New to Chickens! Lots of questions....

[BajaCheryl]

Hi I am new here, we just got three hens and a rooster from a ranch and we know nothing about chickens. They laid eggs the first night! We got them so we could have eggs and now that they are home with us we are tring to deal with our questions and poop (what can you do with it?). It's not been easy getting the chickens back in the coop after they have been out for a while. We put the rooster in first but the whole process has taken us an hour before. What does anyone suggest? And lastly we have a tomatoes, peas, dill, mangos, roses and lots of stuff we dont want them to eat. Is this stuff at risk?

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Some folks keep their new birds locked in the coop for a few days so they know that is "home." After that, they will put themselves to bed at dusk.

Don't be surprised if the hens stop laying for a little while. Your first eggs might have been in the shute, so to speak. They often stop laying for a couple of weeks following a move.

Yes, your plants are at risk. Maybe not the roses. But definitely the peas and tomatoes. You might want to cage your food garden or have an enclosed run for the birds.

Oh, and poop, makes excellent fertilizer. I just throw mine in a pile, loosely covered with a tarp, and let it compost a while.

 

[BajaCheryl]

Thanks so much. We had them in the cage for 3 days - and wanted to let them stretch their legs. One of them REALLY didnt want to go back, but we left her alone and then opend the cage door and she went in on her own. I think we need to put fencing around our garden. Thanks again!

 

[SIMZ]

Welcome!!

They ate our roses and are particularly fond of destroying hostas. Whatever you don't want them to mess up will have to be fenced -- or the chickens will need to be.

If you keep them in their coop for at least a few days they'll get where they're supposed to go. Then you can let them out for maybe a half hour before they normally go in to roost. You can start letting them out for longer once they go in on their own.

We also put our poop in our compost pile with our other compost.

Good luck!

 

[duckinnut]

As far as rounding up the girls to their new surroundings, treats are a sure fire thing. When I was getting my girls used to going back to the run and coop for the evening, used to bang a tin with a little scratch grain in it they would come running. You will find that chicken manure is great for the garden as you will see here on this site and people swear by it as do I. You have come to the right place for advice,help,questions,laughs,shoulders to cry on and tales of an addiction that nobody tries to cure. You will see soon enough once you get accustomed to your chickens this unexplained urge to get more an more will slowly creep in until you do. Then it will repeat itself. Most of all

 

[BajaCheryl]

Thanks very much to all of you, I am trying to figure out the poop thing before my husband gets sick of it....our workers told him the poop is "hot"....and would burn the plants. is it better to put it in the compost pile of just turn it over into the garden?

I ove the idea of letting them out in the evening...I think they already know where to go.

Thanks a million!

 

[duckinnut]

Yes the manure is hot and needs to temper before you can add it to and established garden. It needs about 60 days after being rolled in before planting in a clean bed.

 

[BajaCheryl]

Thank you very much!