AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Hi all. We have recently aquired our first ever hens. 2 brown hens from a local fodder store that have been bred for battery farms but never made it due to surplus. Their beaks have been cut but other than that they seem in good health. They have settled in nicely and this morning I saw them on their roost for the first time which made me happy! They free-range over a fairly big grassy area and mostly go in to their coop at dusk - so all good so far! Just a few basic questions...

Do I keep their water and feed inside or outside the coop?

Do I leave the door open to their coop all day?

They were sold to me as POL - any general rules as to when they start laying in their new home?

Do I need to vaccinate? I only plan on getting 2 more in a few weeks time and that will be all for now.

How do I know if I need to clip their wings or not?

Any other tips or points would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

Firstly welcome to the world of poultry keeping
In answer to your questions....

As I don't know the size or set up of your coop, it's hard to give definite advice....but...you are probably best off keeping the food and water inside the coop...this way it is less likely to be eaten by wild birds, and the food will be kept dry....

Leaving the door open to the coop all day also depends upon the size of the coop and whether you have any possible dangers to your girls...eg; dogs,cats etc......Many folk keep their chooks locked up and only let them out for a few hours of an afternoon, and when they are at home....this way the hens will lay in their nest boxes and not in a hidden nest somewhere in the garden,,,and the hens are safe...also...hens can make a lovely mess in the garden...especially scratching and moving mulch.....

POL I have found is a very broad description.....keep an eye on the combs and wattles...when they become lovely and red is a good sign that you can expect your first egg......given that they are young is also another good reason to keep them locked up for most of the day....young hens sometimes don't know what to do about egg laying...and they may just lay anywhere...also try getting a plastic egg...or even a golf ball and put it in the nest.....thie let's the girls know that the nest is a good place for egg laying....

If the girls came from a commercial operation (I gather they would have) they should have had all their vaccinations...you can't vaccinate them now.....

You only have to clip their wings if they are flying over fences, or flying out of their pen,or trying to roost in trees of an evening....

good luck and happy hen keeping

Hi and welcome, Pip!

Our chooks free range all day in our backyard, but when we first got them we kept them in their coop for the first two weeks, to get them accustomed to their "home" and where they should go to lay. I always leave the door open so they can access their house to lay or if they feel threatened. I found I had to put their feeder away during the day (it usually hangs just inside the door of the coop), as the wild pigeons were having a smorgasbord and eating all our chook feed! This only works because I am home during the day, and I go out 5 or 6 times a day to hand feed the chooks. If you aren't home during the day, you can get an automatic feeder like this one:

http://www.grandpasfeeders.com.au/produ ... ken-feeder

They are very expensive however. My hubby is going to make one out of wood from these plans:

http://www."Blacklisted Website"/pdffiles/autofeeder.pdf

Edit: Sorry, for some reason I don't seem to be allowed to post the link to the plans for the feeder!

I got my plans from BYC http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/homem ... s-pictures