Yeah we ordered one for £280, it got here and was damaged. Absolutely tiny, made from really thin cheap wood, an absolute joke. Ended up getting the current one for £150 delivered although i must have spent a good £200 on material to sand it down, clean it and preserve it.
I get what you're...
I'm worried our chickens have toxoplasmosis due to me building their run on top of where all the cats poo (big mistake on my part) so i'm really concerned about dirty eggs, especially with their run being mud at the moment. I need to fill it with woodchip asap but the weather has been constant...
Yeah i have heard they go broody a lot, we've had ours since August and this is the first time one of them has, although i guess it's only been 3 months. Is there any negatives to not breaking her out of it? Like will it mean she's more likely to go broody in the future or something. If there's...
I would absolutely love to let her hatch and we were thinking about buying some fertile Araucana eggs (we only have two girls so not a fertile egg) however we can't have any roosters here and if one of them turned out to be a boy it would brake my heart having to get rid of them.
That's good...
Thank you for the info, it certainly makes sense. I've got about 7 dirty eggs that i'm not going to eat so i'll start by giving them the shells from those.
Would the egg shells definitely provide enough calcium? This is what i'm thinking: Let's say the hens uses 10g of calcium for 1 egg shell...
I found one of our Silkies in her nest today, sat on an egg, she's been there all day so i assume she has gone broody. I would like to just let her do her thing (unless it's not recommended) but it suddenly occurred to me, will she leave her nesting box to eat and drink? Her food and water is...
I'm surprised you say the coop is really small, you should have seen the size of the prefabricated ones that say they can hold 10+ chickens. I built the run myself but we got the coop second hand, it's about 4ft x 4ft x 4ft. It's very sturdy but yeah it's not perfect.
There isn't any other...
That's a good idea, i'll try weighing it.
I do wonder, perhaps the oyster shell fragments are too big for them, being bantams. They look like they would scratch their throats on the way down. I know bantams usually need smaller grit, perhaps it's the same for oyster shells. Would crushing them...
Some pics of the coop and run. Still need to put wood chips down in the run as it's just pure mud at the moment. The tarp over the run is a temporary roof until i can afford to build a proper one. Please forgive the state of the garden, i've been doing lot's of building lol
View through...
The soil has lot's of clay and rubble in it, that's about all i know lol
The feed i'm currently using is below although i am planning to switch to an organic growers feed soon.
I'll go and get some pics in a minute, i've been wanting to show it off lol
I was actually thinking about using some sort of plastic, like a hood for the window that still allows air flow but stops rain coming in. That may actually be a better option thinking about it.
I have an Omlet door...
Hello,
I switched our two Silkies onto growers feed (we don't have the other one that isn't layers feed in the U.K, i forget the name) and gave them a tuna can of oyster shells in their coop. I was under the impression that if they needed extra calcium they would know to eat it and regulate how...
If it's raining and the coop window is closed it's pretty dark in there, i wonder if they may struggle seeing their food and water. I was thinking about putting some sort of battery powered (or solar) light on a sensor that only operates during the day. So when they go in during the day it will...
Good idea, i'll add my location info now. I'm from the U.K but i always find the U.S forums have much more useful info and helpful users lol
I was actually thinking about trying a perch made from a branch. Might give that a go as well.
Is 16 percent protein enough?
Do you know if there are any micronutrients or something that are needed which may differ between layer feed and grower feed?
Hello,
So i've come to the end of the layer pellets we had and have been reading about what is best to feed our two Silkies. From my reading, the best thing to do would probably be give "all flock" feed and have separate containers for oyster shells and grit.
The problem is, here in the U.K we...
So the consensus on here seems to be using a 2 x 4 with the wide side up. I read elsewhere that the chickens need to be able to wrap their feet around the bar else they can develop bumble foot and 4" would not allow them to do this.
Does anyone know if there is any truth to this statement?
Cheers