I have been keeping chickens about 18 months,
often when I have gone on line for answers this forum has popped up so I thought about time I joined it.
I started with one cockerel the seller who gave me him free said he was ‘weird’ she said he looked light Sussex, but she had no light Sussex so he was a throw back, but his colours turn up regularly so he breeds true, and that is despite I had no light Sussex hens. I brought right at the end of the season when there was little choice available.
1 cockerel...light Sussex looks
1 hen cream legbar - green eggs
2 one hen sold as a cream leg bar bar isn’t - I was very naive - brown eggs not green, and the size of her she is probably part bantam
3 when I arrived oh she only had two cream leg bar so gave me a daisy marsh, this hen died before breeding likely egg bound, refused food for 5 days before killing over.
later we also bought
3 bluebelles one injured its leg under the feathers we did not see it and only found out when it was upside down on the floor dead as a door nail.
4 two rocky Rhodes - these are intelligent birds by comparison, but had been hand reared so possibly picked up learned behaviour
so 8 hens bought, lost 2, so 6 moving forward, bought a brinsea incubator and we have around 60 could be more but some birds just go awol and to date two young birds have managed to drown them selves, one in our duck ponds and one in a bucket, I now try to keep the youngest on a closed water feeder, but those little dinosaurs get everywhere. most particularly into my allotment area, yesterday I put in 34 new beans nice healthy leaves, 5 minutes later a brown hen (yes brown that not a real legbar throws browns) broke two heads grrr. I have one chicken helper who I tolerate in this area and just pop her out if doing anything she can ruin and yes she does some damage, but she is just so sweet as she talks to me when I am digging I need to sift the soil for glass as it was once a greenhouse a massive industrial one, and Gracie the chicken gets rid of the pesky worms, she is convinced she is useful and is very vocal, she hurt her foot it was bleeding and might have died but I bandaged d and splinted it -she removed the splint and her foot is wonky but she gets around and scratches, she get too much male attention as she can’t run fast, so has a personal cage, and moans to be let out if we are late and moans if she wants something her adventures are numerous lol. She is convinced that she should have the conservatory as her home especially when I am using it as a green house, and is totally cheeky. if I put out my hands to pick her up and she has not seen me she sometimes ducks as though about to be mounted by a cock. pictures shows her investigating the pot pkants. She also comes to her name for treats. The rest all come tearing across if you shout out,”Where’s them birdy birds, here birdy birds,” their meal call, luckily we have no near neighbours
We have chickens,ducks pekin/Aylesbury/Muscovies and a couple of geese which needed a home and their 3 half runner friends, bees and goats all in the last 18 months, our learning curve was steep lol, in general all get on well together, We separated the goats as the wither loves chasing birds and the ducks panic and get hurt, but if there is a chicken duck dispute the chicken runs and the duck chases, luckily the chickens have loads of roost and an orchard to play in so getting away is not too difficult. I will in future just be discussing chicken issues, but this gives a rounded overview.
I would just like to say thank you for the times my searches bought me here and gave me insights on issues I have had. Still lots to learn though.
often when I have gone on line for answers this forum has popped up so I thought about time I joined it.
I started with one cockerel the seller who gave me him free said he was ‘weird’ she said he looked light Sussex, but she had no light Sussex so he was a throw back, but his colours turn up regularly so he breeds true, and that is despite I had no light Sussex hens. I brought right at the end of the season when there was little choice available.
1 cockerel...light Sussex looks
1 hen cream legbar - green eggs
2 one hen sold as a cream leg bar bar isn’t - I was very naive - brown eggs not green, and the size of her she is probably part bantam
3 when I arrived oh she only had two cream leg bar so gave me a daisy marsh, this hen died before breeding likely egg bound, refused food for 5 days before killing over.
later we also bought
3 bluebelles one injured its leg under the feathers we did not see it and only found out when it was upside down on the floor dead as a door nail.
4 two rocky Rhodes - these are intelligent birds by comparison, but had been hand reared so possibly picked up learned behaviour
so 8 hens bought, lost 2, so 6 moving forward, bought a brinsea incubator and we have around 60 could be more but some birds just go awol and to date two young birds have managed to drown them selves, one in our duck ponds and one in a bucket, I now try to keep the youngest on a closed water feeder, but those little dinosaurs get everywhere. most particularly into my allotment area, yesterday I put in 34 new beans nice healthy leaves, 5 minutes later a brown hen (yes brown that not a real legbar throws browns) broke two heads grrr. I have one chicken helper who I tolerate in this area and just pop her out if doing anything she can ruin and yes she does some damage, but she is just so sweet as she talks to me when I am digging I need to sift the soil for glass as it was once a greenhouse a massive industrial one, and Gracie the chicken gets rid of the pesky worms, she is convinced she is useful and is very vocal, she hurt her foot it was bleeding and might have died but I bandaged d and splinted it -she removed the splint and her foot is wonky but she gets around and scratches, she get too much male attention as she can’t run fast, so has a personal cage, and moans to be let out if we are late and moans if she wants something her adventures are numerous lol. She is convinced that she should have the conservatory as her home especially when I am using it as a green house, and is totally cheeky. if I put out my hands to pick her up and she has not seen me she sometimes ducks as though about to be mounted by a cock. pictures shows her investigating the pot pkants. She also comes to her name for treats. The rest all come tearing across if you shout out,”Where’s them birdy birds, here birdy birds,” their meal call, luckily we have no near neighbours
We have chickens,ducks pekin/Aylesbury/Muscovies and a couple of geese which needed a home and their 3 half runner friends, bees and goats all in the last 18 months, our learning curve was steep lol, in general all get on well together, We separated the goats as the wither loves chasing birds and the ducks panic and get hurt, but if there is a chicken duck dispute the chicken runs and the duck chases, luckily the chickens have loads of roost and an orchard to play in so getting away is not too difficult. I will in future just be discussing chicken issues, but this gives a rounded overview.I would just like to say thank you for the times my searches bought me here and gave me insights on issues I have had. Still lots to learn though.
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Glad you joined. 
