More questions from a newbie.

[Titsalinabumsquash]

Sorry I know this has been done to death but I have a few questions on chickens before we get to work making their space.

1. If I got 4 hybrid chickens, could I get 4 different types? Would they live together happily? Or can I get 2 different breeds? I'd like the kids to experience different breeds and to see if they vary I behaviour or engaging ability, I'd also like some different coloured eggs, the kids have only ever had the standard shop bought eggs before.

1. I know they can eat scraps of veg but can they anything else that I might find in the kitchen or garden? Also, is there anything they can't eat?

1. Do they need toys or entertainment ( looks at gerbils with the whole of pets at home in hunger cage)

1. I have a large tree stump in then garden, I want to build their home around that area, do I need to remove the stump of will they happily sit on it? It's from a connifer I think.

1. Do they need vaccinating? Silly question I know, do we get a vet to do it?

Thanks for your patience with a newbie.

Don't apologise, we all started somewhere!

I've got Hybrids, a Light Sussex, Dark Sussex, Speckledy, Bluebell and two Geeno Blues (white star crosses that lay blue eggs) despite the different sizes of the birds they all get along ok generally so pick whichever hybrids you like the look of. I like the look of my multicoloured bunch of reprobates ladies and the different egg colours look really pretty I the kitchen too.

Scraps of cabbage tied in a bunch, carrot peelings, pumpkin seeds, etc are all good, be careful with potatoes unless cooked and fruit though as they love it but too much will give them runny bottoms and bathing a hen is not an awful lot of fun.

Mine like lots of different perches, broomsticks, branches etc and the have a selection of tree stumps at different heights to perch on, they all tend to squeeze onto the highest one though. They are originally jungle birds so like to roost off the ground when not scratching around.

They should come fully vaccinated if you buy from a good supplier, you shouldn't need to top this up as it's supposed to give lifetime cover.

I hope this helps.

I know they definitely can't eat raw potato and I think avocado is another thing they can't have. We don't tend to give ours fruit but they get all the veg peelings, usually boiled up and mixed with layers mash which is nice and warming for them on a cold winter evening (I squish it all up with my hands, much the quickest way). They eat a lot of our leftovers too like pasta and rice. We also save plants when we are weeding the allotment or garden. Dandelions, milk thistle, groundsel, tares, plantain etc are all good and may even have the welcome bonus of some slugs or snails! (They love worms and woodlice too).They have a great time picking it all over so just chuck it all in and in no time there will be just the roots left for you to pick up. They get all the bits of plants that we don't eat and would normally go in the compost such as sprout leaves, cabbage and lettuce outer leaves and broccoli stalks (not rhubarb though, leaves are poisonous).

They don't need toys as such, they mainly like having somewhere dig a dust bath or some perches to clamber about on, but you can get some from feathers and beaky if you really want to! We haven't gone as far as the hurdles and slalom but we do have the veg holder which is very useful and gives them a bit of exercise.

They like somewhere to scratch around and in the wild would like to live in forests under trees.

I had a secure coop surrounded by a secure fully enclosed run and then a wider open topped enclosure of wire netting making a large run under low trees for daytime. They spent all day out there.

They like scraps (avoid uncooked potato and bread). Mine sald leaves, veg cuttings sometimes in winter I gave them porridge mixed with a little well soaked dried fruit (not too much) but always had chicken feed too. Just scratching about and scraps really will not be enough for them to eat.

They didn't perch much outside their run although we had a hen that liked climbing up a fir tree and falling over our garden wall into the street. Hens generally only perch at night and that they will do that in their secure coop.

sald leaves = salad leaves

Well 4 black Rhodes have just arrived! I have put the box in the coop and left it open.

1 has strutted straight out and is scratching about, 2 of them are pecking around Inside the box.

The 4th is however Sitting down slumped slightly to the side. Is that ok, she keeps closing her eyes.

Next doors dog is going nuts barking so I think that might have scared them.

Shall I take them out the box or leave them to venture out on their own and get accustomed to the new coop?

Congratulations on your chickens, Tits!

I would just leave 'em be for now, number 4 will come out when she is ready! I do generally have a 'leave and see what happens' approach to the chickens, but that's after constant paranoid calling of my mum in the first few weeks of having them going 'OHNOARUNNYPOOH' and 'WHATDOESTHISNOISEMEANARETHEYGOINGTODIEEEE' and I think she got fed up. Leaving them be, I have now learned, is a good first response unless there is Actual Visible Harm!

They will be a bit freaked out at first in a new environment, and over the next few weeks everything will scare them, but they get used to it. The first time we mowed the grass mine were terrified, and now they just don't care.

Good luck and enjoy them!

Thanks for your help Reveal

They're of course fine, all happy being chickeny. :)

They came out the coop today, they already have characters.

I have 2 that are bigger and 2 slightly smaller ones.

The big bossy one (who I assume is queen) has dug herself a dust bath in the bare boarder under the fence and has happily been rolling around in it. Her name is May.

Fitz and Simmons are the smaller ones, Simmons laid an egg with no shell this evening, we've had 2 normal, small eggs from May and Skye, but this one was intact but really soft and squishy, is it because she's smaller (or younger maybe?) they have grit and they've all been eating the layer pellets and bugs and corn etc.

I am so in love with them, DP and I had a race downstairs at 6am this morning to let them out and say hello

Are they the agents of eggshell?

:D we're big fans! I wanted to get a Duck and call it Coulson but alas, it's not to be.

awesome names! They may occasionally lay a shell-less egg, a soft shelled egg, or just a weird shaped one. It's nothing to worry about unless it happens frequently - at that point you need to check they're getting enough calcium to make the shells! Do you have oyster shell for them too? I chuck some in with their feed, then they can pick out whatever they need.