First time chicken owner

[grubbysoles]

Hi all,

I'm very excited to say that I am collecting my first ever little flock of hens next week (urm, on April Fool's Day...). Just a quick, very novice question about feeding them. They are point of lay, but there is also a Maran Cuivree who will be point of lay about 5 weeks after the others (so I'm told). Is it safe to feed them all layers pellets from the start, or should I give them some kind of chick feed until they are all laying? I think I read somewhere that if you pump them full of layers pellets/mash too soon the eggs can be too big and get stuck, and horrible things like that??

Oh, also, does anyone know of any random reason why you shouldn't handle hens when you are 7 months pregnant (which I am...)? I haven't read anything like that anywhere, but please warn me if you know of anything! I was going to give them all a little dusting of red mite powder before they move into their new abode and thought perhaps I should put some gloves on for that bit?

Thanks in advance!!

Emma

[Clara]

Well congratulations for the little bun in the oven!

Chicken poo is not nice for anyone, but I think so long as you maintain good hygiene then there is no risk.....though you'll get other opinions I'm sure, some people are more cautious than others about pregnancy.

BUT....I've handled chickens (and the rest) during both pregnancies, and then afterwards with babe on my front and neither they or I have ever come to any harm through it. Likewise, I've done all those things and eaten all the stuff that they tell you not to in the UK to no ill effect.....but you really have to find your own comfort level as any "mustn't dos" are mainly cultural and subjective.

Can't help with the pellet question, I've always let mine free range and they lay prolifically.

[Annpan]

Can't help with the pellet question, I've always let mine free range and they lay prolifically.

.... so... does that mean you don't buy in any food for them? can you explain please (for us newbies )


Congrats on the bun

I haven't heard anything negative about handling chickens when preggers but probably just general hand washing and other normal pet handling routines (for cats they only advise to avoid their litter tray)

[Odsox]

I have always fed my chicken with layers pellets from the start and some years they have only been about 12 weeks old when I got them.
Never had a problem by doing this, although I had never heard of them producing big eggs ... very often just the opposite is the case with eggs being laid about the size of a blackbirds egg, but usually all about pullet sized.

Can't help with the pregnancy thing though as I have never been pregnant

[Odsox]

Mine are best described as "semi" free range Ann, they are in a moveable ark with a variable sized run.
At the moment they have a run about 50 sq metres which is part grass and part dug garden that they are clearing wireworms out of (ready for sweetcorn). They get moved all over the place where ever I need some clearing work done, and usually have a run of about that size or bigger.
They get fed twice a day with pellets and cooked potato peelings .. as many pellets as I can hold in my closed hand per bird (cos that's the size of their crop). Chicken can't eat too much, they can only eat until their crops are full, so if you see food left in their bowl about 10 minutes later you have probably fed them too much.
If I let them truly free range the mink would get them in short order.

[grubbysoles]

Thanks for the answers. I think I'll crack straight on with the layers pellets, in that case. Oh, and I think I need to learn which bit is the 'crop'...

Emma

[Odsox]

Oh, and I think I need to learn which bit is the 'crop'...

The 'crop' on a chicken is a bag at the bottom of the neck where all the food is briefly stored before being passed to the 'gizzard'.
When you get your hens, pick one up after you have fed them and you will feel (and see) what feels like a small ball on the hen's chest at the base of it's neck.
Hope that makes sense Emma.

[Clara]

Can't help with the pellet question, I've always let mine free range and they lay prolifically.

.... so... does that mean you don't buy in any food for them? can you explain please (for us newbies )

With the last 5 when they weren't free-ranging, but in a large enclosure I gave them scraps and a little corn as they'd scratched the earth bare, they laid about 3 a day. Then one day they escaped and it became apparent that the dog I was worried about killing them, wasn't in the slightest interested in them, so i continued to let them free range (after midday) and enticed them in at night with scraps but stopped giving the corn - i then got an egg a day out of all of them. They just seemed happier and I expect the more varied natural diet agreed with them more. Fortunately we don't have mink here, though we have foxes and little weasly things called chupasangres (literally "blood suckers") and I have lost chickens to both though at night.

