Charismatic

Pickled mice can be found in Cyprus.

ukecadet

The dirty bastards!!

crap coffee

Nothing would Surprise Me about it

Fried mice bits (mouse's head, eyes, legs with hair) in a pack of snacks are found commonly- mostly from Chinese manufacturers.

Why on Earth Would You have such processed dirty cr@p?

disgusting.

I was enjoying my morning coffee for a rainy morning with Beethoven's Piano Sonatas.........

makes me feel like throwing up now. ...

Biddy

We've had half a dozen chooks for a couple of years ago - cost $16 each at 'point of lay' just old enough to start laying. You can buy them cheaper as they get older but obviously get less eggs. Ours are free range most of the time - we usually get 4 / 5 eggs a day and yes they are yummy.

Scrambled eggs on home made bread - heaven!

no probs with rats so far - touch wood. Would definately recommend getting chooks they're great fun (and messy!)

Wiz'n'Ton

Hi all. Figured it was time to revitalise this thread with the news that we now have chooks!

After much 'shall we shan't we' T's sister's work colleague said she had 6 pullets surplus to requirements and we could have them in exchange for a bag of feed. A sweet deal and as we are always a sucker for a bargain we bit her hand off. They got dropped off at the sis-in-laws place last Wednesday, and we brought ours 'home' on Thursday.

I have cobbled together a 'house' for them out of an old concrete coal bunker, and some MDF, and judging from the amount of shit in there they seem to have made themselves at home

They are so funny - I love just watching them. Providing they settle in OK and are well fed we should see eggs in about a month or so - just in time for them to go off laying as it gets colder (apparently). Ah well - it's good just to have them around.

Thanks for all the help and advice on here - i'll keep you posted as to how we get on.

Wiz & Ton

Rustie

What sort did you get Wiz? Brown shaver's or some interesting breeds?

Mine have started going off the lay but still getting 3-4 a day and they're looking quite bedraggled and unglam!

They really are a glorious waste of time, i caught myself just sitting and watching them yesterday!

Wiz'n'Ton

Hey Rustie, cheers for the post. I am gloriously clueless when it comes to what type. I have a brown one, a cream one and a white one if that helps?

Seriously though, I remember the missus saying that they are a Sussex/ something cross, so will grow pretty large (about twice what they are now) and will give decent sized eggs.

I needn't have worried about our cat bothering them - he's scared shitless the silly beggar. The other cats don't seem to have found them yet so fingers crossed they stay happy. Will stick a pic up once we've got a decent one.

Will have a good 'watch' this evening when we feed them. One question - what do you use for bedding? Straw/ sawdust/ paper/ nothing? We are at the nothing stage right now and want to change that as it seems wrong.

Do they get cold in Winter? Do we need to keep them warm somehow?

Ah, the wonders of going into things like this completely uninformed...

Tomsk

Congratulations on getting your chooks. I used to keep hens back in the Uk, just in a suburban back garden and I loved the daft things so much, such great fun watching them. They don't actually need bedding, they prefer to roost at night, perched on a roosting bar or even in a tree, and since they come complete with their own feather duvet they don't need bedding for warmth. But I tended to have a bit of straw or sawdust or shredded paper to soak up the copious amount of poo that they do overnight, it just made cleaning their house easier. Also I found that putting some bedding material in the nesting box reduced the risk of collecting too many pooey eggs .
Just bear in mind don't give them hay for bedding because they will try to eat that and they can't digest it very well, so it can cause sour crop.....which isn't very nice! Pretty much anything else will do though, I tended to use shredded paper a lot, being as how I could get plenty of that from work for free

crap coffee

..........

BEVS

I think this is great

I've so wanted a couple of hens and have for quite some while, even before coming to NZ. Gawd knows how we ended up with a duck and drake instead. Bonkers I s'pose.

Thing for us is that we would have to secure the section first as otherwise any hens would be a-wandering into next doors and up the road. The ducks already make free with next doors pegs and our other neighbours garage.

I would just love a couple of hens

j19fmm

[QUOTE=BEVS here;7455022] The ducks already make free with next doors pegs QUOTE]

Why do they do that? My geese were always pinching my pegs and putting them in their pond
Wiz n' Ton, make life easy for yourself, put newspaper or old feed bags under the chooks perch - which can be an old broom handle - sawdust can help to dry out said pooh, and they like a bit of straw or something to lay their eggs in.
Mine lived in a field on the edge of Dartmoor all year round and never seemed cold, think they huddled together at night. There are schools of thought that say you should build your chook house on to your greenhouse and then you get a heat exchange going on. Enjoy, they are great fun and the eggs just become a bonus

p.s. and don't forget to use them as a chicken tractor on your veggie patch or flower bed!!

Rustie

I use sawdust and then you can compost all of it once it's dirty!

My cats won't even argue with the chickens if there's food involved, especially my ex-battery hens!

The chooks should be fine as long as they have shelter and lots of food and water, just make sure they have somewhere to roost. They love most foods so give them all your leftovers, i even boil up stalks from cabbage and peelings from spuds/carrots, etc. and add a couple of handfuls of rice and they go mad for it (once cooled! ).

Wiz'n'Ton

That's a genius idea! We're well into the composting, and there's a saw mill 3 minutes away, so that's a winner.

They seem to've really settled into their new home, becoming much more confident and happy.

My god they don't half shit though!

Fingers crossed for eggs in a few weeks

pixi-dust

Yeh! you got your chooks. Aren't they the best fun. I spend ages in with mine every day.
Three of mine are moulting just now and look shocking!
For calcium you can bake the egg shells of the ones you've eaten and crush them and feed them back - makes their shells good and strong.

Rustie

Also good compost!!