Hello poultry keepers

[Wise]

Hi all,
I'm completely new to keeping chickens, but have done my research. Luckily I have a very friendly local small pet shop, that specialises in chickens so I'm really looking forward to having the chooks.
What is the best bedding to put in the nesting box, and the roost?

 

[Marigold]

Hi Wise, and welcome to the Forum. What sort of chickens are you going to get? And how are you going to house them?
For the inside of the coop and the nestboxes you need something soft and absorbent which can be easily poo picked, I use Aubiose, which I also have on the floor of my run. Woodshavings are also good, (the soft white sort used for rabbits eytc, not the wood chippings from a garden processor, though these are good for run floors.) . Or there are preparations such as Comfibed which is similar. An alternative for the coop floor, under the perches, is newspaper, then you can just roll in the overnight poo into a parcel for the compost heap. Free, if you have old newspapers around. Straw is less good because its hard to poo pick and not very absorbent, also there a suspicion that it might harbour redmite in the hollow stems if you get an outbreak.
You might like to start your own thread in the General Chickens section, also browse the back pages as lots of people come on with queries about setting up for the first time.

 

[Wise]

Hi Marigold,
I'm picking up 3 chickens today, one white star, one amber star and one babcock, from the One stop poultry shop in Weybread, Norfolk. They have been recommended to me as good breeders. The coop is a purpose built combined 8`x4` coop/roost/nesting box, very well built and vermin proof.
They will also be able to free roam when we are at home in the garden, so they should be happy chooks.
Thanks for the advice on bedding etc.. I'm sure I'll have more queries soon.

 

[Marigold]

How lovely, perhaps you can post some pics of them soon?
You will probably come to find that they need a much bigger run, even if allowed out sometimes. We recommend an absolute minimum of 2 sq. metres of run floor space per hen, and more is better as in a very small run much of the space is taken up by feeder, drinker and dustbath. Overcrowding leads to stress, aggression, feather pecking and bullying, and thus results in hens not laying. Also, hens poo a lot and small runs get filthy incredibly fast. Your run is 32 sq. ft, less than 3 sq. metres, not quite adequate for two tiny bantams. This is a very common problem with coops with a run attached. Even if the coop will hold the number of hens you have, the run won't take them all. They will need to spend time in it for their own safety, and also when its wet in winter if you don't want them to totally trash the garden. Maybe you can think towards building a larger walk in run with a free standing coop sometime?

 

[chrismahon]

Hello Wise and welcome to the forum. I have recently read a book by Katie Thear called Organic Poultry. In it she observes that feather pecking and the cannibalism that follows in any confinement can be the result of failing to provide feed at the three distinct heights a chicken would naturally browse at. Head level, intermediate level and ground level (scratching and pecking). Hanging a cabbage at head height worked well for us, with the feeder on a block for mid-height and scattering of mixed corn for the ground scratching and pecking. Can't remember us ever having a problem with that system in place, even with runs at the minimum size.

A run that is too small will almost certainly result in major problems. Aim as Marigold says at a minimum of 2 square metres, certainly with hybrid breeds which are very active foragers to support their egg laying rate. Add a perch big enough for them all to give the run extra dimension. Try to create a routine for letting them out. They have no idea how long they have actually been out so 30 minutes is almost as good a stress buster as all day out.