hiya I wonder if your chooks are from the same place as ours were. the chook farm has big signs saying freerange eggs but when we got our $5 chooks they were flighty, featherless and so jumpy. Ours laid for the first few days since then nothing.hmmmmmmm
tinart,
Oct 19, 2:44am
anyone have any ideas on suitable fencing to stop chooks in the vege garden ! someone suggested somewhere putting an old freezer basket over plants but i dont have one of these. i also have a 2 year old so fence would have to be able to stand up to him.anyone!i have 4 chooks that dont fly but dig
buymygear,
Oct 19, 4:20am
i got a question for the chicken people regarding space.i would like some chickens only about 4-6 for layers, how much room would brown or red shavers need!are they compatiable with silkies!
koru_designs,
Oct 19, 5:26am
Sorry to hear of the passing of Roxy, Jules.big hugs. Lesley - sounds like maybe something got attached to the yolk/white as the shell was forming, perhaps! Have you had any other weird egg shapes! Sometimes health problems & diet cause weirdness to happen with eggs but if it was a once-off, I wouldn't be too worried. We had a small egg recently - it was the size of a marble. It came complete with a tiny wee yolk & everything! When chooks start laying eggs, they're sometimes odd sizes or double-yolkers & our small egg was laid by one of the new girls. She's since gone on to lay monstrous eggs.almost the size of a normal egg & she's just awee bantam! Tinart - we stake cheap garden wire round plants that are vulnerable to the chooks (& sometimes have to tie string round the bottom to stop them pushing the solder off so they can squeeze through - chooks are smart!). I find cutting a roll of wire in half is normally tall enough (& it means I can just step over it) but I have bantams, so you may have to adjust accordingly. You might find they don't go for all your plants - I leave most of my trees unprotected (I figure the first 60cm of growth - the bit they can reach is theirs.but I do place bricks round the roots to protect them from being exposed) & things like rosemary & mint have been untouched by my girls. Buymygear - depends a bit on if you intend for them to free range or remain in a run (moveable or fixed). Shavers & silkies should be ok together but I'd advise you form the flock all at once (don't introduce one breed to the other later on down the track) as the size difference could cause a few problems initially.
stompy,
Oct 19, 1:23pm
HI Tinart I love my vege garden and unfortunatley so did my chooks but because I grow alot of silver beet the darn birds also liked it so I purchased acouple of quite large very heavy cloches from Mitre 10 they say they last 10 yrs + and all the things the chooks and birds like I have under the cloche and things like tomatoes and spuds arn't and the chooks don't bother with them great solution also the plants gorw fast from the wind protection also its keep whtie butterflies out so I'm going to grow summer broccolli yay.
jules.,
Oct 21, 10:04pm
well i got out today and fixed up the old bunny house we had under the deck, it boasts a new floor, a bigger hole from the hutch to the cage and a new nest box. im very impressed with my handy hammer and jigsaw work! even my husband thought i had done well! i had to do it, waiting for him to do it will be like waiting for christmas :) the eggs arrived today aswell, so had to get it fixed up. i put lucy in there, shes still unsettled but hoping at bedtime she will settle down again and i can get the eggs under her tomorrow.
nycafe,
Oct 21, 11:35pm
Oh no the chooks we thought we were getting just fell through so now we have a lovely chicken enclosure but no birds. Does anyone have any suggestions where we could get some Auckland area preferably sexed but could take younger chicks. TIA
jules.,
Oct 22, 3:30am
sorry the hens fell thru, its a bit dissapointing when these things happen :( 248344363, 248978788, 248495405, try some of these listings, there are heaps more listed also. maybe try a petshop that stocks poultry, do a ring around perhaps. you could try the local paper or trade and exhange. you WILL got there, good luck!
tinart,
Oct 24, 8:31pm
help!my chook looks very ill.she is hunched in the corner of the coop (altho she can still walk ) her comb has gone from perky and bright red to brown edges and very droopy and flat looking. she isnt drinking and i havent seen her eat. I have seperated her from the other chooks who all seem fine.anyone have any ideas!we have wild ducks that investigate daily so im suspicious she may have contractedbacteria from them perhaps.is it curtains for my chooky!:o(((
jules.,
Oct 25, 4:00am
back to the top :)
stompy,
Oct 25, 8:21pm
How is she today!I have had a sick chook for a while now she has had two lots of long acting antibiotices and she is better but not 100% still walks slow comb is slightly leaning over, and does runny poohs,if only they could tell us eh!
tinart,
Oct 25, 9:28pm
hey stompy. i kept her inside in a box overnight. still no eating or drinking. talked to local vets who had no idea what could be wrong.she died at lunchtime :o( hopefully you have better luck
pagan_princess,
Oct 26, 3:22am
Bumping this thread :) I have recently renewed my interest in chooks (haven't had any in years) and am finding this thread invaluable. So glad I found and thanks to all that have given advice and kept the thread going.
jules.,
Oct 26, 3:49am
Sorry to hear she didnt make it tinart! RIP
tinart,
Oct 26, 8:33pm
thanks Jules. now I have to think about getting another one or two and how i go about merging new chooks with existing ones!the ones i have now ( 3) are just over 15 months or so.would it be better to get 2 !if i got 3 month old chooks would they be beaten up by the older chooks!
