Debs Little Hen House Diaries

[boosmummy]

So as im now driving everyone around me (and anyone who will listen!) mad about my chickens and their antics i thought i would too start a diary.

I got my first three chickens for my birthday last year:

Dolly and martha (just peeking in)


and penny



They live down on my allotment in their little enclosure which at first was all open but clearly with all the bad weather it needed modifying and weatherproofing:



Their house which can be seen was bought at the same place as i bought the chickens. I have to say, with hindsight, the bloke i got everything off sort of saw me coming. I went to him as a novice and came home still a novice, with a house which was unsuitable and (i've recently found out) a chicken with scaly leg mite (penny).

At first I was convinced my three girls would keep my chicken obsession happy - but no. My three girls were fun to watch but thats about it. whilst the brahmas would mull around me and were sociable, penny would just keep to herself and none of them would lay. I bought these chickens at point of lay and to lay me eggs god damn it and i received not a jot from them until:

The 9th february!!! Penny had gone up in my estimations!!


The brahmas have closely followed and they are also laying now most days.

So not content with my three chickens and wanting to hatch eggs i decided to give hatching a go. BUT, honestly, it looked far too technical for me so i bought my two one day old chicks:



Originally meg and lois they have since had name changes poppy is a sussex (i think) and lulu is a bluebelle. They are now 5 weeks old:



and still living at home with us.

Now, i would have been content with just these 5 to be honest but then, one day i was perusing the forum (dangerous) and i came across a battery hen rehoming thread. And (with some reservation) i signed up for two:

betty


babs


I got them three weeks ago and obviously with all these new chickens i had to extend the run:



As you can see at present they are still separated off. But i have since put a pop hole between them which i can close when im not there.

And as for that blasted house!? i bought them a new one and painted it up:



I have to say, these hens are like my children, its a bit ridiculous really. honestly, before i got them i genuinely thought i would easily be able to....have sunday lunch but now i have them, it would be like eating my own child! Sometime i just sit on the allotment and watch them interact with each other. And i love to watch the ex-batts roll around in grit and soil. i will take some more pictures of them maybe tonight because looking at the picture of betty i can see a definite difference with her even now. x

[magic girl]

i really love reading peoples chicken keeping diary's iv not yet started my chicken keeping adventure but im learning a lot from here and you've done a great job painting your coop im still having trouble deciding between a wood or plastic coop i know plastic is easier to look after but i think wood coops are nicer to look at

[boosmummy]

three weeks after getting the ex-bats:

[Bridgets Mum]

Hello Lovely to read a new diary. I was amused by your first chickens living on the allotment and then the 2 babies sitting in your lounge. They are very beautiful - but - my heart belongs to the ex battie girls. What a difference in such a short time, especially that last picture. I think almost everyone ends up modifying and extending their initial set up. It's all part of the fun. Keep posting.

[boosmummy]

Hello Lovely to read a new diary. I was amused by your first chickens living on the allotment and then the 2 babies sitting in your lounge. They are very beautiful - but - my heart belongs to the ex battie girls. What a difference in such a short time, especially that last picture. I think almost everyone ends up modifying and extending their initial set up. It's all part of the fun. Keep posting.

I know you can really see a change in Betty, with Babs there is a difference but close up differences like her comb isn't as big and her feathers on her chest are coming out. You don't really see that on the pictures. X

[boosmummy]

The chickeny pop hole was fitted last week. It means that when im there i can open the pop hole and let them socialse with each other in the space of the run, rather than all around the allotment (which they most often do) where they tend to separate themselves into their original groups.



The pop hole can then be closed when im not there which means the new girls are safe in their own pen without being pecked.

From the start, they've all got on ok (ish), at first they had a couple of spats mainly comb pulling and feather pulling but it wasn't full on attacking i shouted at them whenever they started. The ex-batts really can handle themselves and have done when they need to. Now mainly its the odd 'get out of my way b*tchbag' peck, mostly from the brahams it has to be said. Though they are very sociable girls and extremely pretty they can be extremely rude when it comes to the new hens. Im dreading put the babies down there when the time comes.

Mr husband has shown more of an interest since getting the babies and the ex batts. One of the ex batts, babs, the worst looking one, he has grown a real affection for her because she was so badly treated. Even though he calls her franken-chicken! The babies he has named colonel and sanders *rolls eyes*

[boosmummy]

Today i had 4 eggs, two from the brahmas (one is double the size it normally is!) and two from the ex batts. Penny isnt laying and im not even sure if shes lost a bit of weight? Im going to keep a really close eye on her.

This weekend im going to try and integrate all the girls together in the same coop overnight.

