Some of you may remember a while back I was asking for some advice on keeping chickens. Well, I got them and they were great little things but it didn't all go according to plan. I found a guy who bred various birds and had a fresh lay of baby chicks on the go. I specifically asked him for hens as I can only imagine the cockerels driving neighbours up the wall. He went through his box of baby chicks and did his best to pick me out 3 females.
Off home we went with a white one, a black one and a brown one. The kids quickly set about naming them.... Phoebe (white one), Oreo (Black one) and Pumpkin (Brown one). After a number of weeks inside, I moved them outside to get used to their outdoor area. They were really fantastic and got used to the space really quickly, not once did I have to usher them in at night and they were always happy to see me in the morning letting them out.
FFWD to the most manic month of July you can imagine. We had 5 nights in Skegness, 7 nights in Blackpool and a week around the south coast of England. Between one of these flying visits the big white one..... Phoebe.... started crowing. We were positive that she was a male just before that as the way he acted was just different from the rest. I ordered a no-crow collar and fit it as soon as I could. Within a day we were back on the road with my Ex Wife looking after the chickens in the meantime.
When I came back from one of the trips I had a little card through the door from the Environmental Health wanting to discuss my "Cockerels". I wasn't there to witness it fully but I knew he was a noisy bird so I gave them a call. No answer...... but I had decided to move them to the opposite side of the house where the garden faced onto a main road. This worked a treat and you couldn't really hear the crowing anywhere it would be annoying so all was good in the world.
A couple of weeks ago I got a text from a friend asking if my chickens were out. Someone had posted on the local FB group that 3 chickens were wandering up and down the street. Of course I jumped outside but my 3 were happily clucking away in the garden doing their usual. I noticed that my drive gate was opened though so presumed someone had been trying to see them. I visited the FB post and the description was exactly the same as my 3 so I checked the CCTV. It turns out it was the wind of a passing lorry that opened the gate. When this happened the chickens got curious and went for a little wander. They weren't out for long before they decided they didn't fancy it and they hopped back into the garden. Turns out it WAS my chickens that were toddling about outside. Thankfully they are little home-buddies.
A day or 2 later I'm outside in the sunshine giving them a couple of grapes. I hear an unfamiliar cock-a-doodle-dooo. I turn around to see the bleeding black one crowing at me! Turns out 2 out of 3 is bad..... when it goes against you. So, out of the 3 females that I bought..... 2 of them turned out to be males. They would end up fighting and all sorts so I contacted the guy to see if I could give him the males back. He said that was no bother so I got a huge box to put 2 of them in to take them back to his. My 2 girls were with me so I brought them along to say their goodbyes.
Got to the house, knocked on the door and out he came. I took the box out and asked if it was OK for the girls to say goodbye. Of course this wasn't an issue so I went to the car to let them out and they were in floods of tears. Long story short he felt really guilt and couldn't see 2 crying girls giving up their pets. So he sent us away with 2 guaranteed females.
That was last weekend. It's taken a whole week for the chickens all to start getting along. Pumpkin is much bigger than the other two, just with the breed, but she is really young so was getting bullied by one of the older ones. The great thing is that they are both laying so I'm getting 2 fresh eggs every single day.
Get chickens they said..... it'll be fun they said!
Off home we went with a white one, a black one and a brown one. The kids quickly set about naming them.... Phoebe (white one), Oreo (Black one) and Pumpkin (Brown one). After a number of weeks inside, I moved them outside to get used to their outdoor area. They were really fantastic and got used to the space really quickly, not once did I have to usher them in at night and they were always happy to see me in the morning letting them out.
FFWD to the most manic month of July you can imagine. We had 5 nights in Skegness, 7 nights in Blackpool and a week around the south coast of England. Between one of these flying visits the big white one..... Phoebe.... started crowing. We were positive that she was a male just before that as the way he acted was just different from the rest. I ordered a no-crow collar and fit it as soon as I could. Within a day we were back on the road with my Ex Wife looking after the chickens in the meantime.
When I came back from one of the trips I had a little card through the door from the Environmental Health wanting to discuss my "Cockerels". I wasn't there to witness it fully but I knew he was a noisy bird so I gave them a call. No answer...... but I had decided to move them to the opposite side of the house where the garden faced onto a main road. This worked a treat and you couldn't really hear the crowing anywhere it would be annoying so all was good in the world.
A couple of weeks ago I got a text from a friend asking if my chickens were out. Someone had posted on the local FB group that 3 chickens were wandering up and down the street. Of course I jumped outside but my 3 were happily clucking away in the garden doing their usual. I noticed that my drive gate was opened though so presumed someone had been trying to see them. I visited the FB post and the description was exactly the same as my 3 so I checked the CCTV. It turns out it was the wind of a passing lorry that opened the gate. When this happened the chickens got curious and went for a little wander. They weren't out for long before they decided they didn't fancy it and they hopped back into the garden. Turns out it WAS my chickens that were toddling about outside. Thankfully they are little home-buddies.
A day or 2 later I'm outside in the sunshine giving them a couple of grapes. I hear an unfamiliar cock-a-doodle-dooo. I turn around to see the bleeding black one crowing at me! Turns out 2 out of 3 is bad..... when it goes against you. So, out of the 3 females that I bought..... 2 of them turned out to be males. They would end up fighting and all sorts so I contacted the guy to see if I could give him the males back. He said that was no bother so I got a huge box to put 2 of them in to take them back to his. My 2 girls were with me so I brought them along to say their goodbyes.
Got to the house, knocked on the door and out he came. I took the box out and asked if it was OK for the girls to say goodbye. Of course this wasn't an issue so I went to the car to let them out and they were in floods of tears. Long story short he felt really guilt and couldn't see 2 crying girls giving up their pets. So he sent us away with 2 guaranteed females.
That was last weekend. It's taken a whole week for the chickens all to start getting along. Pumpkin is much bigger than the other two, just with the breed, but she is really young so was getting bullied by one of the older ones. The great thing is that they are both laying so I'm getting 2 fresh eggs every single day.
Get chickens they said..... it'll be fun they said!
