My Bulgaria: Forums

Tiarnan · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:01 pm Post subject: Keeping chickens....any tips

Hi all
Getting into the way of the village....some chance...by getting a few chickens from a neighbour. Know absolutely NOTHING about keeping chickens at all. Just want them for a few fresh eggs. Brought a book from Ireland on keeping chickens but don,t know how applicable that would be to here....what the book shows about building a shelter bears no resemblance to what passes for shelters here.
Do they lay all year, can they survive a Winter like our last here, why do I see the Rooster seperated at times from the others. ?
Maybe just buy eggs eh. ? Rolling Eyes

As always any help appreciated.

Jaguar · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:20 pm Post subject:

Hi Tiarnan
Keeping chickens is great fun. I took on 4 ex battery hens last year and they became great pets. They used to follow me around the allotment scratching for grubs. I started off as a complete novice and learnt as I went along. So much info is now available on the web. My chickens laid eggs for the majority of the year and only stopped for a few weeks when they went through the moult. As to the amount of eggs that you get will depend on what breed of chicken that you buy. Make sure that they are shut away at night from predators and that the shelter is dry and protected from the elements. Unfortunatley Mr Fox got to my chickens one night before I had Chance to lock them away..i wish you all the best. I am sure you will enjoy them very much.
Sharron

Tiarnan · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:12 am Post subject:

Well got our chickens over the weekend. Thought we were getting two or three and neighbours arrived with.........in the car boot....one large rooster and five laying hens. And in a sack another hen with eight chicks. What a pantomine....had chain link fencing up, not realising the chicks would be thru that in a flash....which they were. Have them contained now. One problem....the mother hen has completely rejected one of the chicks and chases it away at every opportunity.....the other chicks now follow suit. Can it survive..?..I have it wandering round an open garden rather than have it consatntly attacked....tho it may get attacked in open garden.....but at least it ,s getting a bit of peace at the minute. It,s went into the closed coop at nights .....half expected it to be dead in the morning....but its there the next morning. I have it eating and drinking seperately. Am I doing the right thing... ?...have no idea about all this.
But the good news is that up until now 13.10...we have 4 eggs from 5 hens.

NannyJ · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:31 am Post subject: keeping chickens,

marymo;s mixer will be goin a dinger now, buns & cake for the whole village, is ma mate back yet?

Tiarnan · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:49 am Post subject:

All going well with the chickens.....apart from having to get up at the crack of dawn to let them out, nobody told me that before they arrived. Surprised

Being doing a bit of reading and most sites....although not Bulgarian....tell that grit must be added to thier food. How is that done here...?....if at all. Can I buy grit. ? My Bulgarian neighbour has,nt a clue what I,m on about....she has shown me what she gives her birds and there,s certainly no grit involved. Maybe they get what they need scraping around the garden....any ideas. ?

Mat · Mega User! Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 2650

If they're in the garden they'll get their own grit - birds swallow small stones into their crop which are used to grind their food (lack of teeth is something of a bummer) before swallowing. You'd only need to add it if they were penned inside all the time with no access to soil.