Hello

[DJH1973]

Hello
I am new to this forum and so glad that I have found it! The Beginners guide is really helpful so thankyou.
I bought my chickens on the Tuesday just gone and probably shouldn't have got them off preloved, so I guess this is my first mistake! I did take someone with me and supposedly picked the best couple. The person we got them off didn't know exactly how old or if the lay very well as they had a large group. I must be very gullable!
They are feeding and drinking well, but no eggs yet. I have read they may take a week to settle in, am I worrying too much? Oh and I had an unpleasant surprise when I looked in the nesting box yesterday, somehow a snake had got in so I had to get rid of that! So far I feel it's not going very well! Thanks if you have taken the time to read this.

 

[NEWTODUCKS]

Welcome to the forum- you will find loads of information and folk willing to give support and advice. I have both ducks and hens and so gain information on both when necessary and give when I can.
I would say that if they are eating and drinking then thats a good sign and yes they need time to settle before laying. The snake will no doubt have scared the living daylights out of them-where are you?
Poultry keeping has it's highs and lows-hopefully more highs than lows, mine free range in the "garden" and I love to watch them-far more interesting than flowers and the fresh eggs cannot be bettered.
Give them time.

 

[chrismahon]

Hello DJH and welcome to the forum. When you said a snake had got in I assumed you were in the USA somewhere but not sure if there is an American Preloved. If you are over there a copy of Gail Dumelows book 'Storeys Guide to Raising Chickens' will be useful. As Newtoducks says, give them time and when they feel safe and secure they will lay if they are old enough- or not too old?

 

[Marigold]

Hi DJH and glad to meet you on here. I think yours is the first report of snake problems, and I thought we'd covered everything! Do please fill us in with a bit more detail about where you live, and how you keep your chickens.

 

[DJH1973]

Hi again thank you for your messages. No I am here in the uk in a village in the midlands. It was a grass snake (I'd like to say it was huge but only about 12"), I noticed the chickens wouldn't go into their coop - my son had said he's seen a snake earlier, I couldn't see it and thought he was joking! Later on when I checked to see if we had any eggs I saw it slither off (quick too!), so had to dismantle everything to make sure it couldn't hopefully get back in. I made sure I changed into some boots first though and the chickens were penned off away from nest area! The chickens are kept in a moveable coop and run, the coop bit can seperate from the run. They will have the run of part of the garden but I wanted to get them as soon as I could. The lady I got them off wasn't sure on the ages but said no more than 1.5-2years?

 

[Marigold]

How strange, grass snakes like damp environments so I wouldn't think a nestbox was a very likely place for it to choose, unlike slow worms which we find here in warm dry piles of processed wood chippings sometimes. I bet the hens were frightened though it is harmless.

 

[DJH1973]

The coop is definately dry and somehow must have just found it's way in? Not a good start though.