[Thomzo]

I fed my youngsters layers feed cos I couldn't bo bothered to buy different food and they were fine. The eggs started off small (normal pullets eggs) and then quickly became full sized.

A few weeks won't make much difference.

I give mine food in a home-made hopper. I fill the hopper with an old cat food tin (standardish size tin on supermarket shelves hearabouts - baked beans, tomatoes that sort of thing). I allow half a tin per chicken per day with half that for the bantams.

Zoe

[grubbysoles]

Hi, thanks for all the advice. One more complete beginner question - I have bought some crushed oyster shell for the ladies. Do I mix it in with their feed or leave it in a separate bowl for them, like a side dish?!

[happy place]

if you are feeding them layers mash it should contain oyster shells and grit but that said i feed my girls layers mash and mix a bit of mixed grit and shell in with the mash a couple of times a week but i,m just belt and bracing it cause they cameto me due to thin shells .
back to the question you could do either they will take it from a seperate feeder if youd prefefer or put it in wtih there main feed i honestly dont think it makes much diferance

[Millymollymandy]

Hi, thanks for all the advice. One more complete beginner question - I have bought some crushed oyster shell for the ladies. Do I mix it in with their feed or leave it in a separate bowl for them, like a side dish?!

Put it in a separate bowl then you will see how much they get through. I know that commercial feed is supposed to contain this stuff in it but in that case why does my (only) laying hen consume so much oyster shell when she's laying? She doesn't touch the stuff during the winter when she's not laying. So this is to me a good indication that they (well all the laying hens I've had) need more. When they've picked out the bigger bits in the bowl of shell - which they do, leaving a load of powder, that's when I put more out. I place what's left of the powdery stuff outside on the ground and that gets consumed pretty quickly too!

I use a terracotta plant saucer which contains half grit (rarely touched) and half oyster shell. They still tip it up all over the floor of course. (They probably don't touch the grit because I've got stoney and sandy soil and a big run so I think they get all they need outside).

[grubbysoles]

This is all wonderfully helpful, thank you. One last thing - the area that is going to be their run is currently a mixture of some grass, some bare ground and a few weeds, and we are going to cover it in wood chippings for them. Are there any weeds that are dangerous to chickens? I'm trying to save myself from having to dig anything up, but if there's anything I need to look out for then I'll get the shovel!

Thanks as always

PS - Maybe if I post a few more questions I'll progress from being Margo. I don't like Margo. I want to be Barbara!

[Thomzo]

I wouldn't worry too much about digging anything up. I used to let my girls free-range around the garden and they didn't eat anything poisonous. I think they know what they can and can't eat.

Also, I wouldn't bother putting the wood shavings down outside. It'll just get expensive. Let them eat and scratch in the mud/grass until it's all gone. Then tip in any hedge trimmings, grass cuttings, leafy twigs or bushy prunings that you have from the garden or can beg off neighbours. They love the variety and scratching amongst the leaves. The twigs help them stay off the mud and all the prunings attract insects which are good for their diet.

Mine get really excited when I tip a bucket of weedings or prunings into the run and clamber all over each other to get to it. You might have to dig out the compost occasionally but even that's useful.

Finally, if you have some largish stones or small rocks, put them in the run too. Again, it gives them somewhere out of the mud to climb on and attracts insects. I also put in cardboard boxes, lumps of tree trunk and some planks fixed so that they can jump onto them (a sort of climbing frame for hens).

Cheers
Zoe

p.s. I put the grit/shell in with their food as I found mine weren't eating it if I gave it separately. Try both and see which works best.

[Millymollymandy]

Good advice from Thomzo. I think they're more interested in digging things up rather than eating them - all those nice ants and worms and bugs in the soil. They do like to eat grass though. I've loads of weeds/wildflowers in the runs and they attract insects and it's fun to watch the girls chasing around after them. You are going to have loads of fun with them quite aside from the eggs.