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Thomzo wrote:Just a shame I can't train the new ones to make the tea and push the vacuum cleaner around.


Zoe

Damn.... that was the only reason I was getting mine for..........

Well done for training them to ignore strawberries! I wish I could train my ducks - last year they got under the bird netting and scoffed the lot, green ones too! I had to put up chicken wire fencing all around that patch. Now that I've been going round my flower beds weeding then spreading leaf mould as a mulch they've decided that leaf mould is nice to eat and they keep flattening my daffies and other things with their great fat feet and are driving me nuts!

Ah, Mandy, I know the feeling. That was the reason I had to stop my hens free-rainging around the garden. Shame as they were great fun to watch and really friendly but they did make such a mess.

Zoe

My hens are in a colditz style compound next to my veggie patch, which suffers from attacks by creatures of a slug nature. I understand that hens find slugs very tasty.. is that true? if so - how can I use them to de-slug my veggies without laying waste to the veggies themselves?

Thomzo wrote:Ah, Mandy, I know the feeling. That was the reason I had to stop my hens free-rainging around the garden. Shame as they were great fun to watch and really friendly but they did make such a mess.

Zoe

Hi Zoe - I only let the hens out in the summer months when the soil is dry because as you know they scratch everything and I have to go round the next day putting the soil back in the flowerbeds! Now I can do that easily enough when it is dry but in winter it would be too messy, plus as I've planted loads of bulbs it wasn't the time for them to be scratching!

I do protect a lot of plants from ducks and chooks by making little cages from green fencing wire - it's practically invisible when viewed from any distance and once the plants are established the cages can be moved.

Ducks and chooks are quite different cos all the hens want to do is dig holes everywhere looking for bugs whilst the ducks like to snuffle under the leaves of things (if they find slugs then that's great) - unfortunately those great big webbed feet tend to flatten everything that's small/seedlings etc hence the wire cages.

If I wasn't into my flower gardening as well it wouldn't be such a problem! But I like all kinds of gardening so I have to put up with it and do the best I can to protect small/young plants.

But the actual reality of having the ducks is that they are destroying my lake banks by constant snuffling/eating all the vegetation AND soil round the edges so we have to keep rebuilding - now when I dig out big stones from flower beds and veg patch they all get put to use building up the banks and ditto any turf from enlarging flower beds and spare soil!

Much as I love them I shan't be replacing the ducks when they die. I think it's because of them that our resident pair of breeding moorhens left - although I have a solitary youngster who adopted us last October and is often seen pecking seeds under the bird feeding stations - just wish he/she could find a mate! Interestingly a holiday home up the road which has a small pond which used to have mallards and big white ducks like mine, who all disappeared either to the fox or in some French person's dinner, now have moorhens there - bet they are mine!!!

If they are your moorhens, at least they are still alive and well and didn't also make it onto the plate.

One of the jobs I want to do when I'm off work is to make a small tatty part of my garden into a big chook run. I'm not quite sure how big a job it's going to be yet as I don't really know how high my Rhodey crosses will want to jump. If they can't get up too high then it'll be fine as is as there is a metre high fence and a higher hedge behind. They are big girls so hopefully they won't get over the existing fence.

Cheers
Zoe

Possibly silly question coming up.

If / when we start with chickens, the ideal place in our garden is amongst soem trees in a small wild area of the garden. Fencing it in wouldn't be too much of a problem but I am wondering whether predators could get in via the trees. Also would the hens be happy amongst trees and bushes I assiumed they would as they were originally jungle birds I believe but thought I'd better check

pete

Hi Pete
Your birds will love being amongst the trees and bushes but I would assume that predators could get in there. Even if the foxes don't make it, the rats, magpies and squirrels probably will. They may not kill the birds but they will all steal eggs given the chance. If you are around a lot then you can keep an eye on the birds and make sure they are safely shut up by night fall.

Zoe