Hi
Delighted to see this new category on the site. We have five chickens at the moment - 4 Barnvelders and a Welsomer. The latter looks very forlorn after its molt - but the others look great. No eggs at this time - but that is only one of the benefits of keeping hens. We are interested in any posts that you may have on this topic.
Chris
Chickens
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sue-the-recycler
- KG Regular
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- Location: North Staffs
Nice to see a space for chickens - no holding should be without them. I still have maximum production from my girls of 1 egg each a day despite the weather and I dont have additional lighting. I recently posted on the old forum about using autumn leaves as a litter for them and so far its working a treat. The chickens shred the leaves while scratching, coat them in poo and when I rake them up - usually once a week - I split them between the regualr compost bin - the hot compost bin and the leaf mould bin. I'm lucky to have plenty of leaves - far more than I could use in a leaf mould bin alone - and airy dry barn storage for them.
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Diane
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- Location: Wimborne, Dorset.
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I love my chickens too. Have 3 at the moment and they are all spoilt rotten. There is absolutely nothing nicer than your own eggs (boiled, with soldiers preferably). 
Will be hatching out a few more chicks in the incubator in the spring, unless Phyllis the silkie goes broody first.
Will be hatching out a few more chicks in the incubator in the spring, unless Phyllis the silkie goes broody first.
Diane - I've got a bundle of silkies broody at the moment - no chance of them laying anything until the new year!
Loz
Loz
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Cherry
I really fancy incubating my own - seen an incubator for 3 eaggs! I only want a couple of chooks and preferably a very docile breed. With only 2 or three hens, would there be enough to keep each other warm and company?
Hello Cherry
Just a few points which I hope will help.
Chickens are very sociable creatures that thrive best when kept as a flock. I would suggest 3 hens as the absolute minimum. If you have only two hens and something happens to one of them then you have the problem of a single hen.
If you are going to incubate eggs with the aim of getting eventually say 3 hens, then you'll need to start of with quite a few eggs. Firstly there may well be some that don't hatch or chicks are lost shortly after hatching and then of course, on average, half of your brood are likely to turn out as (unwanted?) males. Perhaps you should start of with at least 6 eggs.
Your chicks will need the warmth of a broody lamp for up to 6-8 weeks after hatching as they won't be able to keep themselves warm enough.
Do you have any hens already? Do any of them ever go broody? Have you thought of putting a few fertile eggs under a broody. This is so easy as mum does all the work!!! There's nothing much better than watching a mother hen and her new chicks!
John
Just a few points which I hope will help.
Chickens are very sociable creatures that thrive best when kept as a flock. I would suggest 3 hens as the absolute minimum. If you have only two hens and something happens to one of them then you have the problem of a single hen.
If you are going to incubate eggs with the aim of getting eventually say 3 hens, then you'll need to start of with quite a few eggs. Firstly there may well be some that don't hatch or chicks are lost shortly after hatching and then of course, on average, half of your brood are likely to turn out as (unwanted?) males. Perhaps you should start of with at least 6 eggs.
Your chicks will need the warmth of a broody lamp for up to 6-8 weeks after hatching as they won't be able to keep themselves warm enough.
Do you have any hens already? Do any of them ever go broody? Have you thought of putting a few fertile eggs under a broody. This is so easy as mum does all the work!!! There's nothing much better than watching a mother hen and her new chicks!
John
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Cherry
Many thanks for the advise John. No I don't have hens and will be starting from scratch. What breed would you suggest?
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Gill
Why not get some ex battery hens to start with this is how I started more than 30 years ago they will cost very little if anything and you will be saving their life lots of information on another forum belonging to a magazine initial letters PP
If you are starting from scratch have you considered the cost of all your equipment verses buying in chicks that are 'hardened off'. You would have to start incubating atleast 9 eggs (£1 at our local market) to hopefully get 3 hens, what would you do with the surplus males...can you sex the chicks? or would you have to raise ALL the chicks until you could tell the difference with the plumage/combs etc.
Having bought your equipment and hatched your first lot of chicks and reared them would you be looking to raise another lot or would the equipment sit up in the attic (like mine has done for the last 9 years). As you find that you no longer require extra chicks/duckling.
As you might guess I speak from experiance. I purchased my incubator and brooding lamp 10 years ago and used 30 eggs from my small flock of ducks, of these only 18 hatched, but all the ducking lived, at 14 weeks I could tell which were males and sent these to market for slaughtering and only got £1 each for them (I tried but failed to ring their necks myself but when you have hand reared them and they rest their head so trustingly on your shoulder as you are carrying them away from their pen it would take a harder heart than mine to kill them) the females I kept for egglaying, but I generally had more eggs than I needed or could give away.
