Got my first chickens yesterday, and now have some questions.

[BrynSun]

REALLY excited because I got four hens yesterday, one belongs to a friend who is sure if they want to commit yet. After getting them on the fly my husband and I came up with a few questions that we had a hard time finding the anwser.

How long do eggs last after they are laid? We found 6-8 weeks, is that right?

What can you not feed a chicken? I've looked this up because I want to feed our birds scraps but I am not sure what info is correct.

I let the ladies out for a bit tonight, and three ran to the coop after I herded them and one freaked and we had to chase her down. Any advice on not terrifying my chickens when its time to go back into the coop would be appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[mrchicks]

Congrats on your new chickens! Fresh eggs, not washed, can be kept in the fridge for 6-8 weeks. When the egg is laid it has a protective coating on it, called the bloom. You don't want to wash that off until you are going to use the egg.

There is a thread for raising and feeding of chickens. I'll look for it.

Give them treats, like mealworms or vegetables (green beans, etc.) so that they start to associate you with goodies. Soon they will come running when they see you, hoping you have treats.

 

[Joshua G]

Congrats on your new chickens! Fresh eggs, not washed, can be kept in the fridge for 6-8 weeks. When the egg is laid it has a protective coating on it, called the bloom. You don't want to wash that off until you are going to use the egg.

There is a thread for raising and feeding of chickens. I'll look for it.

Give them treats, like mealworms or vegetables (green beans, etc.) so that they start to associate you with goodies. Soon they will come running when they see you, hoping you have treats.

X2 You can feed them table scraps but don't feed them anything raw.

 

[LunarBug]

It is best when you get new chickens to keep them in their coop/run for a week so that they can acclimate to your specific area before letting them free-range. It makes it easier on them when they have to coop-up for the night.

 

[BrynSun]

Thank you all for your responses. I have been giving them treats of veggy scraps and that seems to have helped. Tonight after they ate some lettuce, one by one they went back into the coop on their own, which gives me hope. They even let me pet them (kinda)

 

[SavageDestiny]

X2 You can feed them table scraps but don't feed them anything raw.

Why on earth not? Chickens who can range eat everything raw- plants, grasses, fallen fruit, bugs, mice they catch, dead critters they find, pretty much anything. None of it is cooked.

 

[3chickchicks]

I've heard you don't want to feed raw egg because they may develop the habit of breaking and eating their eggs.

You can get them chicken feed. If they're laying, there's a feed for layers that provides them some balanced nutrition. Then anything you eat, they can eat. Don't feed them food gone bad. If it's safe for you, it's safe for them. They're a good garbage disposal, lol!

Keep them inside the coop for about a week and they'll return on their own when it gets dark. You may need to show them to go in a few times, but they'll get it.

Mine free range all day long every day. I have grit and oyster shell set out "free choice" style in case they need it. I have feed out for them. Most of their diet is what they find in the yard but they do eat a bit of the feed, especially in the winter. I'll give them leftovers all of the time. I even give them cooked chicken such as the carcass after we took all of the parts off that we're going to eat. They clean it up to the bone. They've gotten yogurt, left over veggies, and left over thai food. It's hilarious to watch them eat yogurt. I get the plain variety. The first time I had to drop meal worms in it because they didn't realize it was food. After Thanksgiving, I split the little decoration pumpkins and they eat those down to the skin. Watermelon is a favorite of theirs too. Mine didn't like oranges. They liked apples though. I removed the seeds first.

I use treats like black oil sunflower seeds to bribe them if I need to put them in the run to let the dogs out. They're pretty easy to take care of, especially if they can free range. Mine are all very easy going with beautiful healthy feathers and I rarely see any fights. They've got it pretty good.

 

[Joshua G]

Quote: Sorry, I meant meat and eggs.