Backyard chooks

[sunshine_sieben]

What is a "chicken cuddle"?
I definitely plan on making the feeding DD's job. I'm sure she'd love that anyway.
And any chickens here would have a smorgasbord atm with all the lawn grubs we have :/

Barnvelders sounds fantastic. And they are available, handraised, at the place in Brisbane! Sounds like they are good layers and very quiet.

We eat about a carton of eggs a week. But I was hoping to have a few spares to "bribe" the neighbours with Maybe I will just have to bake them the odd loaf of bread instead.

Jennifer, if it is only for a couple of minutes a day, I don' think that would be an issue at all. But constant chatter might be.

Just remember that bantam is not a breed of bird, it just dictates the size. (Just remembered this myself)

I had no idea. i though when they said Australorp Bantam, it would be a cross breed. Wealth of information you guys are!

[jackrose]

I have always had Rhode Island Reds. They are fantastic layers and wonderfully robust hens. They tend to lay so much I have more than enough eggs and plenty to keep the neighbours happy. They do go off the lay for a month or so but usually slowly go off and slowly get back up to full production (6-7 days out of 7!) so it is not too much of an issue if you have a couple of them.

I have never found them too noisy. They usually make a noise when they lay an egg "Oh my god, look what just came out of my rear end, oh my, oh my, oh my, heaven forbid, have you ever seen such a thing!!!" You know, that sort of thing! Its pretty cute more than anything. They will also make a noise if they are threatened.

I love having chickens, get rid of the scraps, get incredible quality eggs, have a bit of company in the yard, teach the kids responsibility, keep the garden snails under control, get in touch with your inner urban farmer! Win, win, win!

[Kazbah]

Ahhh, a "chicken cuddle" is a cuddle with a chicken! We have to catch a chicken for him to cuddle and feel better. The barnies we have are great. And if you get 3 chooks, that will prolly give you extra eggs to bribe the neighbours with. There are *heaps* of ways to keep them on the lay, they do tend to go off the lay when you first get them - with ours, we found they'd have good egg production for a week (cause there are about 6 eggs in various stages within a chook's body) and then go off for about a month - but mind you, we got them from battery hen places, so just having light, free movement and scraps was a huge adjustment for them. they really are great creatures - when we do our veggie patch makeover at the end of seasons, we let the chooks in there and they really scratch it up good and proper and get rid of all green stuff for us!

There's nothing quite as relaxing as sitting in the back yard after work, cup of tea in hand, and hearing the occaisional "cluck cluck" as they find a juicy treat. Better than a water feature any day.

[sunshine_sieben]

Better than a water feature any day.

So, who here has chickens on a normal suburban block similar to ours (about 650sqm)? Or do you all live on large blocks or in semi-rural areas.

[HotI]

I have 2 labradors and they have always been fine with the chooks. The only problem we have is with the dogs eating the vegie scraps we have for the chooks or eating their eggs. At the moment the chooks are free range but we will be putting a chook run in soon that will stop the dogs from getting into their house.

Roosters can be noisy but our chooks are not. They let you know when they have laid an egg but that's about it.

We are rural and on a large block and most of our neighbours have chooks as well so no one complains.

Rhode Island Reds are good layers, and very social chooks. When working in the garden, they would wait for me to dig then run in to get the worms. I'd have to shoo them out before digging again. We have had a variety of chooks, some pretty ones, some good layers. Our full house is about 12 chooks but due to a fox massacre we are down to only one at the moment, will be stocking up again soon.

We have always kept our chooks even when they slow down their laying.

Home grown eggs taste so much better!

We feed a poultry grain mix and then they get our vegie/bread scraps.

[NaeNae]

Subbing

Just a quick question ... how do you stop a cat from attackign them? I want some chookies but am worried about our moggy. Mind you he won't go a maggie so maybe the size of the bird could help? I also worry about preditor birds??

One thing I was going to siggest for the dog issue is to maybe havbe the pooch tethered for an hour or so if you're worried. Our dogs woudl surely kill and devour a chook but they are farm dogs maybe something in their breeding.

Nae x

[Yeddi]

We have isa browns and RIR's. We make sure we get them as chicks rather than point of lay. While it means we have to wait for them to be big enough to lay, it does mean we can train them to be easier to handle and eat only certain things in the back yard. I found that if I made sure they had plenty of the weeds that grow in the back yard they'll go for those first when older rather than eating my broccoli. Of course, if there are no weeds then they go for the plants, but as I'm not big on weeding, it's rarely a problem.

I've also seen a mouse or two near their coop, often trying to get at the kitchen scraps. I don't know if it's because my chickens are offended that the mouse has dared to come near their scraps or because they like the taste of mouse, but they don't last very long...

It might be worth getting a book about keeping chickens from the library. I would say you would have to worry about mites more than mice.

[jackrose]

So, who here has chickens on a normal suburban block similar to ours (about 650sqm)? Or do you all live on large blocks or in semi-rural areas.

I have always kept my ladies in small suburban backyards in Melbourne. I grew up with Chooks in our house in a suburb about 10km from the city and then got some when I moved out of home, moving them with me as I lived in different inner city properties within 5km of city. The council in those municipalities were ok about having a few hens (not roosters).

