I was just wondering about the size of your coop, you say that it was originally attached to a 3 x 5 run, which is tiny, but what size is the coop? Could it be that when the chooks wake up they're too confined and there is pecking going on? Chooks will happily snuggle up together at night but not al...

Red Mite I can't advise on poultry shield as i've not used it but when i noticed that red mite had taken up residence in the coop i made a paste with diatom and water and painted it inside the coop, making sure i covered all the perches. It dried quickly enough and with continued dusting of diatom e...

Annie, does she have eggs to sit on in the broody coop?
Might be worth putting some in to give her the idea

I would be inclined to wait till they've gone to sleep and pop them into the coop then.
After a couple of nights they will hopefully realise that it's a good place to sleep

Sods law

I guess that's the decision made then

Like your training method

Farmandpetplace is another great website and they do deliver to Ireland but they charge £18.99 for delivery

Thanks for your insight Mrs B, will keep searching and will also keep my eyes open for a suitable pebble

Thanks for the reply Mrs B How did you get the chooks to use it? I have different ages of chooks so probably will only be for the older ones as the younger ones will be to light to trigger the treadle I had a look at Regency Poultry, they have a good selection of them on their site and very reasonab...

I'm thinking of getting a treadle feeder as we get a lot of wild birds eating the chooks food. The run isn't covered as it's too large to cover also the fencing around the run has 2 inch holes and the little birds just go through the holes so we'd have to cover the whole lot, and that is just not pr...

I've got the little blighters too Had quite a bad infestation, seemed to arrive over night I have cleaned and cleaned the coop, made a paste out of diatom and painted it along all the perches, sprayed with mite kill and dusted diatom everywhere and thankfully it seems to be working as I don't see ha...

She does look more he than she with that huge very red comb and wattles
Superb looking chook though, you have a real stunner there Ace

Well done

Love your pic, they are gorgeous

Hi Annie, Wow that's a lot of questions and a dilema for sure. I'll try and answer some of your questions but i'm no expert. Re the day olds: My only concern with getting day old chicks would be if she doesn't accept them. I think that mostly the broodys do accept the babies but it's a risk. She wou...

Forgot to say, her food should be grains and not layers pellet.
So something like wheat, oats and barley with a little maize.
She should also have grit available to her

oooh how exciting. I hadn't experienced broodys or egg hatching before but I've had 3 broodys this year and all were very determined so I let them sit on eggs. The recomendation is to remove her off the eggs for about 20 - 30 mins each day to make sure she has something to eat and drink but my brood...

What a transformation

Thanks for sharing, it's so nice to see a success story after so many sad posts of late

They're gorgeous looking girls, well done