Advice please ! New chickens

[B7jac]

Hi,
I have just aquired 4 new hens. ( yesterday )

I bought a purpose made hen house with run 'suitable' for 6 hens but I wouldnt keep the 4 in that small an area !! so hubby made an 'extension' for it which is enclosed, as he dosent like the idea of them running amuck all over the place.  He also fenced of an area around this so that they can 'free range' about 30' x 6' (we have a large garden and this area is right next to my veggie patch)

I have been told they are 16 weeks and point to lay but someone said they look a little younger! so may have to wait 4-5 weeks for eggs !!

I am a little worried as I have given them layers pellets mixed with grain, should they only have mash at this age? I'm not sure they are eating the pellets although they peck at it, only the grain seems to be going.  Also when giving peelings and green left overs should this be cooked?

At the moment I have to physically get them out of the coup in the morning even when I leave the pop open! and they prefer to huddle in the corner until I chase them out and then they scratch around and eat !

Any advice for me starting out would be welcome as I am a complete beginner !
Thanks

[B7jac]

[outdoorgirl]

Hi!

We have had chickens for about 5 years and started off just like you ( run with homemade extension and then decided we would let them out anyway to 'free range'!

I give mine layers pellets in the morning and a small scoop of corn in the afternoon. Purely because they will not eat the pellets if corn is available. When the chucks were little they would not eat the pellets because they were too big so I mixed a little drop of water with them to make a kind of mash.

I tend not to give many leftovers and my girls would not eat greens - did not like the taste (their favourite is rice, chopped up cooked pasta or sweetcorn!)
A friend of my husband had a chicken that was 25 yrs old and was feed a can of sweetcorn a day!(in her latter years!)

Personally I wouldn't chase them out of the coop and just let them come out when ready. They are probably just finding their feet and need time to feel safe. I would also try to tame them/tempt them out by feeding tasty scraps by hand.
Chickens are easier to catch if they are tame!

Good luck! My girls are near my allotment and they often chat to me while I'm working! They are good company! :D

[Patrick King]

hi, what type pf chickens are they?

and congrats on getting some, they are great.

[kt.]

As your hens are not chicks or fully grown, but in between,  you can buy Growers pellets. It is an intermediary food for hens that are growing.  Maybe just get one bag to tide them over this next couple of weeks, then go on to layers pellets.  Do not put corn down for another week or two if they still won't eat anything else,  just pellets only for now. 

You could also look at adding a little Oyster grit. It is a fine coarse grit that is suitable for your hens from the age they are at.  This will help develop the shell when they come into lay.  Thus reducing the chances of laying shell-less runny eggs ;)

[B7jac]

Oh thank you all for advice so far.

They are Rhode Island Red I believe.

I was told I could 'roast' old chicken egg shells and grind for grit/calcium, is this ok or do I need oyster shell too?

I am also concerned with some posts here which say that a static run can become smelly without anything on it.  Half of mine is covered but the homemade extension is only covered with mesh and so will get wet.  What about soiling? I had planned to just dig over the earth a little, is this ok or do I need to actually remove the top layer?

I will have to watch the feed though as I have already mixed the layers pellets with the mixed corn !!!

I think they are great already, and spend too long just watching them !

PS. What about clipping ?  when I eventually let them into the bigger area which is not covered will they try to fly off or jump onto their coup and over the fence? do they need their wings clipped and how is this done?

[outdoorgirl]

If you want to clip their wings visit this website. It has some photo's on that might help. We have clipped mine but they can still fly a little bit.

http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/clip.html

As you sound like your 'Chicken mad' at the moment, you might like to visit

http://www.clarencecourt.co.uk/hencam.asp
It's great!!

[kt.]

I was told I could 'roast' old chicken egg shells and grind for grit/calcium, is this ok or do I need oyster shell too?

I am also concerned with some posts here which say that a static run can become smelly without anything on it. 

I will have to watch the feed though as I have already mixed the layers pellets with the mixed corn !!!

PS. What about clipping ?  when I eventually let them into the bigger area which is not covered will they try to fly off or jump onto their coup and over the fence? do they need their wings clipped and how is this done?

1)  Can't comment on the roast eggshell thing.  Never heard of it myself.
2)  My hens are in a static run at the allotment.  I just turn the soil from time to time,  not all at once though,  chuck fresh grass clippings in for them to scrat at.
3)  No worries about if the corn is already mixed. I always mix mine.  They will eat it when hungry.  Put down smaller amounts of food, this way they will  have no choice but to eat the pellets. 
4) I clip my hens wings about every 5 months as they will keep growing back.  Only clip one, if you clip both they can still fly.  I clip the left wing every time then I know I wont forget. ;)

[louise stella]

You can wash then bake the eggshells then grind them up and put it in with their food.

Louise

[Mr Smith]

When we had poultry we would put layers mash in a trough in the poultry house and always have grit available in a container we would also feed them wheat which we would feed to them by hand and when they started  not to show any  interest in the feed stop feeding it you get to know eventuallly how much feed they will consume in a day  :)

[teresa]

If you bake the egg shells it makes it easier to crumble them to feed back to the girls, you can air dry them and use a fork to break them up so they dont reconize its egg shells.
I dig the soil over and replace it in the spring with fresh.
I have never clipped wings, my girls were hatched at home so if they hop out of the run they soon come back to me or wait for me to catch them.
potato peeling need to be cooked but others are fine cooked to raw.
mine love lettuce but it does give them the runs and its normaly black.
but cabbage kale weeds grass clippings they have as it comes it gives them something to scratch in. stops them getting bored and pecking each other.
If you hand feed them and sit with them stroking them makes it easier to catch them when you need to check or medicate them.
but most of all enjoy them so much fun besides eggs to get from hens .

[Jitterbug]

In my research I have found this website which is very informative and gives some sound advice as well:

http://stonehead.wordpress.com

Jitterbug

[amberlove]

1. Make of buy a rat and fox safe hutch.(just the other day a rat got into my rabbit's hutch through chicken wire, lucky they were locked up).
2. Get chicken gravel to help chickens digest food better.
3. Check chickens skin (lift feathers, uinder the wing is a great place) for red mite which could be brown if not fed on blood for a while.
4. Keep your chickens happy by taking their eggs away daily otherwise they may become broody which is bad because they will stop laying.