UK Member Please Say HI

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi

Glad you could join the flock! How exciting for you to be getting your coop and chickens. I'm sure you will enjoy keeping chickens it's a super hobby and lots of fun. What breeds are you getting? Good luck with them and enjoy BYC

 

[Luddite]

I was so excited to be offered the chicks for free, I forgot to ask the breed

Knowing the source, they're probably mixed - they have all sorts running around on the farm. Lisa also keeps rescue battery hens, but these are home-hatched.

I once kept a couple of White Leghorns (after a now ex thought it would be cute to give me day-old chicks for Easter - idiot!) and that was a fast learning curve due to being totally unprepared. This time I'm going to do it properly.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Luddite and welcome from me too.

Barnyard mixes are the business! I have a mixed breed flock that is rapidly becoming more mixed! I like my pure breeds although the leghorns try my patience sometimes but my favourites are mixed. Great that you have a friend to give you some to get started.

Hope you get as much enjoyment from your flock as I do mine and beware of what is referred to as "chicken math(s)" here on the forum. It has to do with some principle that however many you start with, you always seem to want/need/acquire more!

I hope your chicks settle into your new coop happily and all goes smoothly.

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[Luddite]

Hi Barbara! At my advanced age I'm well aware of instances of 'mission creep' hence 3-4 chooks in a house designed for 6-9

As for mixed, I've seen some amazing crosses - when I was at college and learning what was quaintly termed Rural Studies back then, we had some Bantam crossed with Pheasants - Banty shape and size, but glorious iridescent plumage. We called them Phantoms . When we mated two Phantoms, the four eggs gave us one HUGE black cockerel, a large white hen and two little Phantoms.

 

[hikaribug]

Hi all! New member here - been keeping 3 hens for only a few days! I'm currently in Devon but originally from Cornwall and have moved around a lot

My hens are Peach (Amber Star). Daisy (Light Sussex) and Rosa (Columbian Blacktail)

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi

Glad you could join us!! Ooh your first days of chicken keeping How are you finding the experience? All good I hope, chicken keeping is a fantastic hobby and it gets better and better. I have an Amber called Ginny, here she is

All my others are polish. I've hatched a couple of chicks from her eggs she is in with a frizzle silver lace polish cockerel.

Good luck with Peach, Daisy and Rosa. Enjoy them and BYC

 

[hikaribug]

Hi Yorkshire coop, thanks for the welcome!

I'm loving chicken keeping so far! I never thought watching chickens peck around and do their daily chicken stuff could be so fascinating. I'm very attached to them already - little Peach is my favourite, she's my little buddy and is braver than the other two. It's funny how they have their own personalities - Peach is quiet and sweet but brave and friendly, Daisy is an expert bug-catcher but a bit grumpy and mean, and Rosa is scared of everything and a bit daft

Ginny is lovely! Her comb and wattle are so big and red, Peach's are still very small and pink! Will it grow as she gets older?

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Peach is gorgeous just like Ginny when I first brought her home so yes I'm sure she will get redder and they will grow. The chicken TV is great I can spend ages with them just watching. I only let mine out when I can supervise as the polish with their fancy crests and poor vision get easily lost even in the garden!! They can get under a bush and then it's shear panic trying to get out. Had them out today in the sun and they have really enjoyed it. This is one of my groups a couple of weeks ago.

I think you have the same run as me

I'm so impressed with it I'm going to get another for my other group of polish. I've moved it now though from the gravel area up to a slabbed area so it's easy to clean with hose.

 

[hikaribug]

Awww they look so happy in the sun!

The run is great - took a bit of putting together but it's been excellent so far. They are just staying in the run at the moment and seem happy but I'm planning to get a bit of extra portable fencing so I can let them have supervised trips onto the rest of the lawn when the weather is good.

It's their third night here tonight and they've finally worked out how to get back into the house by themselves without assistance... well, Peach and Daisy did, Rosa still needed a bit of help! She got there in the end though once I shut her into the smaller coop with the house

Having them on slabs for easy cleaning is a great idea - they've already pooped everywhere on the grass in their run here! They are enjoying it very much pecking the grass, digging for bugs etc but I am wondering how I'm going to keep it clean for them. I picked up the worst of the poop earlier, but of course an hour later there was plenty more...!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Good afternoon all

How is everyone? All well I am hoping?