks today! I hope your girls soon settle and in start laying, and welcome to the Vine!

[shirlthegirl43]

Hello and welcome to the Vine Tracey. Lucky you getting chooks - I have been promised an ark and run but then OH toddled off to work abroad again. I suppose I will get some eventually though.

Lots of helpful chicken keepers on here and I am sure they will be along to advise you soon. My tips - keep the food in bins to stop contamination from anything (rats, rain etc) make sure their water is clean and always available, let them settle in for a few days before you start to handle them too much (some chickens enjoy cuddles). Don't forget to provide grit with calcium in it (to help shell formation) and a sandbox for them to play in.

Be aware that you will spend far too long watching them doing daft chicken things - they are very funny to watch - you will end up with sore sides laughing at them! Enjoy!!

[jonny_s_p]

Hi Tracey,

I have only been keeping chickens for a couple of months now. I've got no little gems of wisdom. However in my experiece it is easier and even more fun than I anticipated.

Good luck, not that you will need it!

Jonny

P.S. Welcome to the Vine

[Sue]

Tracey
Hi and welcome
I'd just like to add that if they're not on grass make sure they have plenty of green stuff to eat, ie cabbage.
And take notes... they have def fads and fancies, on the cabbage front it has to be sweetheart cabbage, a savoy if they absolutely have to, everything else - no. (Mind you the poor scrawny hens down at the end of the allotment will eat anything).
And they love fruit, again with mine blackberries come out tops even more than strawberries but they do like apples (big juicy red ones only) and a nice soft pear. You can try a few raisins every now and then too.
Dried mealworms - love those.
Slugs, woodlice, earwigs, shield bugs, worms (but not too huge) all top gourmet stuff. And just try them on slugs eggs...
Cooked brown rice is another top choice but I've lots of potatoes so they get those instead at the moment, boiled in their skins and crushed mixed up with a few sunflower seeds and breadcrumbs.
But possible top treat of all time is a corn cob hung up, they love it and great entertainment for you too!
I don't want to give the impression that mine eat this lot everyday and weigh seven stone each, but a little treat in the morning after cleaning out to give them an opportunity for a good search and scratch round is all part of the routine.

Have fun with your chickens, the eggs are unbelievably good and you'll need to start hunting out recipes that use more than one measly egg.
If you have any problems post it up and someone should be able to help
and I know what you mean about the dreaming, very sad!
Sue

[daisychook]

Hi Tracey
Welcome to the vine, great place to pick up help and advice. I would say (as a relative new chook keeper - 1 yr!) try and source a good chook vet, we had terrible trouble because we didnt do this until we needed to. Some vetss say they are avian vets, but that usually means budgies - parrots, not chooks. Not all farm vets do chooks either.

On the food front - mine love live yoghurt and museli (excuse spelling!), broccoli, corn, apples and so on.

I give them a pinch of poultry spice (not sure why, just everyone says its good!) in their food. Worm them regularly, keep accommodation clean, watch for redmite.

And then.....waste (or rather spend) hours watching them do daft things. Its so funny and weird when two or three get in a dustbath and writh around, they all seem to merge into one and look v strange, but funny.

Hope I dont get told off for this - www.practicalpoultry.co.uk has good advice too. (Although I genuinely like this one better, the other is more a reference, this is more a community!!)


They are great, enjoy them, and they are very addictive!!!!

[Birdie Wife]

Congrats on your new arrivals Tracey, how are they settling in? A word of caution re. treats - don't overdo it, and make sure they eat their layers pellets or mash in the morning before giving them treats, so they get all the right nutrients to give you lots of lovely eggs. Hens love treats and it's a great way of getting them used to being handled (which I recommend that you do often, so you know what's normal and you can spot what's not normal much easier), but overdoing it results in fat hens, which can cause hens to not lay properly or even become egg-bound (which is bad news).

Katie Thears 'Starting with Chickens' is invaluable, and I'd recommend you get 'Chickens in the Garden, Eggs in the Kitchen' by Charlotte Popescu as well (put it on the Christmas List!).

