Hi everyone - 2 months in and I'm loving having chickens. I plan to get a couple more in the spring, so we have now erected the coop the girls lived in before we rehomed them after their owner died. There's plenty of room in the run as they still have about 120 sq ft for the four of them. As a resul...

Hi Jayjay Well, I'm also quite new but we had a spare concrete hardstanding (expensive mistake - don't ask) which is covered with sharp sand and wood chips. I can't get free/cheap chips round here but you might be luckier. Because there is concrete underneath we had concerns about standing water, bu...

We've been getting 3 eggs from 4 hens occasionally lately. I don't know whether it's weather or whether it's OH and his frequent "I've just popped a bit of green into the hens" (which is often accompanied by something else I think).

I think the use of the word "normal" in regard to chicken behaviour is an interesting concept. That's what makes keeping them so much fun.

Because we are not yet living at the house where our new hens are, we sometimes have to put them to bed early. I was worried about stressing the girls out by manhandling the into the coop or chasing them round the run so my OH (who doesn't really like chickens but is speding long periods of time thi...

I'm pretty new to this, and others will be along with definitive answers, but I find that the equivalent of a handful each plus "one for the pot" in the morning with a few treats at late afternoon seems to be what the girls get through in a day. It's a bit hard to tell because they have a ...

I'm quite new to this. We've just had a new kitchen fitted and the cardboard packing boxes, cut to size, make lovely floors for the coop. I cannot slide out the tray until I've removed all the bedding (shredded paper, straw, wood shavings) but the cardboard rolls up and the whole thing goes into the...

My 4 have got 120 sq ft of outside space when they are in the run. We will start letting them into the "garden" once we move and they can help to clear it. Although they have 30 sq ft each it doesn't seem like a huge amount of space to me and if I want more (which I do) I'll have to increa...

I'm on the East Coast of Yorkshire. Haven't tried the ordinary galvanised feeders/drinkers but the plastic ones (suspended on chain to provide amusement and protection from grot) are working well. For grit I have a home-made contrivance made from a milk bottle. The instructions are on this site some...

Stef - this sounds a very attractive proposition. I like the idea of drowning the rotten things. I'll need a number of buckets but fortunately it looks as though the previous owner of the house bred wheely bins - instead of the usual 3 we have 6 - so I suppose I could go for industrial scale drownin...

Like everyone else I'm sorry for your loss. I've only had chooks for a few weeks and already I feel very attached to them. I'm so sorry you've lost a special feathered friend.
Bx

Thank you. Chicken waste is no problem; heat seems OK but the ambient temperature isn't as good as it might be. The current bin is in a reasonably sunny spot so I hope for good things.

Our new place is over-run with goose grass, dandelions, nettles etc. I would like more greenery in my compost bin because a lot of what's going in there is being generated by the hens! However, will I be ensuring a good crop of weeds next year if I do this? My chooks eat dandelions and goose-grass b...

Thanks for the advice. I have now repotted in the proper compost and have made a note of the pruning advice for when the appropriate time arrives.

The rhododendron is looking better already.

B

The girls I rehomed had never had separate grit but relied on what they got from scratching about and whatever is in layers' pellets. I've used sharp sand as a base layer in the run, and they seem to be picking all sorts out of that. Off to the farm supplies shop tomorrow for more pellets and on the...