The chicks who are 6 weeks old on friday (i think!) and they've finished the chick crumb i got when i bought them. so today they are going on growers pellets.

[aceface]

lovely diary debs love the batt girls I can see a huge difference lovely new quill coming aswell house looking good we all modify don't we as new girls joining add a bit here and there we are busy little hen keepers all year round I must admit I like adding new bits

have the batt girls won your heart debs ?

and as for those babies I thought mine were spoiled but chilling on the sofa ,are they toilet trained

[boosmummy]

lovely diary debs love the batt girls I can see a huge difference lovely new quill coming aswell house looking good we all modify don't we as new girls joining add a bit here and there we are busy little hen keepers all year round I must admit I like adding new bits

have the batt girls won your heart debs ?

and as for those babies I thought mine were spoiled but chilling on the sofa ,are they toilet trained

the ex batts are adorable, mr husband especially really adores babs, because she was so bad and she/they are improving everyday.

Ive been today i rode to the allotment on my bike about 3 miles there and back quite hilly. and all the old blokes on the allotment were taking the mick calling me bradley wiggins - cheeky s0ds!

here's a picture of yesterdays eggs!



and two eggs for the today (which i might add i got back from the allotment on the bike and didnt break them!) I have to say there's nothing nicer than eating eggs freshly picked that morning and having my lovely chickens mulling around me.

As for the babies ace, they are very good and generally dont poop on the couch, and so they are allowed up there every night haha, they have a cushdy life - and they wont know whats hit them when they are on the allotment hahaha xx

[boosmummy]

The big egg from the picture above was a double yolker!! theres nothing like that moment you crack open and egg and its a double yolker,it makes my day!

What hasnt made my day however, is my chickens love for my new plants that are on the allotment!

I would like to draw your attention to exhibit A below:



now though you may not be able to see exhibit A all that well, i will unhappily help you in telling you that it is a pea plant, that i planted an whilst i was planting the rest of the plants dolly hen came up and ate it, right in front of me!! She didnt even wait until i had turned my back she just ate it!! I was mortified, of course chickens eat plants but to be so brazen about it! She then ate another one. After her continuously trying to eat my plants (the other were happy to mull around and not eat them) i locked her in the coop, not realising i left the house open and within 5 mins i turned around to see dolly running at full speed up the plot (which i wish i had got on video because there is nothing funnier in my opinion than a brahma running) back to my plants.

So today has been spent with me chicken proofing the allotment:



see it worked!!

and them living in harmony:



and dust bathing:



Whilst i nipped to the local garden centre i locked them all in the coop, and they were all socialising together. though i'm happy to do this during the day i still cant leave them like this at night because i just don't trust the big hens with the ex batts. martha keeps trying to have the odd go and at ex batts.

[Linda S]

Just catching up on your diary has warmed my cockles Debs, allthe girls are gorgeous and the batty babes are coming on great.

You do realise I hope that you will need to restrict the kids use of the remote before you pack them off to the lotty, or have you already got that in hand cause I cant see it on the settee with them Lindaxx

[boosmummy]

Just catching up on your diary has warmed my cockles Debs, allthe girls are gorgeous and the batty babes are coming on great.

You do realise I hope that you will need to restrict the kids use of the remote before you pack them off to the lotty, or have you already got that in hand cause I cant see it on the settee with them Lindaxx

haha i know linda, the tv really does attach their attention. Today they are down at the allotment for the first time. (pics and a proper post to follow) They are coming back at night though, i still thinks its a bit too cold for them to be out all night so im going to go and get them around 9ish when its time for the others to roost and also to check that betty hen is in the main house. xx

[Linda S]

Debs I forgot to say that the egg at the top of the pic is exactly like our little ex-batt Faiths egg
It looks the same colour and about the same shape and we call them her torpedo eggs, they arnt huge and we can never mistake those ones

How have the babies coped roughing it in the open air i hope they arnt too shocked Lindaxx

[boosmummy]

The chicks have been down to the allotment today.



They are 8 weeks old on friday, and it was a nice day so i thought i'd take them down and bring them home at night. I put them seperated off in the back pen, and as i was putting them in the other hens went deadly quiet and were looking at them as if to say who the hell are you two. equally the babies were looking at the old hens probably thinking they'd never seen birds so big.

The big hens are now in all one pen and sleeping in one house at night, though betty hen, is wanting to sleep in her old house. Babs hen is laying in the main house too but, i seperated the old house off today to try and encourage betty hen to go in the new house but she was just having none of it, so much so ive opened up the old house for her because i want her to be able to lay where she wants, im hoping she'll get there in her own time.

x

[boosmummy]

well... betty hen didnt lay in the new house or in the temporary house today...she laid in the grit box!