( period ) CHICKS

[middi]

i have been pestered by my grand daughter to build her a chicken run and coop because she would like some chicks for her birthday.
She would like pretty and cute, fluffy chicks as pets which, eventually, will lay eggs.

Whilst i have no problem what so ever to build her a chiken run and coop, i have abslutely no idea what so ever about chicks. i.e colours, types and varieties available and best suited to her needs.
Any recommdations on this will be most apritiated.
(she has indicated a prefference for yellow chicks). the eventual egg laying benefits are incidental the pet bit is more imprtant

she has more knowlendge than i have about chicks, she has seen them on the telly

Middi

 

[tobydog]

I'm sure Joce will be along soon with a very comprehensive and helpful response :wink:

 

[stuart45]

Young chicks will need a heat lamp. Also need to make sure that they are safe from predators. Rats can be a real problem with chicks and ducklings, even when the mothers are around. It's surprising how quickly they turn up once you start keeping poultry.
I prefer call ducks as pets though.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Ahh - sweet.

There are probably three ways to get chicks.
1) get some hatching eggs from EBay, an incubator and a heat lamp for when they're born - exciting, but expensive and difficult and you might end up with 5 cockerels.
2) get a mother hen and her chicks. These are available on Tuesday mornings in Melton Mowbray livestock market - do you have a livestock market near you?
3) buy a Poultry magazine, go through the adverts and ring round. Most likely you'll be buying growers - these are around 3 months and will be small hens - not chicks - they'll have feathers not yellow fluff. They'll still be cute and young enough to tame.

I have never seen yellow fluffy baby chicks for sale without their mother - you see this in France but we do things differently.

As for breeds, I suggest any bantam variety as they will be small and easy for her to pick up and cuddle - the silver laced Wyandotte is very popular, or the Pekin bantam in lavender, stunningly pretty, laying a good number of small eggs. Bantam silkies and Orpingtons have masses of fluffy feathers and sweet natures.

If you require winter eggs you'll have to stay away from these beautiful pure breeds though and go for a utility bird. The Light Sussex are very good, whilst the Legbars lay blue eggs.

http://www.omlet.co.uk/breeds/breeds.php?breed_type=Chickens

 

[JoceAndChris]

Most of the breeds mentioned there are rare and hard to get hold of though speciality breeders do advertise.

She was talking of moving, but if she hasn't yet moved I can't recommend Karen Power at Power Poultry in Norfolk highly enough. ( Terrington St John) I've had a lot of birds from her and they're hardy and healthy from show-winning stock. I also felt that because her little children handled the chicks they were tamer than the market ones.

http://www.powerpoultry.co.uk/index.php?section=1

If you build a coop there's a lot of advice on the Internet about how to make it fox proof - if there's enough space in the garden you can't beat a sturdy little moveable hen house, on stilts so it's easier to clean, within a 25 m section of electric poultry netting, battery or mains. This means that you can move the whole set up from one bit of the garden to another, and if space allows this makes for happy, healthy hens who don't spend their whole lives on one very picked over bit of land.

The cleaning up after chickens is not to be taken lightly - you have to keep the house and foraging area very clean or they'll get disease. Three bantam hens should certainly have 30 mins - 1 hour spent on them per day. My flock of 28 get 3 hours a day most days, cleaning houses, sweeping paths, poo picking the lawn, cleaning feeders and drinkers, buying provisions, nursing sick birds and egg sales. It isn't the easiest pet but they are very rewarding - good luck to all of you!

 

[middi]

Thanks for the tips
Jose, really enlighting stuff. I will get my grandaughter to read it so that she can research, learn and find out the difference between owning " pets" and commitment. ( she is twelve yrs old).
I have already upset her by saying that if she does not take care of them I will be living on chiken soup for a while . she nearly cried

Middi

 

[JoceAndChris]

Meanie! How old is she? If she can get her head round the responsibility and the duty of care she will have I can't think of a better way for a child to learn about how to look after something precious, as well as how to clean thoroughly, and get close to a wonderful and fascinating slice of Nature.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Joce is our resident period poultry queen, and I wouldn't disagree with anything she says.

