Housing

Floor area should be a minimum of 1 square foot per bird (large fowl) or 8" square for bantams. If you can give them more space then so much the better bearing in mind they will be spending time in the henhouse sheltering from the rain and wind. Perches should allow a minimum of 9" for large fowl and 6" for bantams and be 2" wide.

It is advisable to have your coop slightly raised off the ground to deter vermin from nesting underneath. Cleaning once a week is best to deter red mite which do like to live in the nooks and crannies of the coop, many people advise not using felt roofs but red mite can still occur in the wood joints of the house, basically keep the coop clean.

Make sure there are perches for your hens to roost, nest boxes, usually in the darkest part the coop, for your hens to lay your lovely eggs and straw or shavings for the bedding, hay is not recommend due to mould spores from the hay that will give your hens breathing problems. Make sure there is adequate ventilation in the house, wire mesh 2.5cm square over a small opening at the top of the coop to ensure there are no draughts.

MOST IMPORTANT, make sure your house is fox proof with a strong bolt and coop's pophole is shut everynight, the night you forget to close it,you can guarantee, is the night Mr Fox will pay a visit.

Feed

The most popular way to feed your hens is with a pellet ration, for your egg producing hens it will be layers pellets you require, Always check the label of the feed you are buying that it has a minimum of 16% protein listed, dont forget what you put in is what you get out and at the end of the day you will be eating the eggs. Also to remember chickens do not have teeth, they use grit in their gizzards to grind up food, There is two types of grit

HARD: for digestion
CALCIUM - which dissolves in the stomach and provides calcium for egg production - crushed oystershell is the most common.

You can also give mixed grain as a treat - Chickens are food-tame - they will come to you because you have a treat in your hand and will eat grain out of your hand. They also love vegetable, salad & fruit choppings, but not potato peelings and not too much bread, which gives them the runs!. They also love cooked pasta but be careful as it is loaded with carbs, which will make your hens fat.
Chickens love and need greenery like grass - scientific studies have shown they prodce better eggs with less cholestrol and more Omega-3 fatty acids (currently good for you!)

Rearing Day Old Chicks can be great fun for all the family, and one of the great advantages is that they will be handled a great deal forming a wonderful bond between chick and human BUT there are several things to consider before you buy day old chicks. Chicks are fragile creatures in their first few weeks of life, I have listed below all the necessary equipment you will need to raise them, you might also consider cockerels, Can you keep the cockerels? If not what will you do with them, sometimes childrens farm parks or farms will have them.

During the first few weeks of your chicks life they will need to be kept in a warm brooder box, a cardboard box will be fine to start with. Chicks are not able to maintain their own body heat easity so an external heat source will be required, If they are to be kept indoors i do find I can get away with a 60 watt bulb suspended over the box, if they are outside they will definately need an appropriate heat lamp, A less expensive way is to keep the chicks warm is to buy a terracotta pot (one with a hole in the bottom) get a 60 watt bulb, get a bulb fitting and flex with plug on the end of flex cable. All you need to do is attach the terracotta pot as if it were a lamp shade around the bulb. place the pot on the floor with the bulb inside and switch on the bulb, the terracotta pot will heat up and if the chicks are cold they will cuddle up to the pot if they are too warm they will move away, make sure your box is big enough for the chicks to move away from the heat source if they are too warm. The temperature should be around 35 degress for the first week, and then slightly reducing the temp a few degrees each week until they are able to with stand normal temperatures with no heat source, normally around 6-8 weeks depending on the weather.

Wood shavings is a good bedding for chicks, as i dries quickly if gotten wet, its not slippy, which can cause leg problems with newly hatched chicks if the are kept on a slippy surface, and it is easy to clean.

Good Hygiene is a must when caring for chicks, never let the food get wet, as bacteria can kill your chicks in a matter of days, chicks also drink more water than you would expect, make sure they access to clean water at all times, water must be kept in a shallow dish, (chicks can drown in deep dishes) or use an appropriate chick drinker, We stock both chick feeders and drinkers if required. They will be fed on a high protein Chick Crumb for the first six weeks then begin to change over to growers pellets then onto layers pellets around 18 weeks, We can also supply you with chick crumb if needed.

A disease common in young chicks is coccidiosis, this can occur when chicks are kept on damp bedding, look out for blood in the droppings, if you do find this you need to get some "coxoid" immediately, We now stock coxiod here at Merrydale..

Don't forget we are here for any advice you need regarding your chicks, if in doubt about ANYTHING, please don't hesitate to email me or give me a ring and I will gladly help, if it is an emergency it would be best to call me on my mobile, as I am rarely near the house phone during the day but I always carry my mobile with me

Do they Bite
Chicken Poo
How much food do I give
Should I put food and water in the coop
My new hen is laying tiny eggs or eggs with a soft shell
how do i introduce new hens to my existing flock
What food shouldnt I give my hens

Do they Bite,

No chickens dont bite they peck, they dont really hurt when they peck, sometimes if you have gold on ie braclet, ring, they will try to peck it thinking it is food.

Poo

Chickens do poo rather alot, sometimes it is runny, sometimes it is yellow, this is all perfectly normal, however if your hen's poo is yellow all the time this is an indication that worming is needed.

When you hens start to lay their first eggs, they can be all manner of strange shapes and sizes, some can be the size of a marble while others can be the size of a medium egg. Also they can lay with a very soft shell or even with no yolk in at all.

This is all perfectly normal, and things tends to settle down once they have gotten into the swing of things, and eggs do get larger.

Note, if you hen is older and has suddenly started to lay soft shell eggs then this can be an indication of a calcium deficiency, a bowl of mixed girt with shell is an excellent way of helping them get the extra calcium they need.

This can be a tricky one, as your hens already now have a pecking order established. every hen knows its place in terms of feeding, roosting perches (yes they all have their own spot) ect. There are a couple of ways this can be done, I would always recommend introducing at least two hens to an existing flock unless you only have one original hen.

• Have temporary pen set up where the new hens are kept apart from your existing hens but they can see each other. Place the food bowls on either side of the pen fence so they are eating together side by side but cannot get to each other. let them get used to each other for a couple of weeks then put them toghether.
• Another way is to put the old hens in the temporary pen and put your new hens the the origanl coop, again where they can see each other. Then after a couple of weeks put them all in together.
• If problems are still happening, mainly with the hen top of the pecking order, just remove her, again keeping her where the others can still see each other for a few days then pop her back in with the others,
• When deciding the time is right to merge the two flocks together, its best done at night, wait a good half hour after your last established flock hen has gone to roost and they all are on their own favourite spots then place the new hens in with them. The next day leave them a little bit longer than normal before you let them out, say around 10am to give them chance to get acquainted in a dim and calm environment.

Another tip I have heard about but not tried myself is to rub each hen with a clove of garlic so they all smell the same, then at dusk after the existing flock hens have roosted, place the new hens (smelling of garlic also) in with them, and then let them all out again next day together. This tip may be handy if you do not have a temporary pen available for your new hens.

Raw potatoe peelings. - unless you boil and mash them up.
Long grass - can form a ball inside their crop which may become impacted.
Bread - Again causes an impacted crop
Lettuce - too much gives them diarrhea
Any Kind of Meat.