Poultry Keeping General Discussion #1

If she is happy to roost in your trees and hang around and eat food, then that should be fine.
So long as she is out of the rain.
Chooks are really flock animals,and it would be unusual for one to "be happy" living by itself, especially with no other animals for companionship, but hey, if your DH is home alot, that may be enough fo her.
May also pay to check that "she" is a she. Many many boys get dumped and you may not know until "she" starts to crow. ;)
You may want to figure out where she lays her eggs and leave an old golf ball or two in the nest, this will ensure thats she contiues to lay in the same spot and you dont end up running over 6 week old "landmines" in your yard. lol.
Congrats on your new pet, chooks rock!!

A simple coop isn't hard, but def a friend is what she'd need most. Our girls are out all day, but need the coop for night time. You might also want to keep an eye whether she can get out, since she managed to get in. We had a wanderer we needed to keep bringing home.

She can get out.. Our gates are always open and she has wondered around the front but then hurries.off back out the back.
A friend hey.. dh was saying he was outside today fixing the truck and was following him around like all day. what is our puppy going to do? i think id rather them be seperate first..but would be nice to see them be friends eventually. im going home tomorrow for a couple of days, i might look into a coop at least to give her a home, somewhere warm and safe. shes beaitiful.... looks like she has been looked after too...but we have no idea where she came from.
Thanks for the tips girls =)

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is there anything you SHOULDNT feed chickens??

just we are giving her scraps and i dont want to give her something she shouldnt.

also, DH said that she will only lay if you feed her shell grit (or something), which we aren't feeding her, so she isn't laying. is that ok? or should we give her stuff to make her lay??

Because its Winter, chooks often stop laying or slow down heaps.

Teirae - No onions or avocado as far as I know - meat should be cooked too if feeding to chooks though admittedly I do feed my girls some ham every now and then. Scraps should only make up 10% of their diet.

Shell grit is more for treatment for soft shelled eggs as long as the girls get free time to scratch and pick at the earth they will get enough stuff to keep their gizzards working properly. ALSO a cheaper option would be to bake used egg shells and ground them into a fine powder in a mortar and pessel and sprinkle that over their regular feed.

As Hoti said they can go off the lay during the cooler seasons or just slow down which is perfectly normal and no amount of special feed will change that its just part of their biology.

ALSO I should say that depending on her breed, if she is a younger chook, she won't lay until she is mature enough. I got my girls as 8-12 week old pullets and most were well over 25 weeks when they started to lay. Some breeds do go early (like Isa's) but other breeds need to mature alot like the Sussex and Campines.

i don't feed my chooks meat at all. if they can catch it and eat it themselves (spiders, frogs) it's all theirs, but i can't see them catching a pig or cow (or chicken!) and eating it so i don't provide it for them.

we bake the egg shells for extra calcium? to help with making shells.

we get a mixed grain feed, and they get all our vegie scraps except for onion and potato skins (just cos they don't eat them). cabbage and lettuce and leafy vegs they love

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(or chicken!) and eating it so i don't provide it for them.

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unless a chook is sick or injured or they are in a confined space and they turn carnivorous ...*shudder*

thanks girls! I guess thats whats bad about adopting a stray...no idea how old she is (although she looks mature...not that i really know but she looks big and healthy) or what breed...shes orange/brown... I would say looks like a normal chook (but i havent seen too many different breeds until i went to a show on the weekend =P).

her and our puppy seem to get along ok, he ignores her.. unless she makes a noise or big deal and he barks a few times and then gets bored. so thats good. she has even expored his house (he has a kennel in a big dog cage thing that is always open) and he has been in there, and well they are both still alive...so thats good.

ours eats potato scraps, thats all we have really given her so far, but we can give her anything really cant we? carrot peals? lettuce etc?

Should I be encouraging the laying by doing the ground egg thing? or just leave her to see if she does it herself? I dont mind either way if i get eggs or not, I just dont want to deprive her of it if it is something she needs to do.

we have been giving our puppy, puppy mince - which is just raw mince of crappy meat... will it be a problem if she finds it and tries it??? cause she has free range of the whole yard...so can easily access it if she wants. (not that Shelby often leaves any...but you never know)

Thanks everyone!!!

We've always had chooks on the farm, and they'll eat pretty well anything. Getting hold of a bit of mince isn't going to hurt her, but they do prefer veggie scraps and such. Watching them chase after a mouse silly enough to rear it's head in the chookyard and get seen is hilarious when you have 20+ chooks chasing after it trying to eat it.

