2 Hen questions

[garye]

First question:- We're planning to add to our pair of hens and one of our local suppliers has Speckeldy and Bluebell chicks for sale Anybody any experience of these breeds at all?

Secondly, I was reading through a book the other night and the author ( famous gardeny person who shall remain nameless) was talking about feeding hens leftover rice and pasta. I've only ever given ours veg. Anybody ever given their hens rice and pasta?

[JulieSherris]

Hi Garye, speckleds are nice birds, good layers, very nosey.... mine will try & fight their way past my legs to get in the kitchen - full of character!
The bluebells are nice birds too - but positively scream at you if you disturb them when they are in laying their eggs!

I give ours rice & pasta - especially in the winter, they love a nice warm snack when it's cold. I quite often make my own poultry tonic & mix that in too....

A mixture of most/all of the following...

chilli powder
fenugreek
ginger
brown sugar
paprika
finely chopped garlic
chopped sage leaves
turmeric
cumin

I also give them a dose of chopped garlic, honey & apple cider vinegar every month or so in their water to help with the worming.

Also.... during the winter, it's best to give them warm water to drink - this means that can keep their body temperatures up & use less food to keep warm.
Hope that helps!

[Odsox]

I give ours rice, leftover rice I hasten to add .. I'm not rich enough to buy rice just to feed chicken.
The last lot they had was leftover fish risotto and they went berserk fighting over the prawns. They also get leftover bread crusts on regular basis and all of our cooked potato peelings.
Chicken are of course carnivores (or omnivores) as they eat worms and snails, plus I've once saw one of mine eat a mouse that was foolish enough to cross their run.

[Mrs H]

R chooks eat everything!!! They rnt fussy!! We put out all r scraps from the house and they snuffle it all up. Baked beans and rice r a particular favourite. Xx

[Annpan]

Garye, I was looking at (I am sure) the exact same supplier :) to potentially increase our flock by a few bodies..... and as a bit of a change to the red/brown hens

Let me know how you get on

[thesunflowergal]

I have both too. My Speckeldy is very friendly, happy to let the kids touch her. She laid everyday inc all last winter until five weeks ago when she went broody. I would recommend th anyone. My Bluebelle is a massive bird, she will not be handled and does not lay everyday.
My girls get fed on all the kitchen scraps, and just love bread.

[garye]

Thanks folks, I do tend to err on the side of cooking a bit much rather than too little when doing rice or pasta so from now on the hens will be the benficiaries!

[Millymollymandy]

I have one bluebell and she is very nervous and neurotic and shrieks a lot and lays very brittle eggs - so was worth buying for the prettiness factor and that's IT.

Ours love spaghetti worms and ricey maggots best of any treats.

[garye]

Doh! Got to my supplier early this aft (with my 20 month old, 4 year old and 6 year old in tow expectantly hoping to be coming home with chicks) only to find that all of their chicks had gone - the last three speckeldies went this morning! So we came home with 2 POL pullets - one Isa Brown and one Rhode Rock. the boys were doting over them when we got home, I'm sure they'll settle in fine with out two other hens.