Hi!
My name is Martin and I live on the East Coast of England.
I'm relatively new to chickens - having acquired 5-hens early in 2020 from a neighbour who was emigrating to France.
When they arrived, they were full of red mite and clearly suffering. Sadly, one died within a week of them arriving.
Then early last year, the 'head girl' was suffering regular prolapse and try as I might to rest her, it came to a point where it was only fair to dispatch her to the great coup in the sky...
That was an experience - simply because it's not something I'd ever done, and also because I wanted to cause her as little distress as I could during the process.
That left us with 3, one of which went broody in June last year. In the end, we bought her 6-fertilised eggs, and she hatched three.
We woke one morning to find one out of the nest, cold and dying and that left two.
Then, when the chicks were about 8-weeks old, we returned home one evening to find 'mum' in quite a bit of distress - one had been gotten by 'something' and then there was one.
So now, we have a coup with four girls and as soon as the weather warms up, I'll look to get another batch of fertilised eggs - where I live is quite urban, and getting a rooster would be a non-starter.
There seems to have been a lot of 'death' on our watch, but we really do take good care of them - honest! Our girls free-range, are fed on organic pellets and kitchen scraps.
I love the different personality traits of each, and I can (and do) spend hours being around them and enjoying 'Chicken TV' - even the re-runs!
My wife and I work in IT, and we're very lucky that we are both able to work from home - meaning we get to spend time with the girls
and our rescue dog 'Freddie'.
I've been lurking in the BYC forums since I first got the girls and was originally looking for coup ideas, I've finally joined as I need some advice from the awesome BYC community
Martin
My name is Martin and I live on the East Coast of England.
I'm relatively new to chickens - having acquired 5-hens early in 2020 from a neighbour who was emigrating to France.
When they arrived, they were full of red mite and clearly suffering. Sadly, one died within a week of them arriving.
Then early last year, the 'head girl' was suffering regular prolapse and try as I might to rest her, it came to a point where it was only fair to dispatch her to the great coup in the sky...
That was an experience - simply because it's not something I'd ever done, and also because I wanted to cause her as little distress as I could during the process.
That left us with 3, one of which went broody in June last year. In the end, we bought her 6-fertilised eggs, and she hatched three.
We woke one morning to find one out of the nest, cold and dying and that left two.
Then, when the chicks were about 8-weeks old, we returned home one evening to find 'mum' in quite a bit of distress - one had been gotten by 'something' and then there was one.
So now, we have a coup with four girls and as soon as the weather warms up, I'll look to get another batch of fertilised eggs - where I live is quite urban, and getting a rooster would be a non-starter.
There seems to have been a lot of 'death' on our watch, but we really do take good care of them - honest! Our girls free-range, are fed on organic pellets and kitchen scraps.
I love the different personality traits of each, and I can (and do) spend hours being around them and enjoying 'Chicken TV' - even the re-runs!
My wife and I work in IT, and we're very lucky that we are both able to work from home - meaning we get to spend time with the girls
and our rescue dog 'Freddie'.I've been lurking in the BYC forums since I first got the girls and was originally looking for coup ideas, I've finally joined as I need some advice from the awesome BYC community
Martin
So happy you have joined us.
I wish you all the best.
