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[CCUK]

Well I don't like to say that I'm a defeatist but I've given up trying to find brahma chicks. There either too far away or people want stupid money for 4 week old chicks! So after I lost lottie, my cuckoo maran, I was pretty wounded. She was such a sweetheart. I thought I would settle for these little fuzz balls!

They're noisy little buggers! And need a little handling but there settling in well. Hopefully I'll get them in with my Araucana chicks and they can all be booted..er..integrated outside in the next week or two!

 

[CCUK]

This is now my livingroom!

Who says chickens don't take over!

 

[Aerliss]

@Chickencountryuk I don't know what they are, but they are very cute!

Carol and Daryl are my favourites. Carol really blossomed during the apocalypse And Daryl is just a sweetheart. I love their friendship. Chicken Carol is the smallest of the four, but by far the most strong willed. She's absolutely the boss. She even kicks Maggie, the biggest, out of the favoured nesting box when she wants to use it.

 

[CCUK]

They're cuckoo marans. I've just upset them. I switched the light off! And now I can't hear the TV because of all the cheeping! They've got heater plates in there. Your chickens need to be carefull because someone else on here has one called NEGAN!!

 

[Aerliss]

Clearly, those heater plates are not good enough. You should have forked out for the gold plated ones.

WHY WOULD YOU NAME A PET NEGAN?!?! Okay, so maybe the "half of your stuff is mine" fits. About the only space in the whole house and garden that belongs to us humans is the bedroom...

 

[boskelli1571]

The Walking Dead. Pretty sure you have it in the US

Ok - yes we do, but I don't watch TV - we don't have one

 

[Aerliss]

I don't have a TV either. Well, I do, but it's used as a computer monitor. I unplugged the aerial last year to charge my torch (same connector) and we never plugged it back in. Scheduled TV is a thing of the past.

 

[JemimaP]

Sorry for this boring post but I wondered if anyone can help me plan what to do when I go on holiday for a week in July? Everything I planned before I got my chickens now seems completely inadequate now I have my girls and understand what they need.

My current set up: secure coop with automatic door (that sometimes doesn’t shut if bedding gets stuck in the groove grr). Attached run that wasn’t designed to be predator proof, just to keep chickens in until they’re old enough to free range. It has a roof but sides are just chicken wire and nothing underneath to prevent digging.

My current routine:
Morning put the food out before chickens get up. Pick poop out of coop (they’re not roosting yet they sleep on the floor in a huddle).

Afternoon- give them some corn or snacks, chat to them, sit in the run for a cuddle!

Evening - check they’re in bed (last 3 nights they’ve roosted on a high roof in the run so I’ve lifted them into coop as run isn’t secure. Shut coop door to make sure it has shut as sometimes sticks. Bring food and water inside house to prevent rats. Pick the poop out of the run.

I had thought my neighbour would just pop in once a day to check food and water was ok. But now I’m panicking!!!!
Do I rebuild my run to make it secure and leave the coop door open all week and let them sleep on a weeks worth of poo and have a week of poo in the run???

 

[Aerliss]

That's a tough one. I actually have a friend stay at my house when I go away (we never go away for more than three days). They've only dealt with the rabbits so far, but they have additional medical needs so it's a lot to do. If you have the money, there are pet sitters out there. There are a few websites I've come across, and you might have a local one.

For securing the addition to the run, what I've done is hammer long tent pegs an inch apart all the way around my run. They go right into the clay. Despite her best efforts, the old rabbit who previously lived in there never dug out... she dug right under the shed, because there were no pegs on that side, as the shed and that side of the run sit on paving slabs. But she never managed to dig under the tent pegs. Our top soil is not even a foot deep though, so it might depend on how deep down you can go. Though you might be able to get longer tent pegs. It was a bit of work, but that run is never moving again. Seriously. One year of settling and grass growing around it and that run is stuck in place.

 

[Aerliss]

Morning put the food out before chickens get up.

The sun rises at just after 4am in Edinburgh at the moment. Ain't no way I'm putting food out before they get up! They can deal with left overs in the coop