We live in suburbia, what's the deal with giving two or so chooks a good home.... How much square 'meterage' would you suggest for two or three chooks?
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We live in suburbia, what's the deal with giving two or so chooks a good home.... How much square 'meterage' would you suggest for two or three chooks?
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Heather - Thats great, I think a thorough job will serve you best and a loong time. Are you talking about Abundant layers? They can provide you with a box but if you have a cat cage or can borrow one I strongly recommend that. We nearly had bords loose inthe car because the bottom of the box they provided had fallen through.
See about getting them young too. My Pullets were about 8-10 weeks old when I got them and seriously its taken a fair bit of my hanging around to get them semi ok with me. I would check out Backyard Poultry and get into their forum (Info Centre) as there are quite a few breeders on there. I really liked Bianca and Brendan though I had hoped for birds that were handled quite alot. Never mind ... I may or may not buy from them again when "Cluckingham Palace" is built. I htink I will check out the local poulty club as they have auctions so might be able to get some of the rarer breeds cheaper or something. I have been given a name of a man to seek out at the Warragul one to ask him to show me "good" birds because I am inexperienced.
Kimmi - for their housing I believe the general rule of thumb is 4 square feet per standard bird (bantams are smaller so might be different) and approx 12inches of perch and allow a meter square per bird for a small enclosure. If the birds will get run of the garden through the day then size doesn't matter so much but if they are enclosed then the bigger the better really. If its too squishy the birds can resort to cannibalism which you don't want. This is just the info I am aware of, someone else who is a lot more experienced may be able to offer more
~*Mizqtie*~ might want to get either "Raising Chickens for Dummies" and/or "Build a Chicken coop for Dummies" ebay has a "Dummies" sale on at the moment as there are plenty of designs in there. Build it yourself, DO NOT BUY A PREMADE ONE you can do it MUCH cheaper making it yourself AND at least it will not be made with flimsy materials, I could have got ALL my run materials (it will be 42.1' x 18') for the cost of what I spent on that cheap, china made crappola!
Jennifer13 - thanks for that, I never give chocolate away so no issues there
Well today I went and got a few prices for some materials for one side of the run. It was not as bad as I thought it would be but still its going to take me ages to build due to finances. I have found two good local recycled places and I am just waiting on my open air book to come so I can finally decide on a design once and for all.
I am still barking like a dog thanks to this rotten cold thing, so may skip playgroup tomorrow (again) so I am not coughing over other peoples kids. IF I do this I should be able to dig my trench along the post line so I can bury the wire.
I plan on attaching the wire to the outside of the run rather than run it on the inside like Granny did.
I also plan on attaching a gate/door thing to the run on the garden side so that we can let the girls out. I have found a cute arch shaped one for $55 its wide enough for a wheelbarrow too
Anyways,
I should hit the sack I have a big day tomorrow. Being sick and still working on things takes so much energy but every time I look into their clucky faces I just can't help myself LOL
Nae x
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Thanks Nae, it was abundant layers I was talking about. I like the Bakcyard Poultry site, will have a good look around the site later.
Mirboo North had fair not long ago, they had quite a few breeders with their poultry on show. I wish I had got a few names!
The last Mirboo North market I went to, a man was there sellling chicken coups he made himself. They looked very sturdy.
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I got 7 new chooks today! Just been down to put them on the perch. Have to go in to training mode again.
We only have one old chook left, so hoping she copes well with the new additions. She will also have to be locked up with the newbys for a couple of weeks so they get to learn where home is. I don't think she will be too happy about that.
We cleaned out the chook house completely yesterday and washed it out with the hot wash pressure washer. It looks brilliant. All fresh wood shavings and sugar cane hay stuff in the nesting boxes. looks very comfy!
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Well Done Hoti I bet the coop looks magic, how are all the girls settling in?
I have been busy making a gate that will open from the garden to the main run that I am building at the moment. MIL and FIL are away at the moment which is really lovely. I was talking to SIl yesterday and she said that there is a den of fox cubs/pups not to far away in the plantation. MIL has lost 2 chooks in as many days and the other day when SIL was calling the last surviving Hen the little fox came.........
Its a said pack, where you have birds you have preditors.
It just makes me worry that these little foxes are "tame" enough to come when called. I have been thinking about adding "something" to bury in the ground aside from wire. One suggestion has been cliplock but at $10 a meter thats going to be quite expensive with a perimeter of approx 40 metres.
