Recent content by leannajones

thanks, that's a good reality check re: destruction. we have a big pond for them to free-range in during the day, and we would also provide them with a child's pool for when they are enclosed in their run. and they would be cared for properly in terms of food, water and coop. so - if we have...

- and if we need to fence off vulnerable areas of the garden - how high, and strong, do the fences need to be?

what we want from our ducks are: 1) eat slugs and grubs from around the veg 2) eggs 3) possibly meat, but we might get too fond of them we were going to get indian runners as we heard they were the best for eating slugs and not eating veg. but now someone has approached us who wants to keep...

another newbie question - we have been giving our new chickens oyster shell, is this the same as / a subsitute for grit, or should we be giving them grit as well? everything i've googled has been unclear on this so i appreciate someone putting me straight, thanks!

we have just been out in the dusk and picked her out of the roost, it was easy to get her like you said. we bathed her foot in salt water and then dabbed it with witch hazel. then we put cornflour on it. it seems like she hasn't actually lost her claw but has some kind of cut between the claw...

hi all, another newbie question from me. we have a mobile combined coop & run which we move every day onto new pasture and weeds. is it bad for the chickens to have nowhere to dust bathe? the coop is raised so it shelters part of the run but it would never get a chance to become dusty under...

hi all, we have had chickens for 3 days and already some problems! in the first night we lost a chicken to a stoat. at the same time, another chicken lost one of her back claws. (we have now reinforced the coop, so no more stoat attacks). it seemed to scab over but now 2 days later she is...

hi all, we have just got two chickens for the first time. they are in a mobile coop & run. the coop is designed for three birds and the run is around 6ft x 3ft. the coop sits within the run, above part of it. the coop has slats so that most poop falls down into the run. we move the run every...