Hi from South Africa

[Pia78]

Hi Everyone,Lovely to have found you and I wanted to say Hi!

I am completely new to chickens and am overwhelmed reading some of the info here!

We recently moved to a farm, we have 5 cats, 2 dogs, 4 peacocks, 2 rabbits and a 58 year old tortoise

I went to a nursery 3- days ago and noticed beautiful chickens running around. I asked about them and was told they were "taking over" and if I could catch em, I could keep them.

Apparently nobody had managed so far. I bought a huge net and caught 5 and was told I had 1 female and 4 males.

Because only 1 didnt have a wattle and comb (I just had to google to find out what the red things are called)

Yup, real newbie blondie here *blush*

Took them home and turned our wooden barn (6mx6m) into a chicken coop. I went back as they were roosting and ended up with 2 more, plus a mommy and her chicks. I am not sure how old they are, they are half her size. I have since found out that they are golden sebright chickens.

So now we have 12

I let them out in the mornings and they have full range of the farm. I have researched what to feed them, treats, etc and they happily go back into their barn without assistance at around 4pm (its the beginning of winter now).
Our other animals don't seem too interested in them at all. Thank goodness, as I was concerned about the cats and the chicks. But they don't leave their mom.

They only seem to enjoy being up on top of the crates filled with sawdust and up on the ladder and perches I made.


I have a few questions and don't want to sound too stupid:

Do females get wattles and combs?

1) I have 4 boxes on the ground with the hope that they will lay some eggs in them? Is it too cold (Its 8 degrees celcius - 22 degrees celcius)?
2) Any chances they will be fertilized this time of year (Beginning of winter for us)?

We got back from an afternoon out and all 12 were already in the coop/barn, but it seemed too early to close them in, so hubby, 2 x toddlers and I decided to have a nap. Not even an hour later, the mommy hen was walking in the front garden with only THREE chicks.
I didn't hear a commotion, no feathers, nothing :-( All I can think of is a bird of prey. Surely if it was a jackal, snake, monkey, baboon etc, the mother hen would have done her nut? I am very sad and worried as to what to do now.

3) Do I let them out? There is no way I can keep chickens cooped up all day. :-( I am a stay at home mom, so I am always around and have 2 full time donestic workers.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Pia

 

[FarmGirl4Life]

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Welcome to BYC!!!

Glad to have you aboard!!

 

[drumstick diva]

in some breeds the hens do have large combs and wattles - tho still smaller than a roosters. You may not have had predators - even the other chickens especially roosters may have

done away with chicks and/or eaten them. You have too many roosters per hen. They will fight and tend to overbreed the hen and damage her in the process. One rooster can easily take care of 8-10 hens if you want fertile eggs. Your flock may have gone to coop early that day because something scared them and they took shelter and were afraid to come back out..

I'm sorry - but the metric system hasn't really taken hold in USA. So I don't know if your temps are really cold or not. I live in the Midwest and we have some really bitter winters and then often rotten spring weather, that can be below 0 farenheit and other areas of US that are much, much colder than that - and their chickens survive.

I do know in a country such as yours - the birds don't stand a chance against the predators. Can't you make an enclosed area to have them range in outside? They would need tight fencing with only very small openings like 1/2" hardware cloth and some type of top to keep birds of prey out.

If not your number of birds are going to dwindle to nothing in a very short time.

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings, Pia78, and

! Pleased you joined us! Best of luck to you and you flock!

 

[sumi]

From another South African

You will have to fence off an area for the mom and chicks, at least, until they are older.

 

[Pia78]

Thanks for all the welcomes.

From what I can see for sure. There are definitely 3 females and I think 4 males (see pic attached), the other 1 has a small comb and wattle. They may be youngish still. Hoping the 3 chicks are gals

What do I do if they are not, keep 1/2 roo and find home for the others? Ill cross that bridge when I get there I guess.

drumstick diva 8'C is 46.5F and 23'C is 74 Fahrenheit. So the coldest it gets for us here in June/July is about 28.4 F.

My maintenance guy says the chick was probably taken by a bird of prey. A small monkey or a meercat (I haven't seen meercats here so far) or a snake could also be the culprit , but he says we would have heard the commotion for sure. Gustav (maintenance guy) has been on the farm for over 12 years. We have been her for a couple months now.

He said very rarely baboons have ventured in, but if they see you, they run. But they would not go for a chick, rather a few chickens or even a peacock!! Jackals don’t stand a chance as they can’t get in/ over the perimeter fence.

If there is activity around, everything should be ok is his advice. But if we plan on going out, we shouldn't even open the door to the coop. There is always someone here, but I'd rather be safe. My son (almost 2 and daughter (3) are ALWAYS outside with the animals, so they are their guardians alot of the time.

I may just let mommy and the 3 musketeers out for a few hours a day and wait until they are a bit bigger. These chickens are clever, that is why I love them, they climb the trees if danger approaches, small tho.

So will they lay in this temp? Must their boxes be elevated? How do I tame them a wee bit. Only the mommy hen seems ok with me.


Please excuse the bad photo! I couldnt get them together with their heads up in the other shots! 4 roo's there hey?
I will take better pics tomorrow and also include the 3 musketeers and mommy.