That said, there was still an issue with foxes in all of those houses as foxes use the green pathways through the city (train lines, parks etc) to access the suburbs. I even watched a fox run across Lygon Street (North Carlton near houses rather than the eatery part) one night! Keep that in mind if you are urban as you would not think foxes would be a problem there.

I second Yeddi's advice about getting chicks. It is so much better to have hand reared chooks for the personality factor and relationship. As a child we reared chooks from eggs in an incubator. We did have to get rid of a few surprise roosters but ended up with THE most delightful birds as a result. I used to cuddle my chicken ("Mrs Boccker") sitting on the swing, telling her of all my woes when my brother picked on me, loved her! As Kate mentioned, they were also great company when gardening! Later I have picked up point of lay chooks and have never found them to be as good as pets.

[Yeddi]

LOL, Mrs Boccker. Classic! Ours are, "Poached", "Fried", "Baked", "Nugget" and "U Little Clucker"

[jackrose]

So no need to go into the details of where meat comes from in your household??

There is just something special about naming chooks, unlike any other animal!

[Livinthedream]

I just saw this thread.
Another chicken lover here.
I have Barnevelders, some commercial layers, pekins, bantam langshans, a silkie, an aracana and an Indian Game rooster.
I also have an incubator and at the moment am hatching about 40 eggs per month.
We eat the boys and sell the girls once they get to point of lay.
I used to have horses, now my passion is chooks LOL

[Kazbah]

LOL, Mrs Boccker. Classic! Ours are, "Poached", "Fried", "Baked", "Nugget" and "U Little Clucker"

We had Big Red, Kentucky, Soup, Roast, Nandos and Peking

[Jennifer13]

So, who here has chickens on a normal suburban block similar to ours (about 650sqm)? Or do you all live on large blocks or in semi-rural areas.

Normal sized suburban block here. There are heaps of chickens kept in our area. Even the local Woolies stocks chicken feed in 10kg bags and hay. We normally go to Pet Barn, but it's handy if we're stuck.

We've had two from chickens and two from point of lay (you can't put a chick in with grown hens). TBH the friendliest are the ones we got at point of lay. The only pecker was one we'd got as a chick who got sick of being pestered by kids (died last year sadly). The ones from chicks do seem to like head scratches more, but I'm the only one they'll stay still for to pick up. The one that DD carts around, takes on the slide, puts in her car/bike, etc was five months old when we got her. I think it's more personality, as for all birds and pets. But DD loved the experience of having the chicks.

Ours are called Alice, Celia and Gemma. DD names them after her friends!

[sunshine_sieben]

I think I did something really really stupid!

Well, as mentioned,I am not really allowed to keep chickens, due to council regulations. But I have since talked to my neighbours and they said they have no problems with it. The closest one even asked whether she could come and see them when I have them. Turns out she grew up on a farm and loves chickens.

But stupid me decided to contact council anyway to see if I could apply for a permit. I thought: if nobody asks to keep chickens, they wouldn't know that people would like to, so there would never be a change in the local law...
So, I sent them an email through their website. A few days later I got a letter from the council saying that chickens are prohibited. Period. I can't remember giving them my address. But I must have. How dumb!
now, if I decide to get chickens anyway (illegally), do you think they might give me a surprise visit to check whether I am complying with their rules? I now have it in writing that I'm not even allowed a Bantam chicken. So I can't even feign ignorance.
Grrrr, I should have called them instead of sending an email....

[Charlotte91]

I'm so glad I found this thread. I was sitting next to DP and I just turned and said "Dude, lets get a chicken!". He asked a few questions and he's agreed to it.

I have a 7mo cat who attacks anything that moves, think that'll be a problem?
Cause I'd love to get some chooks for eggs and stuff, but if Titan attacked them I would be so mad!

[sunshine_sieben]

How cool that you DH is on your side!!!
Did this thread make you think of getting a chicken or did you want a chicken and then found this thread?
Just a quick note: I think you should get at least two. From what I have read, they are very social animals and would get lonely.
You could get something called a chicken tractor. Basically a chicken wire enclosure with an open bottom and a small coop that can be moved around the yard (google it). That way your cat can't get at the chickens. But if you get larger chickens, I think your cat should not pose a threat...

[Charlotte91]

I'd mentioned it to DP before, about getting some chooks and he didn't really seem interested.
But, now he's all for it. I've been looking into it and found some chicken coop designs that a mate of our is happy to help make.
Our cat, as much as we love him, might not be around much longer.... he is always getting on the bench and we've nearly had enough.

The local hardware store sells chooks occationally (weird, I know). Pullets?? Is that a type of chook? I dont know much about chooks.
Dont want something that's noisy, cause we have a neighbour. But, they have a beautiful veggie garden so I'm sure I could give them manure to keep them happy.

[tellytubby]

I had 5 chooks on my 750m2 yard block.
You just need to remember, and be prepared for the digging, and the poop.
They dig... they dig up your lawn until it turns to dust. They dig holes, as big as a dog would.

Now I have two chooks, find it much easier to handle. Also gives less eggs, which is good for us. With 5 we had soo many it was a joke. Even our neighbours were saying no, haha.

What are the fines if the council busts you? would it be worth it??