These ducks eventually died or were given away when I got divorced and thought I might have to move house.
Last year I restarted my flock of ducks, I purchased 6 female karki campbells for £3.50 each as week olds, these needed the broody lamp, and 5 female white campbells for £5.50 for 3 weeks old, these did not need the broody lamp but where kept in the same shed (different run) so benefited from the lamp slightly. Please note that duckling are more hardy than chicks which will require heat for longer. I now have 11 acres so can contemplate increasing my flock further, but am still not sure about setting my own eggs, I would have to buy, house and feed a male or two. I would then have the problem of disposing of surplus males and as I do not know how to vent sex the ducklings I will have to raise the males to 14 weeks, so all extra costs!
ALSO to take into account is BIRD INFLUENZA we may be looking at a ban on poultry being kept outdoors...would it be fair to coop your birds up all day? and ANYBODY with a flock of over 50 birds will need to be registered with DEFRA.
I agree with the exbattery idea if you want them for pets with eggs rather than a commercial venture, but they will need to be taught how to behave out of a cage if you could get a free range hen from somewhere.
Having bought your equipment and hatched your first lot of chicks and reared them would you be looking to raise another lot or would the equipment sit up in the attic (like mine has done for the last 9 years). As you find that you no longer require extra chicks/duckling.
As you might guess I speak from experiance. I purchased my incubator and brooding lamp 10 years ago and used 30 eggs from my small flock of ducks, of these only 18 hatched, but all the ducking lived, at 14 weeks I could tell which were males and sent these to market for slaughtering and only got £1 each for them (I tried but failed to ring their necks myself but when you have hand reared them and they rest their head so trustingly on your shoulder as you are carrying them away from their pen it would take a harder heart than mine to kill them) the females I kept for egglaying, but I generally had more eggs than I needed or could give away.
These ducks eventually died or were given away when I got divorced and thought I might have to move house.
Last year I restarted my flock of ducks, I purchased 6 female karki campbells for £3.50 each as week olds, these needed the broody lamp, and 5 female white campbells for £5.50 for 3 weeks old, these did not need the broody lamp but where kept in the same shed (different run) so benefited from the lamp slightly. Please note that duckling are more hardy than chicks which will require heat for longer. I now have 11 acres so can contemplate increasing my flock further, but am still not sure about setting my own eggs, I would have to buy, house and feed a male or two. I would then have the problem of disposing of surplus males and as I do not know how to vent sex the ducklings I will have to raise the males to 14 weeks, so all extra costs!
ALSO to take into account is BIRD INFLUENZA we may be looking at a ban on poultry being kept outdoors...would it be fair to coop your birds up all day? and ANYBODY with a flock of over 50 birds will need to be registered with DEFRA.
I agree with the exbattery idea if you want them for pets with eggs rather than a commercial venture, but they will need to be taught how to behave out of a cage if you could get a free range hen from somewhere.
I don't suffer from insanity .... I enjoy it!
Vivianne
Vivianne
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ianh
It's worth putting duck eggs under broody hens (our bantams go broody twice a year) just to see the 'mum' when the ducklings first take to the pond.
We also have some ducks (called 'sauvageons' here in France - a cross between a mallard and a Khaki Campbell, I think) which regularly go broody and hatch their own clutch of eggs.
Beats messing about with incubators every time.
We also have some ducks (called 'sauvageons' here in France - a cross between a mallard and a Khaki Campbell, I think) which regularly go broody and hatch their own clutch of eggs.
Beats messing about with incubators every time.
Hello Cherry
As far as breeds go, I agree with the others about ex-battery hens. These will be coming to end of their first laying cycle and will be perhaps 18 months old. They soon get used to the outdoor life, feather up nicely and get down to the serious business of laying lots of brown eggs. They're really friendly too. Round here you can get them for 50p to £1 each. You can find them in the small ads of the local paper or ask in your local farm store where to find them.
Some poultry units get in chicks and grow them on to POL when they are moved on to the egg producing units. These places over-produce to cover losses and so always have hens left over after each 'cycle' which they will sell off - these are often about £3 each. These are really excellent layers especially if you can get the free-range breeds.
If you want something a bit more exotic there are hybrids available based on the pure breeds eg. Sussex Star (Light Sussex), White Star (Leghorn) - small birds that lays large white eggs, Speckledy (Maran) - very dark brown eggs, Black Rock - beautiful glossy black plumage with a green sheen, very hardy excellent layer and there are loads more eg Legbars - blue eggs.