I could use some corregated Iron, we have plenty on the farm BUT its already rusting so as soon as that goes int he ground we can kiss it goodbye.
A final option was to buy sleepers and bury them but again its just an extra expense at approx $6 per metre ...........
The idea of building such a large run was so IF we have a day when I cannot let them out in the garden, they still have lots of space to roam.
Any ideas????
Nae x
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NaeNae - as it is being buried, can you find second stuff? We just used whatever bits of chicken wire, ringlock etc that was lying around here (we had old fencing we pulled down) to bury around the chicken coop. Is there a builders reclaim yard or a local tip that allows you to scavenge? We used to have a good one, but the council shut it down
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Astrid - we have tonnes of chicken wire, I wanted something a little more "solid" but I can't seem to find anything. Our local tip does not allow scavenging NOR do they know (or tell the public) what happens to the stuff that is discarded there. There is a second hand building supply place two towns across but he doesn't have roofing or fencing just timber and windows and doors etc. There is a place in the nearest main town but his trading hours and what he ACTUALLY trades are not in synche has lots of recycled tin so I would need to have a good look to see if I can find cliplock. I have seen an ebay sale for some seconds but its all the way in Melbourne and what it would cost we'd be almost better off buying the stuff new ........ We'll probably just use chicken wire and do a low "hot" wire around the outer edge ....... I just wanted something harder ITMS.
Nae x
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Heather why don't you get in contact with the Warragul Poultry CLub or similar in MIrboo North I have been told most places are quite friendly and happy to help out.
I think I know the coops your talking about, I am SURE I have seen one parked in Leongatha on the Mirboo Road with a for sale sign on it. I am not sure if you know the price he sells them for but I am sure its between $650 and $800. You could build your own for the same price if not less than ....
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Thanks Nae, Bernie is determined to build our own, he has started already. Got the foundations dug out. Just needs to time off to get a proper 'build session' happening
I will check out around Gippsland when we are ready to fill our coup.
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To anyone getting new chooks, I would advise you to avoid commercial layer type hens - ISA browns, etc at all costs! They are bred to lay and lay lots and lots, but that also means they are very prone to reproductive cancers, etc. I went through some very devistating losses of beloved chookies early in my keeping years - all ISAs. I decided to go pures and crosses of pures from then on and have not had any deaths or even illnesses since!
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To bury or NOT to bury? a fencing problem
OK I am SO confused ......
I was talking to my FIL and (between you and me) I think he is quite impressed at the project I am undertaking ... not just for a chick but for a CITY chick LOL.
We were talking about burying chicken wire and he said burying ANYTHING would be a complete waste of time as the acid in the soils will corode (sp?) anything in no time. HIS suggestion was to bring the wire as close to the ground as possible and string up a tension wire (which I was planning on doing anyway) and leaving some wire extended outwards for the grass to grow up into as that is what they did for the sheep. His other suggestion was to run a hot wire along the bottom edge, again another of what I was planning on doing.
Now all things considered, Pop has never left the farm so I tend to trust his knowledge especially when it comes to fencing and soil etc.
So now I am stuck!!
I was thinking at the very least I will still bury some wire but I might use the old stuff that I have taken down and roll it up a bit and wrap the old barbed wire around that then do the bottom of the fence the way FIL has suggested.
He made a very good point of mentioning that the chicken farm up the road only has a little chicken wire ont he fence and that there is a hot wire that runs around the perimeter of their paddocks. They do also have a merema (sp?) and some alpacas in with their free range flocks but the flocks are true free range as in no locking up the birds at night.
Nae x
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Wow I had no idea this thread existed! We are building our coop tomorrow! Woot! Getting 2 chickens for the moment, but we will get them young so DD1 can watch them grow. We want laying hens. Any suggestions? We are just building a moveable A frame.
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Unless you want to deal with keeping them under lamps, and risk ending up with roosters, I'd avoid chicks. Point of lay pullets are still pretty small and your dd will get to see them grow.
I'd go for bantams in an Aframe as that way you could get a couple more later on and still fit them in okay.
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Oooh we got lucky and a wonderful woman from Freecycle has given us a 2m x 3m coop! Woweeee! Maybe now we can get 3 point of lay...
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