My chooks have clipped wings but they still found gaps to get next door

actually, only guinny did, boudi could never be arsed
reckon it depends on the birds. they have very different characters you know
Wardy's right though.....them bantams are a bit.......well, flighty!

dunno about moving the runs....I move mine occasionally but mainly it stays in one place so they only ruin one bit of garden
everyone I know has a static coop and then you choose either a mobile 'ark' for them to excercise and scratch in or go for a large enough run and some supervised freerange time (which is what we do)

what do you think Jags?

oooooh! and another thing........

bugger woodchips (pong to high heaven )

we use aubiose. fantastic stuff. chooks love, well cheap, composts beautifully, keeps their feet much nicer, I could go on and on.

lovely stuff.....designed for horses I believe. costs about 6 quid a bale..... and that lasts us a couple of months

aubiose is made from hemp . Do you have any problems with the chooks eating it.

no, none at all

they love hunting for goodies in it...like corn or grapes and if you rake gently over it, you get the lumps off but leave the rest.

we put some in the poop tray (makes it so easy to clean) and still more in the nesting box (no more muddy eggs) and this year I plan to 'trench' a section of me runner beans with the rakings cos I reckon it will be wonderful for feeding them but also...for water retention

watch this space....I'll let you know if that works

Chook Poo is high in potassium and makes great Liquid fertilizer. Suspend a hessian bag half full with Chicken Poo into a drum so that it’s covered with fresh water, give the tea bag a jiggle every couple of days, the brew will be ready for use within a fortnight

and what's it best for? toms and flowers?

(and does it smell awful )

Tara we use the stuff in our peat free compost mix and it appears to be good for most things we use the organic pellets tho.

well me chooks eat organic pelleted food and scrarch round my organic garden.
the only non-organic food they have is when I've run out of homegrown veg and the grass is too wet/long for good grazing and so I have to buy the odd cabbage (or they sulk ) so thier poop is almost organic

I'd never heard of that stuff Tara. thanks for the info. Don't know why I care - I aint got chooks. Would love em though in my back garden or plot but the old man he says "no"

If I had an Eglu I could take the whole lot to my friend or brother to look after in the unlikely event of me going on holiday

Del have you got your chooks then? Not seen any bird house pics either - have we? Anyone?

no not yet..................we were thinking about rehoming some ex-battery hens, not sure yet, but anyway they aren't releasing any hens at the mo because of the bird flu outbreak in Suffolk

Oh dear what a mess it all is

BM have been storing turkey products in Chesterfield, apparently, since before the outbreak!

Those guys worry me. Not going near any of their stuff now.

moonbells

I never have. Suspicious of owt mass produced. My pal was a butcher and she warned me against burgers etc years ago. Mechanically recovered meat was all the rage then and she forewarned of the dire consequences, and urged me always to never buy mass produced pies, burgers, saussies etc, and to use only the local butcher who had no means of producing bone slurry, which only the big manufacturers could afford. I couldn't believe how many turkeys were in that plant

I wonder if things will come full circle, and if the world will get smaller. We could be like in Victorian times with a pig at the end of the garden and our own chickens Sounds ok to me

I never bought much of BM stuff anyway, but never at all since there were allegations of the staff being cruel to the turkeys - throwing them about and playing some sick game of football with the turkeys as the football

Del, sometimes animal rehoming places get chooks in don't they - might be worth flagging it up with HARA etc.?

Strangely enough, I haven't bough any BM stuff and I do not think me mum was that keen - yes the last time I there was ever a chance of me eating it was when I was still at me mum's

When i was a lot younger i lived on a small holding .We rehomed some battery hens and i will say they were very good layers once they had time to recover

hey Debs

The only thing I see wrong with someone starting out with chooks and going down the ex battery road.is you can be rest assured you will have
vets fees(and my thinking on that is you don't want to add more dosh to
the cost of your chooks before getting a return=eggs) as regarding the
souring of the soil......... I have only ever seen it once in over 20 years
not mine I hasten to add...........but the guy was trying to keep too many
chooks in to small a pen.........remember as your chooks scrape in the run they are turning the soil and the said poo into the earth....I have seen
chooks kept on raised beds and moved to a new bed yearly solely for
the benifiets of the shooooite.......and the fact they will rid the bed of any
weeds........have also known runs to be on slabs..........with no ill effects
on birds..............as long as a litter tray or two full of soil is placed in the
run....they dust in one poop in the other.........D&T your well on the ball .........sounds like bliss........if you add another couple of inchs
of aubiose...thats me bed sorted when I visit .....Lilo don't let your brain go into overload with any info....you will find out your own way
by trial and error..............there is no right or wrong way..... you all give
bantams the cold shoulder.........I will say that of all the breeds and
different sizes that I kept..............it was the banties that had the most
charecter......even if they were a bugger to catch up

ok Jags

I prefer bantams as it happens but they are flighty and so need their wings clipping is all

boudi has a little bald spot on her back near her tail. she moulted partially a while back but has recently come back into lay. no sign of mites and guinny is fine.
d'you reckon maybe guinny is bullying her?

With bullying they are more inclined to lose feathers from around the neck area........ think you may have answered your own question if she has come back into llay...........she has pulled em for a nest...tis what
women hens do like...............but would go over her with a magnifying glass as well.............could be feather mite................ultra tiny

okidoke. thanks Jags

bog standard poultry redmite powder will prob get rid of 'em if it is won't it? hope so, cos I know what box that's in

In KG mag they have a regular feature on chooks and this month's was about such bald patches. They have chic of the month pics too