Windy hill chickens - first flock(s) of my own

[kattabelly]

Starting a thread to keep most of my observations and ramblings in one place. I want to have a record to help me remember things but hopefully some of this will end up being useful, interesting or at least entertaining for others.

I do a bit of farm work, so I'm not new to chickens, but I haven't been in a position to keep any myself until recently. I took on an outdoor plot at a nearby community garden / allotments and there was a big derelict chicken run at the top of the site that I've been allowed to take over. Some of it is in good enough shape to be usable after a few minor repairs. Some of it, not so much:

That first photo was taken back in April. The grass and "weeds" are waist-high by now.

Predators are only a minor concern here; I'm more bothered about keeping the chickens from getting out when they shouldn't be. We won't be popular if they get onto other people's plots and eat all their veg! Orkney can be very windy though. Sometimes it rains uphill.

 

[cavemanrich]

How many chicken will you be keeping there?? Second question,, I understand it is a community garden. How far is it from your home? You will need to be there much time.
Are there concerns that other members at location, may be helping themselves to eggs,, and possibly hens as well ??

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[kattabelly]

On to the birds themselves!

Chicken maths kicked in while I was waiting for hatching eggs to arrive in the post. Someone was selling some barnyard mix chicks locally and it's often not easy to buy birds here, so I got four. The chicks I said I'd take from their photos weren't all the same as the chicks they turned up with but asking for swaps would've meant something like a 7 hour wait for the next boat home. I ended up with three cockerels and a pullet which is far from ideal but seems to be working so far. I know people who'd have space to take the pullet either short-term or permanently if necessary but I'm hoping they'll all continue to get along for another few weeks, when I'll be able to add either another couple of POL pullets or some older hens to restore the balance a bit and keep the boys in check.

They're about 14 weeks old now but luckily the cockerels seem to be slow developers. I've only heard one pathetic attempt at crowing so far, although I'm often not around early mornings. There's been a bit of minor hackles-up squaring off but no actual fighting.

They were pretty scared of people when they got here but they'll tolerate me getting fairly close now and even eat out of my hand when invited. Yesterday I thought I'd let them try free-ranging for the first time. They weren't convinced

Why is it so hard to get a photo without one of them looking demented?

Hmm...

All that free-ranging (over an entire square metre of ground by the door ) was exhausting

The black & white cockerel is calm, probably the friendliest without being at all pushy and my favourite. I really hope he stays this way.

I thought the black one was a bit of a troublemaker at first but he seems to have settled down now. He's beautifully iridescent but offsets that by always looking extremely startled in photos, even when he isn't a blur. He managed to get "lost" with a clump of tall grass between him and the door when I let them out yesterday, and he was totally calm when I picked him up to put him back. First time I've done that with any of them and it surprised me how good he was.

Mr Fancy-Pants is the flightiest of the three - not necessarily a bad thing. We're still deciding what to make of one another. He usually has better tail feathers than this.

The pullet I think needs some female company and time before she starts showing much more than generic chickenness. She wants to murder the younger chicks but I'd probably be quite grumpy too if I was the only girl living with three stinky teenage brothers. I'd say she'd make a good broody when she's older if underfloof levels were an indicator.

There are younger chicks too, but introducing them will have to wait because I can hear them demanding second breakfast.

 

[kattabelly]

How many chicken will you be keeping there?? Second question,, I understand it is a community garden. How far is it from your home? You will need to be there much time.
Are there concerns that other members at location, may be helping themselves to eggs,, and possibly hens as well ??

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Eventual numbers will depend on how much space I end up with after repairs and extensions, how well free-ranging under supervision works or doesn't, how splitting them into groups works out both in terms of housing and how many cocks I can keep... Seem to be hatching a lot of cockerels at the moment but I have no problem with eating birds I can't keep, although some like the Shetlands which are a local(ish) and relatively rare breed I will try to re-home first.

It's about a 5-10 minute walk away - more like 15 if I'm carrying lots and walking into the wind. Getting there as often as I need to isn't an issue. Not having power on site means I find it easiest to keep chicks in my house for the first few weeks, but they're outside for at least part of the day from two days old. The short distance makes it easy to bring them there & back in a pet carrier and they get used to the routine quickly.

