Mrs B's Wild Chicks

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Mrs B

Mrs B's Wild Chicks

Post by Mrs B »

Well I went down to chicks as usual this morning to be greeted by 3 eggs yippee and a wet blob showing that an egg had been eaten {mr.angry} I strongly suspect Delia is the culprit so will give her a talking to later.

KarenBodie is getting very vocal, she is like a moaning old woman and although content to be handled is not at all affectionate.

Well that is enough wibble from me for now, I shall update later on.

Mrs B

Re: Mrs B's Wild Chicks

Post by Mrs B »

I thought I would do a brief description of my set up for the newbies and lurkers.

I started out with 6 chickens late September 2010, one died a few months in. After the horrendous winter that year (I am in East Midlands) when daytime temperatures were below -10 and scrabbling around in a half height run I decided to make changes, at the ime I had an old wooden wendy house which was great.

I ordered a big full height run to be sited under a massive tree and sheltered by a half height wall on three sides. This is one f the best thins I have ever spent money on, I also bought a plastic hen house which is so much easier for cleaning.

One I had the new set up sorted I bought 4 more chickens (September 2011), introducing the newbies did not go smoothly and one poor girl was badly mauled by the others but with the help of a good poultry vet she survived. Eventually everything settled down.

One day a courier alerted me to the fact there was a chicken loose in the next street, I caught the chicken and shut her in a temporary run with food and water. We went up and down the street knocking on doors to find the owner but the hen seems to have come from nowhere, worryingly everyone who we spoke to knew me as the chicken lady by sight so I now know for sure that I am famed locally as the mad chicken woman.

Amelia Earheart (the first chicken to fly solo across the street) settled in nicely. I lost one of my original girls to a nasty prolapse. I was contacted through Bookface to see if I could re-home 3 unwanted chickens. So now I have 12 chickens and the house is full so no more {warn}

My girl are Weedol (don't ask), Amelia, Dot 5 (again don't ask) and Karenbodie who are all warrens. Mogwai and Puddleduck both Columbines (blueygreen eggs). Daisy a white star (white eggs). Delia a big white girl breed unknown. Morticia a copper black. Henrietta a black rock. Duchess a speckledy and Elvira a bluebell, all hybrids.

So there you go that is the history of my flock.

Due to the chicken garden running alongside the main road lots of people leave me notes asking for advice if they have chicken trouble, the beat bobby always asks about the flock when he sees me, the school children all wave to me and I know most of the dog walkers now.

)piicy( to follow
Mrs B

Re: Mrs B's Wild Chicks

Post by Mrs B »

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Mrs B

Re: Mrs B's Wild Chicks

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MissEllie
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Re: Mrs B's Wild Chicks

Post by MissEllie »

Aw it's lovely to see your girls again Mrs B, {hug} ive still got a wee soft spot for Amelia, glad to hear she's settled so well
The talent for being happy is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you don't have
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Mrs B

Re: Mrs B's Wild Chicks

Post by Mrs B »

Ellie my Amelia is now a hefty bird and her best friend is little Dot
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MissEllie
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Re: Mrs B's Wild Chicks

Post by MissEllie »

Aw I'm glad wee dot has got a friend, hope she's managing to stay out of mogwai's way these days )t'
The talent for being happy is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you don't have
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s33xpt
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Re: Mrs B's Wild Chicks

Post by s33xpt »

What a lovely set up Mrs B envy}} , how do you keep it so clean and dry ??
I too live alongside a main road and it amazes me if my Florrie aka Houdini does her escape routine that she never makes for the road , she just does a full circuit of the garden from the side of the house where the run is, across the front lawns, up the other side of the house and then hides under quite a large leafy low to the ground tree.. it's funny watching the tree move when she's hidden inside it {rofwl}
sharing my home with Kasa the Kelpie Dog, Trouble & Chaos the cats, 8 ex batts and an ever suffering animal suffocated OH
julieann
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Re: Mrs B's Wild Chicks

Post by julieann »

mrs B your run looks great, is it slabbed with woodshavings on top?
Julie x
Mrs B

Re: Mrs B's Wild Chicks

Post by Mrs B »

Firstly those pics were taken within the first week of the girls moving in so it WAS spotless but now looks like a slurry pit. I have painted it a sea green colour now. Note clear skies something we have not seen for many months.

Yes Julie the run is completely slabbed but just resting on soil not concreted in or anything. The topping is the easibed/hemcore woodchips which are great when dry but once wet are horrible. I have been using straw over the winter as it is easier and quicker to get up when wet.

The run cost lots but I think it was worth every penny and it was custom built. Beerless and my BIL put the plastic roof on and it is a bodge hence the many leaks }hairout{
julieann
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Re: Mrs B's Wild Chicks

Post by julieann »

I'm thinking of slabbing my run to make cleaning easier, ive been using straw to to make it a bit cleaner for the chooks and me!
Julie x
morbidia
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Re: Mrs B's Wild Chicks

Post by morbidia »

I have run envy.....lol.....thats so lovely. I am buying premade panels to make my run so I am hoping it turns ok, I am also going to put down slabs because mine are on clay soil and its rubbish, Iam glad to read that you put your straight onto the ground as I was thinking of doing that but wasn't sure if it was a good idea :-D
Mrs B

Re: Mrs B's Wild Chicks

Post by Mrs B »

Morbidia my slabs are not the most even in the world as they were laid by Beerless but our soil is also clay even though the top 3 feet is good quality soil. Our garden is on a slope so Beerless had to dig down over 3 feet in places to give a reasonably level base for the slabs.

The one regret I have is not having some sort of drain fitted but that was beyond Beerless. I never have puddles in the run though just damp areas where the roof leaks.

I must stress that our run is under a big old yew tree so that tree probably help to soak up excess water. In a normal year (not the non stop rain of this year) the area around the tree stays dry enough for dust bathing so the tree really really soaks up the wet.


Do look at other members pics as there are quite a few of us with similar runs.

Anything else you want to know just shout up
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sandy
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Re: Mrs B's Wild Chicks

Post by sandy »

Love your girls house and why am I surprised that it is so CLEAN? KarenBrodie, now where has that name come from and don't blame Delia she did a book on egg eating +f+
The Pink Ladies..Audrey,Ingrid-Bergman,Madeleline,Norma-Jean,Dora,Janice,Jo,Robyn,Chrissy and Joyce
The Peds…Mork,Mindy,Bell,Saphire &
Vorky ,Blueped,Ginger,Ninger &Linky

Sunny Clucker was ere July 12-21 2012
Sunny Clucker was ere July 6 2016 to Sept 9th 2017
Sunny Clucker is here , rehomed Aug 18th 2018/
Mrs B

Re: Mrs B's Wild Chicks

Post by Mrs B »

KarenBodie is named after my sister who mutters all the time and is a nightmare for time keeping and a thoroughly disorganised person, KB the chicken constantly mutters and gets under my feet.

The run really is not clean now, I shall dig out the new camera and try and take some pics.

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