When I first decided upon keeping chickens ,my Father had not long passed over and I had been immersing myself in gardening and growing vegetables.It took my mind of my sadness I think.
It felt like the right thing to do and so took the first step and bought a hen house,which had a nesting box at either end an easy clean pull out tray a little gangplank and also a small enclosure to attach on to it.(Which I did use initially but decided to let them free range the garden after a short amount of time.
I then went to buy some necessary things like dust extracted sawdust and some straw for their bed.(I now thing perhaps sawdust/woodshavings are better by themselves as the straw can be a bit of an invitation for mites and other nasties.)
Diatomaceous Earth is a good thing to keep in a tin as a more natural alternative for seeing off these crawling things which may bother our feathered friends.
I then went to a local poultry breeder, I suppose you could call them, me and my two littlies went and decided on four hens- A coucou Maran-A Blue Maran- A Bovans Nera and an Amber Link.We paid the money which was about fifteen pounds each and put them into our boxes which had a little sawdust at the bottom.
At the time we had a big dog who was trembling with excitement about the contents within the boxes in the car, So he stayed in the front.
On returning home we gently lifted the hens out of the boxes and put them straight into their house which we had furnished with the shavings and the straw. We had also put a water feeder in the house and some layers pellets in a feeder.
It was late in the day so we said goodnight to the hens and locked them in their house for the night. I went to get on with my garden chores.
The next morning we were eager to get up and let them out,into their run.(I would not recommend letting chickens out to free range immediately ,I would certainly suggest waiting a few days so they can get used to how thing are.)
If you do let them be free it might be that you have to catch them before it gets dark to ensure they don't start roosting in trees or random places. As they won't know where to go.
Make sure they always have access to clean water and something to peck at including oyster shell which will increase nutrients in their diet and reduce the risk of wobbly shells in their eggs.
Also don't eggspect eggs immediately because things take time.
Next I be writing about the early days and a bit about chicken behaviour
It felt like the right thing to do and so took the first step and bought a hen house,which had a nesting box at either end an easy clean pull out tray a little gangplank and also a small enclosure to attach on to it.(Which I did use initially but decided to let them free range the garden after a short amount of time.
I then went to buy some necessary things like dust extracted sawdust and some straw for their bed.(I now thing perhaps sawdust/woodshavings are better by themselves as the straw can be a bit of an invitation for mites and other nasties.)
Diatomaceous Earth is a good thing to keep in a tin as a more natural alternative for seeing off these crawling things which may bother our feathered friends.
I then went to a local poultry breeder, I suppose you could call them, me and my two littlies went and decided on four hens- A coucou Maran-A Blue Maran- A Bovans Nera and an Amber Link.We paid the money which was about fifteen pounds each and put them into our boxes which had a little sawdust at the bottom.
At the time we had a big dog who was trembling with excitement about the contents within the boxes in the car, So he stayed in the front.
On returning home we gently lifted the hens out of the boxes and put them straight into their house which we had furnished with the shavings and the straw. We had also put a water feeder in the house and some layers pellets in a feeder.
It was late in the day so we said goodnight to the hens and locked them in their house for the night. I went to get on with my garden chores.
The next morning we were eager to get up and let them out,into their run.(I would not recommend letting chickens out to free range immediately ,I would certainly suggest waiting a few days so they can get used to how thing are.)
If you do let them be free it might be that you have to catch them before it gets dark to ensure they don't start roosting in trees or random places. As they won't know where to go.
Make sure they always have access to clean water and something to peck at including oyster shell which will increase nutrients in their diet and reduce the risk of wobbly shells in their eggs.
Also don't eggspect eggs immediately because things take time.
Next I be writing about the early days and a bit about chicken behaviour