Then there are the pure breeds. These tend to be very decorative and attractive birds. They cannot compete in the laying stakes with the hybrids though and will go broody each year. Barnvelders would a good one to start with.
Then there are the bantams and that's another story!
John
As far as breeds go, I agree with the others about ex-battery hens. These will be coming to end of their first laying cycle and will be perhaps 18 months old. They soon get used to the outdoor life, feather up nicely and get down to the serious business of laying lots of brown eggs. They're really friendly too. Round here you can get them for 50p to £1 each. You can find them in the small ads of the local paper or ask in your local farm store where to find them.
Some poultry units get in chicks and grow them on to POL when they are moved on to the egg producing units. These places over-produce to cover losses and so always have hens left over after each 'cycle' which they will sell off - these are often about £3 each. These are really excellent layers especially if you can get the free-range breeds.
If you want something a bit more exotic there are hybrids available based on the pure breeds eg. Sussex Star (Light Sussex), White Star (Leghorn) - small birds that lays large white eggs, Speckledy (Maran) - very dark brown eggs, Black Rock - beautiful glossy black plumage with a green sheen, very hardy excellent layer and there are loads more eg Legbars - blue eggs.
Then there are the pure breeds. These tend to be very decorative and attractive birds. They cannot compete in the laying stakes with the hybrids though and will go broody each year. Barnvelders would a good one to start with.
Then there are the bantams and that's another story!
John
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Magenta
We started off with six hens 18 months ago. We got three ex-batteries and three pullets - Black Rocks. We got them all on the same day and after a few days sorting out the pecking order they have been a happy flock.
Last winter one of the ex-batteries died and another went last week. They don't live as long as the ones that have had a good start in life and so now we only have one ex-battery and the three Black Rocks. When it's warmer we intend to get another three ex-batteries, keep them separate to start with and then, hopefully, integrate them.
In their first summer, we got five or six eggs a day. This winter it went down to the lowest at one or two a day. Now we're back up to three a day from four hens.
The ex-batteries are very rewarding to keep and adapt very quickly. I would suggest waiting until spring, we're waiting because our last lot were almost oven ready (no feathers) and I think the transition from heated shed to free ranging is best done in warmer weather.
The prevously mentioned website is just what you need!
Last winter one of the ex-batteries died and another went last week. They don't live as long as the ones that have had a good start in life and so now we only have one ex-battery and the three Black Rocks. When it's warmer we intend to get another three ex-batteries, keep them separate to start with and then, hopefully, integrate them.
In their first summer, we got five or six eggs a day. This winter it went down to the lowest at one or two a day. Now we're back up to three a day from four hens.
The ex-batteries are very rewarding to keep and adapt very quickly. I would suggest waiting until spring, we're waiting because our last lot were almost oven ready (no feathers) and I think the transition from heated shed to free ranging is best done in warmer weather.
The prevously mentioned website is just what you need!
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Guest
Last year I took in one hen.. I was at a Visitor farm and the man thrust this skinny bird at me, "Can you save a hen with a bad leg?" Three others he gave me fell prey to mink, so I didn't try any more. The lame one survived as the three big ones were attacking her and I put her in the big cat box inside at night away from them. She was skin and bone and bald underneath, and could barely walk. No idea what had happened, but both feet look mangled. Almost a year on she is plump and shiny, and a "character". The phone engineer was here today and he did a double take at the hen on the settee. I never hand tamed her; she comes to me for protection from my cats etc. But has to be caught at night; unless I put the cat bx near her, when in she hops. And from time to time lays for a few weeks, then stops. Probably the old wild habits? I enjoy her feistiness and freedom. And the eggs are a rare treat. She was raised wild at that lovely old farm; part bantam, part Black Rock/Rocket?; as the man said, she wouldn't get her papers. A hen with attitude and character.. and as she cannot scratch much she does little harm to the garden. She fits in here with the three rescued cats and the pet ewe.
I never hand tamed her; she comes to me for protection from my cats etc. But has to be caught at night; unless I put the cat bx near her, when in she hops. And from time to time lays for a few weeks, then stops. Probably the old wild habits? I enjoy her feistiness and freedom. And the eggs are a rare treat. She was raised wild at that lovely old farm; part bantam, part Black Rock/Rocket?; as the man said, she wouldn't get her papers. A hen with attitude and character.. and as she cannot scratch much she does little harm to the garden. She fits in here with the three rescued cats and the pet ewe.