However we have a similar number to her (different breeds of chicken, turkey and now goslings) and they don't take anything like three hours per day. Ours are free range and don't have soft furnishings in their coops.... Letting out and shutting up takes minutes at most. They live in big sheds or coops which don't have nooks for difficult cleaning and our stocking density is quite low. I muck them out completely on a monthly basis and in the meantime spread new straw or shavings. Feeders and drinkers kept off the ground stay cleaner for much longer.

I wouldn't know a red mite if I saw one... And we don't poo pick!

Joce's are very well cared for but I wouldn't want anyone put off keeping a few chooks because they didn't think they had the time on a daily basis. If you plan carefully you can spend the hour a day watching them instead which is irresistible!

The design of the coop is key... Have a floor that is hinged so it just drops out and dumps litter on the floor. Avoid nooks, crannies, etc. The easier it is to jetwash the whole thing inside, the more pleasant the nasty task of routine cleaning is! Being able to let them in/out and collect eggs without having to go inside the run is also a good idea.

I also found by the time I had built the chicken mother ship that it'd have been cheaper to buy one ready made ! :roll:

 

[Coz]

I have three - the smallest of them Madonna (Madge to her friends) is a bantam - Pekin. She is a real cutie and loves people.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, I fully admit my many hours per day is because I have the luxury of time - and a lot of time spent walking between the houses, which are far apart, wondering if they'd like some boiled rice or sunflower seeds. :roll:

I'd give my set up 0/10 for efficiency, but then the birds are happy and pretty well ( though we're battling Gapeworm at the moment, transferred from wild pheasants), and I'm out there in the fresh air enjoying the garden.

Robin - on the red mite - get the kids to build in wiping a white rag on the underside of the perches every now and then. If it comes away speckled with tiny dots of red blood you have red mite. Reckon we had it for around 3 months before I realised, maybe longer. It's so common I'll be amazed if you never have it.

 

[philpjuk100]

Only got three chucks,(Blanche,Daisy and Dorris) the last two stowed away under a lorry from a poultry farm.Built a coop and run but as F-W says I could have bought cheaper.Floor is removable and we use newspaper/sawdust/straw and replace the lot weekly and clear out poop daily (I have made special tools,a paintbrush and a bent coal shovel cable tied to garden canes!)only takes a min.We get three eggs a day,would be cheaper buying them from tesco but thats not what its about.they are allowed to roam they used to wander all over the village but now stay in the garden,they follow me around and critisise my gardening,they rush to the back door demanding treats when you open it (they will jump shoulder high for a grape!) they are just hybrid egg machines,nothing special,£3 each as point of lay sort of chucks,the pic of the three were our original ex battery chucks,now long gone,but they were old when we got them and I hope they enjoyed their "old age"The other pic is one of our "stowaways"jumping for a grape.

 

[worms]

we're battling Gapeworm at the moment,

Out of interest, what are you using?

transferred from wild pheasants

Allegedly!

 

[JoceAndChris]

I'm using Flubenvet, been using it for around a month. I wonder if they are damaged in some way that they just think they have to gape and gasp all the time. Or is it a cancer?

It's been the most maddening non-curing drug and I'm at my wit's end with these little birds. It's affected the tiniest, most stupid members of my flock, they really have no brains at all and I've caught them eating their own poo. I make some improvement with Flubenvet, and then they're back to gaping and gasping and head shaking again. I've also tried Tylan and that hasn't worked either. And I've dug the land over where they forage.

Unless they're actually the smartest birds and have figured out that acting in this way means they'll be brought in the porch and given delicious food. :roll:

5 or 6 wild pheasants and a small group of wild partridges have moved into the bushes just below the haha and come to the garden to feed. These birds look really healthy.

 

[worms]

Joce, the Flubenvet should do the trick, assuming you are using it properly and it really is gapeworm. Your description certainly sounds like textbook gapeworm but I guess there is an outside chance it could be something else.

 

[middi]

My grandaughter is finding the discussions very interesting, it has certainly opened her eyes and given her food for thought.

Thank you. ( she has done some research and she LOVES the " speckled" hens and " babies"

Middi