Chickens!!

[Billy68]

dont worry our cost around £10 per egg my wife has a shop selling chicken stuff http://www.gardenfeathers.co.uk picturers to follow

[dave fox]

nice one , make sure you rat bait from the off or you will have a problem with vermin.

[Billy68]

Hut looks good, nicely made. might be a good idea to lift the hut about 2 foot off the floor, this will deter the rats and also give the chickens somewhere to sheter when raining. you might want to add a bit on top of the fence as it won't present them with much of a challenge. wood chip (no conifer) is good for the outside run but you'll have to find a good tree surgeon to supply you with some

[garth mc garth]

why cant you use conny chip in the pens?

[scraggs]

That looks really good, and a nice little run aswell.

we got some young Buff Orpington's the other day as all our hybrids finally died of old age.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

how long can you leave chickens with auto food water? is a week taking th emickey?

[Billy68]

i would say leave them with the auto feeder & drinker but ONLY if you have someone prepared to pop their head over the fench once a day to check that feed and water haven't run out, there are no injuries / health issues etc that need to be dealt with. would you leave a dog in the house all week on its own with just a big bowl of water and food? auto feeders & drinker (and the auto pop hole openers for that matter) are great labour saving devices but no replacement for animal husbandry.

[Billy68]

buff orps are nice, much less chicken under the feathers than you'd think. we have bantam wyandottes, sussex and a couple of hybrids (to make sure we at least get an occasional egg). Also got a small game cockerel at the moment, moved itself in two weeks ago and hopefully getting rid of it tomorrow - it crows from 4am.

[greengrafter]

Nice house!! the girl's will be happy in there.

 

I put conny chip in for my chooks.... and had no problems.

[Billy68]

Only thing with conifer is it rots down a bit fast and some types are poisonous. Better with something coarse and woodier, lasts longer.