jules.,
Oct 27, 12:17am
argh! im so mad with my silly girls! i now have 3 broody (1 has eggs to sit on) girls. they arnt even sitting on anything, just taking up the nesting boxes so the others have to fight for room. 1 keeps getting out (shes very happy to eat all the pea plants), shes quite the houdini. i no sooner put her in and i turn my back and shes out again. i threatened her with the 'sunday roast' if she didnt buck her ideas up! i planted out my garden and had to putting netting all around and over to stop them getting in a ripping everything out.
koru_designs,
Oct 27, 2:19am
Jules.if you only want one broody hen to sit on eggs, you may find it best to remove her & her eggs into her own coop if possible (this will make it easier when she has the chicks & also stops her stealing more eggs to sit on.it also stops others getting the same idea of going broody). Then take any other broodies & break them.there are several ways of breaking a broody. I put ours in an old coop with nothing but newspaper on the floor. Other people hang them up in a cage with slats on the bottom to allow air to circulate round. There are lots of methods (google for other ones & I think there may have been a thread a while ago on this topic) but the aim is to make them a bit cold & uncomfortable without endangering their health. And make sure they have access to food & water (some people don't but I personally think it stresses them out unnecessarily). As for the one who is getting out of her enclosure, you might have to work out how she's escaping - is she getting through a hole or climbing over the top! Remove anything she can use as a platform to get over the netting. If she's getting through a hole, patch it up (I use string round the bottom of my wire fences in a v shape to stop the smaller girls squeezing through the holes & to stop them pushing so the solder on the wire breaks & getting in that way). Good luck.
jules.,
Oct 27, 2:39am
thanks for the info koru :) i have a cage all ready to go for tomorrow for them, will fit them both in. i normally have the broody/sitting girls seperately, but this one wasnt having a bar of it, so let her back in the main house and she went straight back to 'her' nest, so gave them to her there. i will move her once the chicks hatch. as for 'miley' (hyline), i think she squeezes herself under the wire in a few places. i have put tent pegs there so she cant get out, but shes pretty tricky, she thinks shes one of the kids :) any chance to come inside shes right there. she'd sit at the dinner table with us chatting away given 1/2 a chance :)
stompy,
Oct 27, 4:06am
Oh thats a shame she didn't make it, they are funny creatures aren't they! yeh real little bullies I think two introduced would be better than one and sometimes they will just stick together forever.
jules.,
Oct 27, 4:08am
It really wouldnt matter how many you get (from my experience), the 'old' ones will have a go at the new ones no matter what, but really only takes a few hours for them to calm down and its not constant for all that time. Just happens so the new girls know thier place in the flock. 3 months is probably a bit too small for them to be able to fend off the bigger girls, more like 5-6 months. What breed(s) have you got!
koru_designs,
Oct 27, 9:13pm
Oh tinart.I'm so sorry to hear about your chook. It's always sad when they get sick.even sadder when they pass away :( Big hugs. Stompy.how is yours doing!
Tinart.if you're wanting to introduce new birds to the flock, it's best to get a couple - whilst 1 *can* be added, they have a far worse time than if it were a pair or group simply because they get the full force of the 'being picked on' & don't have anyone to hang out with. If you have a choice, go for 2 or 3 rather than just 1. You'll need to keep them separated from the main flock for a while - this gives you a chance to make sure they don't have anything they can pass on to your other birds & it gives the existing flock a chance to get to know the newcomers a bit better. Assuming they're the same size as the other birds (I don't put young, small birds in with older, bigger ones as they get picked on too much - wait till they're roughly the same size so they can stand up for themselves better), I give mine a week or so before I start having supervised play dates in order to judge temperment, etc - I let them in with the others briefly for a mingle (supervised). There will be fisticuffs. Only step in if it gets totally out of hand. Once that's gone one well for a couple of times, I put them into the main coop at night (when everyone else is sleepy & too relaxed to bother doing anything nasty) - they seem to accept the new birds better this way. But you still need to keep an eye on them just in case (& will need to show them where bed is each night till they get used to it). Good luck.
tinart,
Oct 28, 4:42am
I have Hylines.I got them form a local chook farm and would get some more from the same place so wont have to worry about diseases etc but they would be 14-15 weeks so might be a month or 2 before they would be the same size as the ones i have now.
and yes it really is sad when they die :o(i would love to know what the cause was but the only 2 bird specialists vets in town were unavailable for at least a week!You feel pretty helpless just not knowing what to do to help them. she didnt seem in pain ( was very quiet so i assume she wasnt). it was all so quick tho.very scary!
koru_designs,
Oct 28, 9:08am
Guess it's my turn to have some chickies :) One of my hens has finally gone broody. I'm going to wait a day or two to make sure she's sitting tight, then am going to put some of our eggs under her + get some eggs from someone else to add to them. Very exciting :)
jules.,
Oct 28, 7:56pm
hi all, im just about to get those pesky girls into the cage. will they be ok together or should i have them seperately! also, how long will i need to leave them in the cage! thanks heaps :)
koru_designs,
Oct 28, 9:31pm
Probably better if you can separate them (so they're colder) but if not, they'll be ok together.just make sure there's no nice warm bedding under them. A couple of days should suffice but may take up to 4 days or slightly longer - depends how determined she is to hatch some imaginary eggs! They'll stop sitting for long periods of time when they're not broody (you'll notice that a broody will even sit on the ground when you remove her from the nest & she sits sort of all flat.they won't do that). If you take them out & observe them for a bit after a few days, you'll quickly find out if they're broken or not - they'll either rejoin the flock (there will probably be a few fights) or they'll wander back to the coop (after a feed & a bath) & start sitting again. If that happens, just put them back in the cage for a couple more days. Good luck!
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