Hen house

Went to a meeting, and got back to find that my daughter had gone out leaving the back door open, my son was in his room oblivious to what was happening below......the chickens decided to investigate how the other half live!

Pecking order

The hens are settling in & have been laying eggs - not in the nest boxes of course!

These eggs will be te ones that were in progress from being at the battery farm, I have read that ex-battery hens often go off laying when they have been re-homed until they get used to their new surroundings.

The only one that has got a name so far is this one - she's called bossy & spends most of her time charging around chasing the others bossing them about.

There has been the odd squabble but on the whole they have settled down quite quickly. I have made sure the hens lower down the pecking order can get out of the way and as there are 2 food & drink stations, they can also get enough to eat & drink - even bossy can't be in 2 places at once!

This is the house & run. I will move it round the garden every few days or so.

I put a good layer of bedding inside the house & when I checked them this evening, after they had put themselves to bed I thought I had lost 2 as I couldn't see them, so fetched the torch & found all 4 squeezed into one nest box -I know they like to be cosy but that was taking it to the extreme!

I prised 2 out of one box & put them into the other, but I don't know if they will stay there.

I will try to teach them to perch as it means that their bottoms stay clean & they will not poo in the nest boxes so much. They have spent all their lives in packed cages so have never done what normal hens do so this might be a challenge!

Welcome to our home!

Well after a short time thinking about where to get some hens from (my brain does not work well over long periods of time) we decided to rehome some battery hens, so contacted the British Hen Welfare Trust. The whole process was very quick & I was told that the next delivery date had been filled so would probably need to wait about 6 weeks before collecting some hens, but I could be put on the waiting list if I wanted to - The date was a week away so jumped at the chance & only a couple of days later received an e-mail offering me some hens on the earlier date if I wanted them. As I had everything already prepared I decided to go for it & today collected 4 very bedraggled looking hens.

The process was very slick & only took us about 10 minutes from arrival at the collection point to departure.

What a sorry sight!

Once home the hens were put into their house to settle in & after a while I let them into their run three of them managed to work out how to get down the ramp & one decided that it would sit in the entrance watching & refusing to budge - even when it was dark & the other three were wanting to go to bed this one resolutely refused to move, creating a line of hens up the ramp!

I decided to leave them to it & returned later to find the other three inside but this one was still sat in the entrance.... I had to shove it inside so that I could shut the pop hole!

I was very surprised that they put themselves to bed, particularly as they have never been outside before now.

New additions

My daughter got a new hamster today, and whilst collecting it mentioned that it would be great to have some more chickens.....So I have been scouring the internet & trying to decide whether to get point of lay hens or ex battery hens.

Whilst trying to decide I have been giving the hen house a revamp - Had to repair some bits & the whole thing needed a paint job.

And here it is...the house that Emma Built - all ready for it's new inhabitants.

Please note that I didn't just use blue paint this time!