Chicken keepers - a couple more dumb questions [bit thick emoticon]

[handlemecarefully]

Got my 3 chickens on Saturday. They are in a forsham ark. I understand that I have to keep them holed up in there for 7 days so that they develop a homing instinct for the ark, and want to return there to sleep at night.

My question is - I have only got the ark at the moment and no fox proof electric fencing. So when I eventually let them out it can only be when I am in the garden with them. When I need to go back into the house, or go out somewhere I will need to catch them and return them to the safety of their ark. How do I catch them - where can I buy a big net? I've looked on a few poultry supplies websites to no avail.

Also, I do intend to provide them with a safe enclosure in the garden so that they can roam free at will, safe from predators irrespective of whether I am in the garden with them or not. I've seen this poultry netting
save me from the big bad fox

does anybody have it?,is it effective, and more importantly is it easy to install? (since dh and I are about the least practical people you could care to meet)

Would be grateful for your wise words and guidance

they love fruit. give 'em lots. especially all the things that moulder at the bottom of your fruit bowl.

if you look at a chicken dropping it should start off semi solid and dark grey, and then go more liquid and white, and then be quite liquid and clear (mmmmm, lovely, how proud I am to be an expert on chicken poo). runny is better than solid.
oh and keep an eye on their water as they drink a LOT and need it.

enjoy your gifted and talented chickens!!!

I think you'll find that they are bit like baby poo - sometimes they just are runny

Thankyou PPH for your informed opinion, and Mrs D for your slightly less informed but nevertheless quite amusing educated guess

I will enjoy them PPH

Ours are fed on bought gritty stuff in the mornings then left over veg after lunch- but they tend to leave the carrot. Their fave treat is spaghetti and cold chips.

Now that we have moved their 'area' to just outside the kitchen windows they are happier than ever. The chef has been know to chatter to 'his girls' and feed them even more treats than usual! They are extremely socialable pets and love all the attention they can get.

lol at spaghetti and cold chips. Very gourmet!

Btw I let one of the chickens out this evening....(didn't fancy chasing all 3 to retrieve them so kept it to 1). She didn't want to stray much further than just outside the ark despite a big garden to explore - I suppose they are a bit apprehensive and need to build confidence.

It took me only a couple of minutes to catch her when it came to it...

One of ours, Ginger, we can catch easily but Babs is much more shy and we have to chase her back to her home.

I have a Forsham 2-storey ark too and never had to shove them upstairs - they just figured it out! Also (as per the original post) I only kept them in the ark for 2 days before letting them out - no problems! My only problem now is keeping them in - despite clipped wings they do prefer the whole garden, which I wouldn't mind at all (not proud gardeners) except for the poo everywhere!

How great to find a Chicken thread on mumsnet! Just rejoined as am expecting #3... My chickens have a little chicken house within a small enclosed garden. They go in by themselves at dusk - I then close the chicken house when I go to bed. If have larger, more free roam garden, would suggest you let them out toward the end of the day - they will go in to roost on their own. If needed, both DD's can catch them all because they have spent hours with them, hand feeding them grain. On food we give our kitchen scraps in the morning so they have all day to eat them and we clean up leftovers in evening; best to avoid a RAT problem, more common than one likes to think. Yuck.

What sort of kitchen scraps?

And why have my chickens stopped laying?

On chicken scraps - best to do a little trial and error. Leftover Cooked Pasta, cooked potato in any form, sandwiches are big favorites as is rice and most veg, esp cooked. Most fruit, but not too hot on veg peels. You learn by whatever you have to clear up at the end of the day. I use DD child garden rake to scoop into dustpan.

On egg laying - Are they broody, not wanting to leave the nest? Probably biggest reason. Heat too. I have four chickens and manage an average of 2 eggs/day simply because I think my lovely little pure breds lay when they feel like it! When I add to this bunch, will add solid egg-layers such as Black Rocks. How many do you have? What type?

leftover fish and eggs are also very popular.

regarding the laying, silkies aren't great layers so there will be days of you not getting any eggs. All mine seemed to take a break a couple of weeks ago - I have 2 Barnevelders, 2 Black Rocks and 2 Pekins and a Pekin cock (and an incubator full of Silkie and Orpington eggs).

The first two breeds are really good layers, if you have the space it might be worth getting a utility breed too.

Our chickens have mixed grain readily accessible in their house and they do a lot of foraging - they've got 0.3 of an acre to themselves. I give them kitchen scraps whenever I happen to be near their run, not at any particular time of day.

I've tried them on layer pellets but they laid noticably less then so went back to mixed grain.

this thread is brill. i am new to chicken keeping, wondering should i put food and water in with the girls of a night.

Nope, they shouldn't need food or water at night.

I just read what some people but about scraps - personally I wouldn't feed chickens left over egg scraps or any fish/meat. Smacks of BSE/ foot and mouth to me...

JMHO