What an informative post, Dee. Do hope both Lucky and Mo make good progress.

My three girls are ex free range, we didn't see the set up, but the owner is a very, very old family friend. They were feathered up, to my surprise, and we have had them just over a month.

Welcome to the wonderful world of hens.

Welcome from me, have fun.

Welcome! I also am quite new both to the forum and to keeping hens. I have learned so very much from other members, and love reading the posts and looking at the photos.

All the best to you.

Lizzie, so sorry to read that you have lost another girl. What a difficult time for you.

Hello Clare Welcome to the Lane. It is a fabulous site, I have learned so much from the knowledgeable members. My girls are still settling in, after arriving two and a half weeks since. I am enjoying them so much. They didn't lay as much after the first three days or so, but are now back in their st...

Really enjoyed reading about everyone's hens! Lizzie is always the first to lay an egg after mucking out time, and last to come through the pop hole in the morning. Lily is the greedy one, who can be a bit mean with the other two. They sing in a morning when I go to let them out. Last night we had t...

They look so friendly from the photos. Mine only let me touch them on their backs for a second, and I've had them for two and a half weeks. Best of luck with them.

Thank you for your helpful replies. OH is going to be busy!

Right, out with the hammer to crush the egg shells up. Will mix them in with their grit. Thank you all for your replies.

Sorry about all these questions. Despite reading the forum, and possessing two books on keeping hens, things crop up which I cannot easily search out. I have been keeping my egg shells, baking them in the oven, and then crushing them up to use as chicken grit, but one of my books says never to give ...

On another thread, Korgscrew has said that he paints his shed each week with diatom paste. We have had our girls (three of them), for sixteen days now, and so far have puffered them with diatom powder twice, and puffered the shed once. I have also put the powder in their dust bath. Someone told me a...

So hard for you to lose two in such a short space of time.

Thank you for your kind comments. The grass is our lawn - no grass in the run after a couple of days! I wear wellies a lot as everything is sopping wet here at present, and my dress/skirt - the top half is an apron, skirt is ancient, but still wearable!

Mad Chick - just read your post on red mite. When you did the coop, did you move your hens elsewhere?