Poultry Keeping General Discussion #1

Oh no HotI, sorry you lost your chooks.

We've been outside all day trying to get this coop together... it is getting there but we ran out of time and will finish it next Saturday. So excited!

hi!
sorry all i seem to do is come in here and ask questions =P

next one... we put stuff down for the chook to eat, but little sparrows always get in and eat it, they can fit through the holes in the wire. any way to stop this? or is putting an extra layer of wire around the only way?

It's a bit of a free-for-all with our chooks and the local wildlife as well. But if the chooks really want it, they chase away any competition. If she's leaving it be, I'd assume she's had enough. Are you leaving the food out, or do you just feed her once or twice a day? There's no need to leave the seed/mix out permanently, that should help keep the sparrows down.

=*(

I came home today to find my beautiful Balina dead by the gate. Either she or the puppy worked out how to open the gate to the coop...cause it was open, and she had lost the game =(

not sure if i will get anymore, i did like having a chicken, but cant seem me rushing into buying more.

she did though leave us a total of 7 beautiful looking eggs.

Teirae oh no! Rip little chicken!

Oh no, T, sorry to hear. :(

T :hug:


Anyone know what the best egg layer is?

Generally one of the commercial hybrids, such as a ISA Brown, are the best layers. They do tend to have a shorter life span as a result. Depending on where you are, they are about $16+ for a point of lay, or you maybe able to get ex battery chooks for a couple of dollars. It is one of those ethical dilemmas of whether you are supporting the breeders that support the cage egg industry by buying off them. They are no good for breeding, as you can't get the roosters, plus they don't breed to type. You can cross them with another breed, but we have never had a girl from any of those matings.

:hug: Teirae - sucks to lose a chook.

We got our ISAs from a free range farm and (the only) seller (in Sydney, I might add, to give you an idea of how few there are they considered responsible) they recommended. Sometimes the RSPCA has hens that need homes too.

Isa Browns as they are bred for battery hen farms mostly I believe and also now for pets. In the pure bred range, Australorps. We purchased our girls for $30 each.
The guy we got our Australorps from didn't breed Isa Browns due to the battery hen industry.

Oh T, that is terrible :( :hug:

ETA: According to my Backyard Poultry book a backyard breeder can expect 250 eggs per year from a well cared for Australorp.

We have some Australorps as well, been trying to breed them, but have not had the best luck. Magnificent bird.

Thanks for the advice ladies :)

We are planning to get some chickens soon. DH has built a house for them. I am hoping to get some Silkie's and some Araucana's. The Araucana's lay blue eggs and the Silkies are a friendly bird. We aren't huge egg eaters so I am mostly going for novelty.

We don't live near anyone that breeds them, but I can get some fertile eggs sent by courier to hatch myself. I know a couple of people that have some clucky hens so I may be able to borrow one. Does anyone know if the hen would stay clucky if we moved her? Or would it be better to put the eggs under her where she is and move her after they have hatched? I would like her to sit on them here, so the kids can be there when the eggs cheep and hatch.

Artechim, the only issue I can see is if you remove the hen from her 'flock' she won't cope very well. And you can't really introduce one hen to yours (if you have any) without issues. So I'd think if you can 'borrow' a couple of their hens, including the broody one, until they hatch, you might be okay. But I have no experience! What about an incubator? They only need it for a relatively short time (although you'll need a heat lamp for the chicks). We inherited our first chicks from the preschool egg hatching program and kept them like this until they were big enough to run around (and the weather was warmer, we had them over winter).

The hens I am thinking of are free rangers so they find a hole in a hedge or something when they go clucky so they are away from the rest of the flock anyway. I just wouldn't want to go to all the trouble of moving her and ordering the eggs to find she was unclucky once we got her here iykwim.

I could borrow an incubator...actually, the kindy idea is good! Maybe I could borrow the incubator and set it up at DS's kindy! That would be fun for everyone :) I think I will look into that!

Broody hens are so temperamental. The ones we have tried to move end up abandoning those eggs, only to go broody again the next day in their old spot. We have so many troubles with where they go broody, as other chooks lay around them, the move nests by accident etc. Go an incubator if you are specifically bringing in eggs. We only trust our broodies with the eggs that have been laid on site.

We finished our chicken coop today :dance:. It's sooo cool! Going to the markets in the morning to get the hens.

What do we need, other than a laying box, straw, cocidiosis and worm meds, and grain feed?

Marushke..A water and feed dispenser. A scarp bucket for your scraps :)