Subscriber Letters

Linda : Hi Gina - thanks for the brilliant newsletter. I, like everyone else love reading everyone's stories and their advice, and would like to thank you for all your hard work. At the moment we have four hens - one Scots Dumpy, one RIR, one Dorking and one Buff Orpington. They are all very different in their own ways, and the only one we didn't rear ourselves was the Scots Dumpy. They are all friendly when we have food with us - following us around and jumping up to get at it, but they have never really actively looked to us for affection (perhaps they get fed up with us nicking their eggs!!).

We spend hours and hours with them - particularly when they were peeps, but the only one that has ever wanted a cuddle was the Buff Orpington Rooster of last years hatching. We weren't able to keep him here as we are surrounded by neighbours who have, touch wood, been relatively OK about us having chickens so far. He went to a neighbouring farm, where he has a harem of four Buff hens, and is leading a charmed life … the farmer came home the other afternoon (still daylight) to see a fox strolling across the farmyard with Rocky in his mouth!! He shouted, and the startled fox dropped Rocky and ran. Rocky just shook himself off and went about his business as usual!!

We have a nice variety of eggs, though, and I still marvel at them when I collect them from the coop….

Matthew : Hi to Kathleen who in the Volume 1 February newsletter asked how other readers disposed of the chicken droppings. I use straw as bedding for my chickens so whenever I clean out the coop I compost the waste including the straw that I use as bedding. Straw and wood shavings are good in compost and chicken manure is the best manure that you can use. You can't put fresh chicken manure on the garden though, otherwise it would burn the smaller roots of the plants. You have to let the droppings mature before applying it to the garden. I use a compost tumbler to make compost because it is one of the fastest methods of composting. You can also just dig the manure into an empty garden bed and let it age for a few weeks before planting anything. You can also make good liquid fertilizer by putting the manure in a black bucket with a lid and filling it up with water. You then just let it sit in the sun for a month or two before watering your plants with it. Good luck with finding a solution that suits your needs. I have had my three pullets for four weeks now and I am also new to keeping chickens. I hope my information has helped you and your chickens, From Matthew, South Australia.

Betty : I Recently visited a friend who has chickens. He now has a turkey to help ward off flying pests. Does anyone reading this have experience on mixing turkeys with chickens, and if so, what are the cautions?