Topic: I always wanted hens but my OH has saved 17 today and due home soon aaagh

[cocopops]

My husband is a joiner working for a company that builds agricultural buildings.  He went to work today to find that there were 100 laying hens that were underweight and due to be slaughtered.  He has spent the last few days chasing them up the lane to catch the ones that escaped and grown really fond of them.  He phoned me this morning to say that we can take some today or else they are gone tomorrow.  I said OK for ten so he decided to take 17!

Anyway some of the earlier postings answer a lot of my questions but:
*  We would like them to live on a sloping part of the garden (saves mowing it).  It is a slight incline about 12m x 12m.  Is there any problem with the slope or size (my mum who is a bit of a "bunny hugger" thought there may be  ???)
*  The farmer has given us a huge bag of food, do I put it in a bowl or scatter it on the ground?
* Someone once gave me a link to a site with plans for a chicken coup, does anyone know the address? 
*   How many laying boxes would I need for 17 birds?
*  We are a family of 4 who love eggs but I think this may be a bit over the top.  I know that I could probably re-home some on a forum (ex-pats living in Brittany).  How many would be reasonable?

Thanks for reading

[loz2006]

Hi, great that you rescued those hens.  There shouldnt be a problem with the slope.  The food I assume is layers pellets and this needs to go into a container.  You can scatter corn on the ground for them to peck and scratch at a a treat which theyll love.  Theyll also need fresh drinking water.

This is a link to a useful poultry site, but if you google keeping chickens youll get loads.http://www.poultry.allotment.org.uk/

you will have lots of eggs from 17 hens, they lay approximately 6 days out of 7.

good luck

Lorraine

[kt.]

Look here:

http://www.keepchickens.info/index.php?pageid=6

http://www.poultrychat.com/vb/index.php?

http://www.poultryclub.org/ACHandling.htm

[betula]

Best of luck with the new girls :)

[jonny211]

To deter rats I'd put the feed in hoppers and susped these from something so the wretches can't get to it (the rats not the chickens). If the feeders are under cover it'll also stop the pellets turning to mouldy porridge in the rain.

For 17 chickens you'd need a few feeders so they can all get to the food without squabbling... same for any water hoppers.

Anyway have fun with them, I'm sure they'll provide hours of viewing entertainment!

Jon

[cambourne7]

have a look at you tube as well as that egg things HFW and Jamie Oliver did shows you some stuff about rehoming those types of birds like they are not used to perching so you might have to encourgate them. Apparantly a couple of footballs dont go down 2 badly either.

Not that i know anything :) i was just up late and found this bbc link which might make you smile


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7389906.stm