chickens in my garden

electro girl · Post by **electro girl** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 8:23 pm

im getting chickens soon, after about 4 years of constantly asking my dad its finnally happening, hes converted a shed in the back garden and we are getting about 7.(i also want a duck to do the whole the chick and the duck thing)

so do any of you keep chickens or other animals? and what do you like about it?

Skidmark · Post by **Skidmark** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 8:42 pm

electro girl wrote: so do any of you keep chickens or other animals? and what do you like about it?

My uncle raises chickens.I love their scrambled eggs.

(EDIT)I almost forgot my dear rottweiler.She keeps the house safe.

Zeeks · Post by **Zeeks** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 8:45 pm

electro girl wrote:
so do any of you keep chickens or other animals? and what do you like about it?

Used to have a Boa Constrictor. It lasted a little over a year. Still have dreams about him.

Post by **Sades** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:30 pm

I effing love chickens. I had a coopful for about three years when I was a kid. They used to follow me everywhere.

I currently have a fish, a gerbil and a turtle.

Post by **Denyer** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:37 pm

That's pretty successful cross-breeding.

*ducks*

...

*geese*

Zeeks · Post by **Zeeks** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:53 pm

Sades wrote:a fish, a gerbil and a turtle.

whre can we take this in terms of crossbreeding?:swirly:

secretcode · Post by **secretcode** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:50 pm

A Gertish.

martyboy70 · Post by **martyboy70** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:24 am

Damn you're silly at times-everyone knows its a turbilish;)

secretcode · Post by **secretcode** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:34 am

martyboy70 wrote:Damn you're silly at times-everyone knows its a turbilish;)

slartibartfast · Post by **slartibartfast** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:46 am

Gerbil, Turtle, Fish... what does the O stand for?

secretcode · Post by **secretcode** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:47 am

Gerbils, Turtles, Fish... OH MY!

Post by **Denyer** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:23 am

Crossbreeding with William Shatner is probably restricted by the Geneva Convention.

Target · Post by **Target** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:55 am

Denyer wrote:Crossbreeding with William Shatner is probably restricted by the Geneva Convention.

Ha ha!!

electro girl wrote:
so do any of you keep chickens or other animals? and what do you like about it?

I had chickens for ages, until some nasty people came and stole them (the day before market day

)there were a few feather in the garden but not enough for a fox to have gotten them. Remember to put Chicken spice into their feed for better feathers and more eggs!! Eggs from your own chickens are great!

Also had 2 runner ducks (my little girl just laughed at them as they ran around) and some rabbits, and also came home one day (again market day) to find the ducks dead, (heads been cut off) and the rabbits stolen.

So no more pets, just the little dog who thinks she a member of the family!!

Good luck with them!

electro girl · Post by **electro girl** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:52 pm

thanks for the advice im getting them on sunday and im curious to see what my dog will make of them. i think that getting fresh eggs everyday is brilliant and i want every animal under the sun in my garden but my parents dont cos they'll feel to much like tom and barbera

Target · Post by **Target** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:40 pm

My dog (long legged Jack Russel) would chase the chickens and when she caught up with one she didn't know what to do so sat on it!

electro girl · Post by **electro girl** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:31 pm

Target wrote:My dog (long legged Jack Russel) would chase the chickens and when she caught up with one she didn't know what to do so sat on it!

im expecting the confused doggy head tilt as my dog is not very bright (she's a staffy)

rattrap23 · Post by **rattrap23** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:46 pm

be afraid, ducks are evil!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5xY2XdtGyM

numbat · Post by **numbat** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 8:27 pm

I used to work at a wildlife centre in Perthshire (Scotland), where we had all manner of things (and I set up reptiles and inverts for them).

We kept a lot of chickens - including various breeds for the visitors to see, and a large number of more standard chickens which were, I'm afraid, bred for dinner for the foxes and wildcats.

The meerkats were a problem - kept getting out and were a nightmare to catch! And bull yaks are an experience...

But, I did learn three useful things - all animals love bananas (and a box of banana's is the best way to herd highland cows or yaks), never get between a mother and her dinner (or the thing will throw you over a wall

), and rheas may be all nasty and all, but if you put your hand round their neck (no need to close properly or anything - gentle will do), they collapse and play dead. Very useful lessons.

I have degus as pets these days - they're great! South American rodents. They look like a cross between a guineapig, chinchilla, red squirrel and gerbil. Sort-of. They're highly social, and have loads of different noises they use pretty much as language (some noises are intelligible even - as I'm sure they think of me! lol!), can be trained, and treat a good tummy rub as much as a treat as any choice food item. They do require a large cage (which you end up having to heavuly modify in the UK, it seems, so as to comply with their health requirements and to stop too much mess), and have special dietary requirements (they can't have any sugar - they were originally bred in captivity to research diabetes). Oh, and I have just discovered that females can have a clitoris that's larger than some male's penises... (the, erm, hard way... all sexed by the experts, but we now have baby degus... and the mother's clitoris is larger than one of the male's penises... I can only imagine how inadequate he feels... the key is the distance between the clitoris or penis from the, erm, anus... not the size...) There you go, learn something new you never wanted to know! (Certainly a colleague went very red in the face when I was explaining this to her today...)

I think I best shut up now...

electro girl · Post by **electro girl** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:47 pm

yes! they're finnaly here. will post pics soon

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:49 pm

If I owned chickens I'd probably give into temptation and cook'em after a week. I'm a leg man myself.