Hello from Carol

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone. We have recently taken the plunge and have a family of 4 chickens, Henrietta, Heidi, Betty and Edna. We got them when they were approximately 16 weeks old and are now 22 weeks and have just started laying on Tuesday - very exciting! We have had about 5 small but perfect eggs. They are fascinating to watch and my husband Geoff loves them as he has always wanted chickens. They are gaining in confidence every day and try to climb all over him when he goes in the run he has built them to give them a treat like corn etc. We also have 2 large domestic cats Jamie and Popsie and, surprisingly, they take no notice of the chickens at all. It could be that Geoff has built such a well protected run and house for them so they just know they can't get it in! Our only worry is Betty who seems to have a bit or diarrohea. She seems very healthty and is eating but, perhaps, not as much as the others and seems to hang back when Geoff hand feeds them corn. We are also giving them left over veg (cooked) as well - could this be causing the problem? We are worming them this weekend.

Carol

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Carol,
Welcome to the best poultry forum,chickens are lovely and the best pets.Not sure if the one with slight diahorrea actually does have a problem.She could be hanging back when Geoff gives treats out because she is at the bottom of the flock,also,chickens seem to do a lot of different poo's that are perfectly normal.
Maybe do a seperate post and er describe the diahorrea in the chicken health section.
If you haven't wormed them yet,they could need worming as we've had mild weather.Would all depend when they were last wormed and what with.
Cooked veg are fine for them,as long as they weren't cooked in salted water.

 

[Lucylou]

Hi Carol & welcome!
You're so lucky to have your first eggs,it's so exciting! I'm still waiting for mine & my chooks are older by a few weeks! You'll find lots of useful info & people with good advice on here so there's usually someone who knows the answer, its a great place to swap info.