i got new shishins!!

[Amphibimum]

yay!
just got back from wylye valley rare breeds place with a cochin and an orpington. (i think). cochin is bluey grey with feathery feet (awwwwww) and the orpington is white with some golden bits.

they are so beautiful!!

they are hiding in the run with the other six peering at them from outside it. hope they get on!

am now reeeeeaaallly tempted to sell the cube on ebay (checked past listings and they sell for about 500 quid, used.) and get one of these, a brentford 460 with the 6ft by 9ft separate run they spend most of every day out and about anyway, so only need a small run to lock em in in the evening (and close the pophole door after theyre in bed in winter)

then i can get MORE
i love chickens! they rock

[welcome to lonersville, pop. 1]

Amphi, how many hens do you have? It looks like a good hen house.

6 omlet hybrids (medium sized rhode island red crosses) and my two new ones; the cochin and the orpington. (who doesnt actually have golden bits, this is a different one to the one i was looking at/remember

the new house would give plenty of room to expand the flock, and not really cost much once ive sold the cube to offset it.

also, im not sure the new girls are gonna be happy in a cube long term. theyre bigger than the other girls already and they still have plenty of growing to do !

help!

the new girls are getting picked on and i think they slept outside in the run last night. this is Not Good. what do i do??

Have chicken for dinner? ;)

ooh, you meany

no seriously...

want fresh eggs for breakfast, advice on how to get started would be greatly appreciated, eg breeds, how many, how much space,etc

Make sure they are all in the henhouse together tonight but make sure they're out early. Hopefully the pecking/bullying will calm down in a day or so when they've established the hierachy.

It's useful to have more than one drinker/feeder so that the bullied chickens get a decent chance at it.

Have some purple spray at the ready, if any 'wounds' appear give them a spray to cover up the red blood colour (which chickens can get frenzied about).

meatballs have a look at this thread .

Wrt breeds I prefer traditional good layers such as Light Sussex. Some of the newer hybrids lay hundreds of eggs in their first year but can stop laying in their 2nd year. And get at least 3 hens, if you have 2 and one dies/goes missing/broody etc then the remaining hen will be stressed and lonely.

I must get to bed. I can answer more tomorrow!

thanks!