Hello from Sussex

[dunchp]

Dear All,

I just thought I would pop a quick message up to introduce myself.

I live in Sussex, UK and I have just started to keep chickens thanks to a Fathers Day present from my children.

We have three large ladies who give us more eggs than we can cope with. Things are going well, although I bought three young bantams last week and have had some real problems with them, including a death after a couple of days and a magpie attack this morning.

I am starting to learn that this chicken keeping is more difficult than I first thought. However I am not perturbed and am now in a quest for knowledge in order to give my girls the best lives possible. I wish I had read the bit about magpies yesterday as I might have been better prepared - I have been letting the chickens out in the morning before I get my morning cup of coffee and this seems to have been a mistake.

So please bear with me, I hope I do not grind you all down with incessant and inane questions, and please be assured that whatever knowledge I manage to acquire over the coming years, I will be pleased to pass on - kind of paying it forward.

I used to keep fish and suffered from a phenomenon called 'multiple tank syndrome', I am hoping that there is not a similar affliction for chicken runs

but am now looking at a second run for my bantams separate from my chooks.

Looking forward to getting involved.

dunchp.

 

[drumstick diva]

Mmmm, guess you don't know about chicken math and immediate chicken addiction. I'll let someone else give you the good news.

 

[gander007]

Alright

great to have you joining the BYC flock

BYC has a very useful learning center for self studying

My 23 week old pullet hatching out her first chicks

But ended up with 23 when finished ...

You need to have your chickens safe with a good sturdy fence for their own safety and security and if you are having attacks from above then you will need some top cover .....

If you look in the Predators Trend you will find a lot of different ways to loose your poultry so a safe and secure run and coop is best for everyone involved .....


Re-purposed building maturates is the way to go and saves big money but you might need to brake out the screw gun and a hammer will also work a saw and level and square but the hammer or screw gun and say are the most important and can do most jobs you need to accomplished ........


If you have any extra egg's try boiling them up and feeding them to the chickens but do mash as you do not want them to associate egg's with dinner also you can save the egg shell's and mash them up or put in blender and crush then add to feed to replace the calcium lost in producing egg's .......









gander007

 

[Michael OShay]

Welcome to BYC! You've gotten some good advice from gander007. I cannot overemphasize enough using hardward cloth for your runs instead of chicken wire. There are just too many predators that can tear through or pass through the openings in chicken wire mesh (even 1" openings). As for chicken math, you can get the gist of it by looking at the following thread (https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/635341/understanding-chicken-math). Good luck with your flock.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

So sorry for your losses. You might get some help if you post this in our Predators and Pests section of the forums. I think you need to feinforce your coop and run area and maybe someone there can help you with these predators...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/13/predators-and-pests

Chicken keeping can be a challenge at first. Purchasing birds from another source can bring in disease and of course everything eats chicken. But once you get all this ironed out, keeping chickens is a wonderful hobby and good for the soul.

Welcome to our flock and I hope you get all this straightened out soon!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about your loss, good luck with the rest of the flock.