Other people will be welcome to have some eggs if I ever manage to stop hatching mostly boys! I'm thinking of building some rollaway nest boxes that allow eggs to be collected from outside the run, so people can just help themselves and save me the hassle of setting up a separate egg box. Not much gets stolen here because folk are mostly decent and know each other - I never lock the door to my house either.

 

[kattabelly]

...and now the chicks!

Living here means hatching eggs mostly need to be sent by airmail, unless you happen to know or find someone who has the fertile eggs you want, when you want them. I've had hatch rates of 75% and over in the past with shipped eggs but this year's first hatch was really bad - I think that was mostly a fertility issue though. A few breeds were complete failures but I ended up with four Light Sussex chicks and one Norfolk Grey. They're four and a half weeks old now.

The Norfolk Grey hatched with a partially unabsorbed and ruptured yolk and for the first week I didn't think it was going to make it. It's definitely not quite right and I'm still half expecting it to just up and die one day, but I won't cull while it seems to be getting on ok. Tbf, this was an especially unflattering photo I caught yesterday

Two of the LS started getting big, pink combs at around two weeks.

One was big and feathered out fast, bold but very quickly learnt not to jump up on me and has been much politer since. He's really patient with the younger chicks too, only time I've seen him give a corrective peck was when they first met at 4 weeks / 4 days old and one of the tiny Shetland chicks tried to eat his comb.

The other one is smaller and has feathered out much more slowly than any of the others. He's not great about respecting my space and seems to start a lot of the squabbles between the bigger chicks. Also the only one I've seen going after the younger chicks for no apparent reason - the others only do it if the babies are getting in the way of the first meal of the day or after their feeder's been empty for a bit, or the babies are doing something else to deserve it. Although it was pretty funny the other day when I watched him square up to one of the smallest Shetland chicks - full on, hackles right up, fight-me stance - and then very sheepishly back down and run away. Just keeping him until he's big enough to be worth eating, unless his behaviour becomes unbearable before that.

The third LS feathered out faster and in a slightly different way (different order, much more tail and a big fluffy saddle pillow, less black at the hackle) to the others. Between that and her posture and general demeanour I was sure she was a pullet. Then at just over three weeks old, "her" comb started turning pink and (s)he suddenly looked very wattley This was yesterday (you can just about see where the mean teenage pullet managed to peck at her eye through some mesh when she was a few days old) -

The last one feathered out the same way as the definite boys, at a speed between the two. It still has a smaller yellow comb, just to keep me guessing, and not much in the way of a personality.

They got lucky with the weather the week they hatched, so they've been outside for hours and hours almost every day since two days old. Really good about trying new foods and foraging for themselves - even the NG, in attitude if not ability. One of them was dust bathing at two days old. From looking back through photos at the different spots I was putting their run in, I think around 12 days old was when they developed the strength and coordination to really graze on grass and other plants.

10 days old:

20 days old:

23 & 25 days old. This was when they suddenly stopped looking like babies:

They started choosing to spend at least part of the night up there at four weeks old. Gave them a longer, wider roost and a few (4?) days later, most of them are roosting for most of the night. There's often one or two in a pile next to the roost when I look in, but not always the same ones. The only reason they aren't outside already is that I want to put them and the younger chicks all out together, now they're integrated.

 

[cavemanrich]

Not much gets stolen here because folk are mostly decent and know each other - I never lock the door to my house either.

That is soo good.
This way, if someone helps themselves to a few eggs, they may share some of their carrots with you.

 

[kattabelly]

That is soo good.
This way, if someone helps themselves to a few eggs, they may share some of their carrots with you.

I'm hoping people will start paying the chooks in slugs and leatherjackets and similar treats, once I've set things up so you don't have to navigate 5ft tall stinging nettles and a tricky door bolt to get to them. Thinking of trying something like a mini pop door, but halfway up the wall, that could be opened to throw a handful of bugs or veg scraps in but isn't quite big enough for a bird to fly out of.

We have a few communal veg beds too. People are welcome to help themselves from those, and if there's surplus we'll sometimes either give it to the local community fridge or sell it to make a few quid for the garden's funds.