Chickens! Part 3

We now have free-ranging foraging chickens who are having a great time scratching up our garden!

We let them out for the first time on Friday afternoon. Jenny and Carmen wasted no time getting out of the run - they'd been hovering near the door whenever we go near it for a couple of days by then. I think they were just waiting to be let out.

They've scratched out a couple of dustbathing spots as well as scratching around looking for bugs and things. Jenny found a worm yesterday - had no idea what to do with it though. She pecked at it a few times, then lost interest in its squirming and ambled off. Rosie wandered over to see what Jenny had found, pecked at the worm a few times and then went "scoff" and ate it in one. They've not done a lot of damage - knocked over a couple of the evening primrose plants so they can get at the tender leaves near the tops, but they were in danger of taking over the garden anyway to be honest. They rather like dandelions and linseed as well.

They're still not keen on being handled, and wary of us if we get close. We're trying to build up their trust by taking out treats for them like sweetcorn, raisins or mixed seeds and sitting close by hoping they'll come and investigate and maybe peck a little out of our hands. Jenny got quite close this afternoon, till Rosie pushed her out of the way (she's a big bully that one) but Rosie wasn't interested herself, so I scattered the treats near them, and hopefully, they'll build up an association of us sitting down near them with having treats.

They do like coming to the garden gate to see what's happening in the rest of the garden. I often see Rosie looking through the slats as I'm busy in the kitchen. All three of them come over occasionally to have a nosy. I left some food there for the this morning.

They're quite happy wandering round the garden, and know that there's food and water back in their run whenever they want it - though I've seen Rosie chase the other two away from it quite frequently. That's why I scatter plenty round the garden for the others to find - although they often sneak back to the run when Rosie isn't looking. They head back toward the run as it starts to go dark, though last night because the weather was fine, it didn't start to get dark till quite late, and I was beginning to wonder if they'd need rounding up. Fortunately, by 8pm, they were all in the run, so Seán closed it up. By 9pm, they were settling down to roost, so I closed the door of the house and took out the leftover mash and water.

We still haven't had any eggs, and I'm a bit worried as one of them (don't know which one though) seems to be doing runny poos - it looks like a blob of caramel topped with white rather than a small lump of charcoal topped with white. I'm hoping it's just down to the change of diet now that they're foraging - maybe she just ate something that disagreed with her. I'm keeping an eye on them in case it is more serious. I just wish they'd poo more on the beds and not on the paths :o)

All in all, our ladies are settling in well, and our free-range adventure is working out.

Chickens! Part 2

Our three ladies are safely home and hiding from the rain in their cosy house.

Seán's dad was brilliant, driving me all the way up to Rising Bridge to get them, with a stop-off at Eureka for feed. We got a £3 off voucher to spend on a 20kg bag of feed - so together with grit, it came to slightly less than a tenner. A 20kg bag should last nearly 2 months - better value than I expected.

We brought them home in a sturdy cardboard box with plenty of ventilation (letterbox shaped holes). The littlest of them (Jenny) tried to make a run for it as we put her in, and was clearly up for an escape attempt again once we got them home.

They're not so sad-looking as I thought they'd be. We weren't expecting them to be as well-feathered as they are. They only have a couple of bald patches, and were very alert too.

We got them all in the run safely, with food and water out, and a handful of oyster shell - and a head of broccoli tied to the roof for them to peck at.

Rosie is the biggest, and seems to be quite bold and nosy
Carmen has a bent over comb
Jenny is the smallest - and goes like greased lightning

We've only had them a few hours, but their personalities are already becoming distinct.

They've braved the outdoors a few times and made a dash to the sheltered bit of the run where the food and water are, but go back in and hide whenever we go and check on them.



I got a few photos of them too

Chickens!

This is something new for me - I've had indoor pets before, but not outdoor pets. I've always wanted to have chickens, but thought we'd not be allowed to because of rules about keeping livestock.

However, chickens can be kept as pets, if you're not breeding them to sell or selling the eggs, so we looked into how to go about it.

It seems to be becoming quite popular at the moment - I have a few friends who already keep chickens, and a couple more who are starting out at the same time as us.

It all looked very expensive - chicken houses seemed very pricey and getting birds from a breeder was quite expensive too; they didn't seem to want to sell less than 4.

Then we heard about the British Hen Welfare Trust, who rescue ex-battery chickens once they've come to the end of their "commercial life span". They're still quite young, but they've been in intensive egg production all their lives and are deemed to be past their best, so off they go to the slaughterhouse - destined to be pet food. The rescue teams come in before the people from the slaughterhouse come to clear out the shed and buy as many as they can take away.

Ex-battery chickens still have a lot to give - they're still young, they recover, refeather and get used to their new home and family quickly. They're bred for docility, and become tame, even affectionate to their new owners - all this and eggs too!

We decided to adopt 3 rescued hens, and I decided to keep a diary of how we got on. Dave Snape gave me the idea, as he said adopting rescued hens was one of the hardest ways of starting out, because of the extra TLC they need when they first come home.

Next step was to make everything ready.

We decided to build our own chicken house and run as bought ones were expensive, and not very well made. Seán knew he'd be able to build one of far better quality for rather less than the likes of Pets at Home were selling them for. We went for a traditional "toblerone" shape - you can see from the photo below what it looks like. Seán had to build it between showers on our patio

Next was to prepare the location - dismantling the broken cold-frame, moving flagstones, and then carrying the finished chicken house to its proper place - it's heavy!

Seán had left a skirt of the mesh from the run overlapping the base of the run so that it could be dug into the ground or layed under paving slabs to prevent foxes digging under and into the run. Paving slabs are now all around the house and run, except on one side, where it's flush against the greenhouse wall.

We bought food and drink dispensers from Pets at Home and checked out their range of foods and grit etc. They didn't seem to do a dry mash food - just pellets and mixed corn. we've been told that ex-battery hens have been used to a diet of dry mash all their lives, and don't usually recognise pellets as food straightaway. They need to be weaned onto the pellets. We've been given other good tips, like hanging a head of cabbage or corn cob in their run for them to peck at - especially good for distracting them from pecking at each other excessively as they establish a hierarchy.

We still need to enclose the garden securely to keep them safe once they're able to come out of the run and forage round the garden, but we've got till the end of next week to get that done. It just needs a good gate to keep them in the garden and discourage foxes. Once we knew the house and run would be ready, we contacted the Hens Welfare Trust and got in touch with our local co-ordinator. We've arranged to collect our three chickies as soon as we come back from Silverdale. We've arranged a lift up to Haslingden to pick them up, but need something to bring them home in. We have a cat carrier, but that won't be big enough for all three, so we'll need a cardboard carrier or two as well.

Of course we also had to decide on names for our ladies. I really like old-fashioned names and had a big long list
Rosie (from "Rosie's Walk"
Daisy
Poppy
Penny (Henny-Penny from "Chicken Licken")
Daphne
Eggwina
(hen)Rietta
Brenda
Mavis
Rita
Edie
Deirdre
Myrtle

But I thought it would be nice if Rowan and Phoebe each chose a name as well.
Rowan liked Jenny
Phoebe wanted to call one Carmen

So our ladies are going to be Rosie, Jenny and Carmen (otherwise, I think it was going to be Rosie, Daphne and Rita)

Part 2 coming soon, once we have our chickens - they might look a bit sad and pathetic when they first arrive, but you'll hopefully get to see how they blossom