We'd keep a bucket in the kitchen and pretty well any organic matter went into it - the crusts off the kids toast, tea leaves from the teapot, veggie peelings of all kinds, leftovers from dinner etc. They'd pick through the lot and there wouldn't be much left after all of them had been through it. They'd also have plenty of wheat and lupins plus laying pellets available to them (it was a wheat farm after all) and the shell grit is like people have said, to prevent them from having problems with soft shelled (or no-shelled) eggs.

DH and I were talking about it and once we buy our own place and aren't renting anymore we'll look at maybe getting a few chooks - I've always loved having them around and eggs taste better fresh from the chook :)

Hello Chookers,

We have bought a property and included in the settlement are two mature chooks. They have a nice, quite large and very secure coop. My question is... how do i free range them? I don't think they currently spend any time outside the coop, but I'd like them to wander around during the day if it takes their fancy. But if I let them out, will they return to their coop of their own accord, will they fly away, will they be frightened if they've never been outside before???

No doubt I will have many question's to follow, I've never owned chooks before!

Hey Nickle - if you open the gate and leave it open, they should eventually find it and start wandering of their own accord. Most will then return to their favourite roost in the evenings without any trouble. We'd get a run of about 50 or so retired battery hens every so often and they'd start off huddling pathetically in the yard trying to figure out who took away the walls before they'd gradually start to explore their surroundings. It'd take a few weeks but soon they'd be all over the place and scratching around just like regular chooks.

Teirae - Your chook WILL need something other than just scraps to ensure she has a balanced diet. Barastock does a good range of pallets or if you wanted something different then the Red Hen in the blue bag has a combination of pallets and grains/seeds ... one big bag for one chook will last you ages. SHELL GRIT will not promote laying - just harder egg shells.


She could be not laying for a couple of reasons - she may be too young or she may be too old (I believe they only lay for 3-4 years). She sounds like she might be an Isa Brown by the colours but there are many different breeds that have the same colours. If her Wattles (sticky uppy bit on her head) and Combes (dangley ear lobey bit) are very very red and longish then she would be at the laying age or nearing it ... or even past it.

I am not sure if your in a position to do this but maybe get another chook for her to keep her company and get something from a reputable seller thats either laying or close to lay so you get some eggs. Maybe a dummy egg in her nesting box might give her the idea?

If she has not laid by summer I would think she is past it .....

HTH

Nae x

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Hello Chookers,

We have bought a property and included in the settlement are two mature chooks. They have a nice, quite large and very secure coop. My question is... how do i free range them? I don't think they currently spend any time outside the coop, but I'd like them to wander around during the day if it takes their fancy. But if I let them out, will they return to their coop of their own accord, will they fly away, will they be frightened if they've never been outside before???

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As Cranky Kitten said - just open the gate for them, some will wander out and love to roam far and wide and others might take a little while to get the idea.
Chooks WILL find their way home once it starts getting dark but if you want then you can train them easliy to come a call. I found my fav girls treat which is cheese and ham so early in the piece I would start off close to them and say "chooooook chook chook chook choooooopk chook chook chook" in a similar pitch to how they sound and throw some treats for them .

You can bet that they will not pass up on a tasty treat and I can call my girls from the back of the paddock now and have them running without even giving them anything .... though I do still food reward every so often and I ONLY use the call if they are too far or if I need to lock them up earlier.

It won't take long honestly so start by doing it in the pen if you like. Its nice to sit and watch them too when you can, when you first let them out.

HTH Nae x

Thanks, ladies. Seems I can free range them quite easily. I like the idea of training them Nae!

Looking forward to fresh eggs for brekkie!

Thanks Nae, there are photos of her on my facebook if you dont mind having a look and letting me know what you think. we have got chook feed that we give her.
Im trying to con my hubby in letting me get another...but no such luck yet..

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SHe's lovely hun, could be an Isa Brown she looks very similar to my Tilly who is an IsaX. Judging by her colour I'd say she is at the right age for laying or may be an older hen. My Isa has gone off the lay recently. Give it a bit more time but if no eggs by december then she is past her laying age ;)

I went to visit my new chooks tonight! They're bantams... is that good??!! Cute little things with those fluffy feet. The bloke we're buying from said they usually lay about 5 eggs every two days between them and showed me the eggs. Cute little chooks, cute little eggs!!