We're getting our girls this week...I could use some advice please!

[Fliight]

Ok, so we have the ark, we have tried to hem in the free range area as much as possible...(though it is still housing the trampoline, too)

I have wood shavings for the floor,
I have a metal feeder and drinker

I have beentold to start them on growers pellets and then layers after a few weeks.

But I don't know how much to give them, when to feed, when to put away, how they live kind of thing.

Also do you have to put vinegar in their water? I read that somewhere. And grit, I have no idea what to do with that - separate container I suppose to the food?

And how to hold a chicken, how to clean them out, etc. would be really helpful to know...we are having four and we have a forsham boughton ark.

thankyou if you can offer any advice! Oh and the ark is on slabs, so what do I put down on the slabs? Bark? Something else?

how old are they when you get them?
if they're POL or point of lay, you want to get them straight onto layers' pellets. that's about 16 weeks.
it's got the right balance of nutrients to get them producing eggs.

if you put vinegar i nthe water, put in apple cidar vinegar: but not the refined stuff from the supermarket, get the cloudy stuff from the farm shop.
normally we only bother with this in the winter.

as for food, they need 4and a half oz per bird per day.
the easiest way to do this is weigh out the amount you need and use a bucket or tub marked where it comes to. then you fill up to the line everyday.
put the food in the feeder and leave it for them to peck at all day.
by the end of the day it should be empty or nearly empty. they won't overfeed if you put more in than they need!
it's also worth scattering some on the ground, but make sure there isn't any there at night.

also, give them greens to peck at (hang up a cabbage or some cauliflower and broccoli stalks and leaves)
the green is what makes the yolks orange.

your set-up sounds fine. you probably won't need to clip the wings, only if they try to escape! if their run has a roof, you shouldn't have aproblem.

holding them can be tricky, so start as soon as you get them.
grab them from above firmly by putting your hands over their wings (one on each side)
they get used to it. as soon as they start crouching, you knwo they're ready to lay eggs and it become sooo much easier to catch them!

Hi fliight
I found lots of great advice from the urban chickens forum. I have also got a couple of books which have become my obsessive bedtime reading of late they were both picked up cheaply from The works but are on amazon too. The best was "The right way to keep chickens" by Virginia Shirt.

Have you identified where you are getting the hens from? I am sure most reputable poultry sellers wil advise you on picking up etc plus of course you can post here for advice.

Best of luck

Sounds great Flight ... good luck and I'm going to follow your thread with interest.

We're about to take the plunge too (finally - I think!). Trying to find a nice hen house at the moment. Which Broughton did you get and did you get the run extension with it? Was it hard to build and does it seem spacious? I looove the Maggie's Hen House from Flight so Fancy but they charge a whopping £113 to deliver to N. Ireland! . Forsham have free delivery at the moment so now I'm looking there so would love to know more about your arc.

Sorry - garbled message as need to run to get DS2 from school

thankyou for all the brilliant advice! I felt really needy posting that great long OP...I should have read up on all this already.

We're getting them from a local breeder/farm - went yesterday, it was amazing, chooks everywhere, all sorts.

We're having a cuckoo maran, a rhode, a white sussex and my favourite, a copper black maran

they should be about 13 weeks thus the switching food!

Nickelbabe that's really, really helpful and I will print it off I think so I know what to do!!

Dobby, thanks for the book recommendation, I'll have a look in the Works or failing that Amazon. I looked before but didn't know whichw as any good.

millie, we got a 902a - which actually the farm people didn't think too much of, regarding the shape at the top and it being a bit cramped if they are stuck in in winter.

But too late now and the forsham people were very pushy about it really - it's their best seller but I'd only gone to see what they ahd ex display, and thatw as about it. So at least it was cheap!

We have a walled garden but tbh in places I'm putting up an extra couple of feet of wire or netting, in case they decide to jump over it. That's what worried me most - oh and going up the garden alone on winter evenings to check for foxes!

Thanks again for all your help.

i'd worry more about foxes than the chickens getting out.

get a man to wee around the run: it may be an urban myth, but there's no harm in it!