PS very jealous of your Egglu Cube, they are funky, but so pricey!! What do you think of the run size, I've heard some people think they are on the small size?

[Tracey]

Hello everyone

Thanks for your warm welcomes and the advice. The chickens soon made themselves at home and look lovely. Our cats are very curious and it was funny watching them do a double take when they first saw them. We were surprised about the amount of poo in the cube this morning. I suppose I'll have to get used to that!

Sue, do I need to cook the corn on the cob before I give it to the chickens?

Birdie wife, the cube's run seems fine, but I've nothing to compare it to as I've never kept chickens before. I did get the extension at the same time incase I add to my flock. I have 5 now but the cube can take 10 in case I get carried away.

We regulary have fox visits so I'll just let them out into the garden when I'm around.

Take care
Tracey

[shirlthegirl43]

We never used to cook corn cobs to give to the chooks. They used to get them after we were finished eating them (kids leave loads of bits on the cob)

[muckman]

Hi tracy, iv had my chooks for 3 weeks now and love all the time i spend with them, there funny to wach, so keep an eye on them.
iv got into going down in the morning to feed them fresh greens witch i have a lot of, and at night i feed them a little wheat to fill there crops befor roosting ,and they do roost on the bars iv put in yey! i did have to put a post no here about that, Thanx everyone.
And i just make sure they have layers addlib and clean them out everyday.
Iv got 6 black rocks and a trio of jubilee orpingtons that are getting on just fine now, Thanx everyone again.
so good luck and tell us about your first egg or eggs. COS I CANT WAIT.
P.s i do put fresh water in aswell.

[Sue]

Tracey
Like Shirley says, you don't need to cook the corn. Although when I went to the greengrocers he said the English corn was just finishing and I got the last 8 for £1 which was very nice!
I also saw a post somewhere with someone suggesting millet sprays and they liked that too. I just like to give them something different to spice up their lives as they don't free range.
And I forgot to say, keep an eye on the water container, they do kick around so much that poo, earth, leaves etc get kicked in all the time. I've now raised mine up on a lidded bucket and that's improved things no end.

Will wait with interest for your first egg annoucement!
best wishes
Sue

[shirlthegirl43]

We used to feed layers pellets in the summer time and then in the winter, the chooks got all the veg peelings boiled up and mixed with leftovers from the table (they loved mashed spuds) and layers mash. I have wonderful memories of the smell of boiled spud peel with mash on cold winter mornings. Think they enjoyed a warm meal to start the day. It was always funny to watch them chasing each other for any wrinkly grapes that had made it into the mash bucket Spaghetti leftovers also caused chaos (I suppose they thought it was worms)

Oh dear, missing having chickens

[witch-1]

Good luck with your birds... I too have only had chooks since August so fairly newbie too! I love them. I have had to move mine around abit due to neighbours etc. They are now in a large closed off area (formerly a patio) - I then let them out when I get home from work for a scavenge around the garden.

Mine don't like broccolli?!? Or lettuce. So I gave up giving them greens this way. They do get stuff from the garden though. I also have noticed that I have no waste foods any more, any veg/pasta/rice related foods they have, any meat waste the dog or cats have my bin men are getting an easy ride with me these days! One bag of rubbish a week on average!

The eggs are like nothing else too!

All I can say is enjoy

Jan
x

[Snadger]

We never used to cook corn cobs to give to the chooks. They used to get them after we were finished eating them (kids leave loads of bits on the cob)

I used to give my corn leftovers to next doors ducks! They go quackers with them! Really funny to watch them chasing the corn cobs arouind the pen, nibbling as they go!

[Tracey]

Hi there

What do you all think about the current bird flu situation in Norfolk & Suffolk? Are you keeping your birds indoors, in the runs or are you letting them freerange?

It's a worry isn't it? I just got my chickens last week and the kids are really bonding with them, I told them to not cuddle them at the moment, but how worried should we be?