Backyard chooks

So,
I've been thinking of getting a couple of chooks for a variety of reasons.
1) The kids would love it
2) We adore eggs and this way we'd be sure they are free range
3) bug and weed control
4) I just love the back to the roots aspect of the idea

Now my concerns
1) rats and mice
2) rats and mice attracting snakes - eeeek
3) we have a lab, not sure how he'd go with them. He's pretty placid most of the time, though
4) The Gold Coast City Council does not allow backyard chickens on blocks less than 800 square metres - grrr
5) Will I have the time to look after them?

DH is against the idea because of the rat/mice issue. I have read that keeping their food in sealed containers and the coop clean can stop rat or mouse infestation. My question is: how much work and time is really involved with that?

I was thinking of hiring a coop including chickens for a month or two to give it a try. I'm sure the council won't "spring" me in such a short time.

Regarding the dog, I could fence off a section of the yard for them, so they are safe from the dog. Our neighbours have cats, but from what I have read, that is not an issue?

I'd love to hear from people who have some chooks...

I'm interested, too! Subbing.

Ok, have 30 odd chooks here, so will see what I can answer:

1) The kids would love it - yes they will, just be prepared for the odd dropped egg
3) bug and weed control - just be careful, they can really damage garden beds. Fence them off from seedlings, or cover them with some mesh. The love a scratch in freshly dug dirt for some reason


Now my concerns
1) rats and mice - have not noticed an increase, but we are rural so naturally have a fair few rodents
2) rats and mice attracting snakes - eeek - not noticed any increase and we do have snakes in the area
3) we have a lab, not sure how he'd go with them. He's pretty placid most of the time, though - tough one, we had one dog that did not touch them, but the other did. Not to kill them, but to chase and play, so he damaged them. You wont know till you get them together. Speak to a dog trainer about what you can do, otherwise good fencing, which a good idea anyway due to foxes, Organic Gardening (ABC mag) had a great article on building a fox, snake etc proof chook pen
5) Will I have the time to look after them? - they really are not much time per day. Just feed them, check their water, collect the eggs. Clean out their nesting boxes every so often (tends to be 1-2 weekly herr. Clean the coop every so often, ours requires a big dig out and replacing the mulch.

DH is against the idea because of the rat/mice issue. I have read that keeping their food in sealed containers and the coop clean can stop rat or mouse infestation. Just a sensible thing to do. We have those kiddy wheelie bins - rats can't climb into them or lift the lid

I was thinking of hiring a coop including chickens for a month or two to give it a try. I'm sure the council won't "spring" me in such a short time. - Great Idea, if you are so uncertain then renting is they way to go

Hope that helps

1) The kids would love it
Yep DD sure does!! One of our hens is her favourite and lets her carry it around, take it down the slide, you name it. :rolleyes:

3) bug and weed control
Yes, but they also do a fair bit of digging and your garden beds will be flung everywhere! LOL This is not an issue for us as we have them in the front yard where it doesn't matter, but I wouldn't let them out in my vegie patch (again). They also make a bit of a mess with droppings near our door, so I need to clean the doorstep every day. They like sitting on it and calling to us inside, or just sit there and watch us, strange things.

Now my concerns
1) rats and mice
2) rats and mice attracting snakes - eeeek
We've never had rodents because of the chickens and the feed is in a closed container we got from Pet Barn, with a scoop. We have had a couple of rats since our neighbours got their house de-pested (whatever the word is), but that's the first time in nearly two years of chicken keeping. Nothing to do with the hens. The seed and scraps do attract heaps of the native birds though, so I feel I'm feeding half the bush population some days! As long as you are guaging how much seed they eat and not leaving too much out, it shouldn't attract rodents. There's never any left in our coop! I should add we live right near the national park and so far no snakes either.

3) we have a lab, not sure how he'd go with them. He's pretty placid most of the time, though
Our dogs are separated in the back yard. One is fine, not sure about the other. Better safe than sorry though! There are neighbourhood cats, but having seen one of our chooks chase away one that was silly enough to come into the yard I don't think it's the hens with the problem. LOL

5) Will I have the time to look after them?
They look after themselves!! As long as they are let out and shut away, fed with scraps/leftovers/enough seed and watered, that's it. They're the most low maintenance members of my household. DD cleans the coop out every few days (fresh hay) to earn her pocket money. Takes about five mins. I put worming solution in their water every few months. That's it! They even put themselves in the coop to roost at night.

I don't know how you'd go with the council, but they aren't a noisy pet and shouldn't upset the neighbours if you were worried about someone complaining? How much land are you on?

HTH!

Agree with Astrid & Jennifer here - we have two chooks and don't have any issues with rats, mice or snakes. One of our dog tends to chase them but he gets scowled at & stops. I let them out here and there for a scratch but they do dig up the garden beds!

Thank you for your input, ladies.
I think I might try the renting option first. It probably costs as much as setting one up anyway, but it feels like less of a commitment. Might ask on freecycle if someone needs a babysitter for their chooks while they are on holidays or something, that way it would be free...

I would certainly talk to the neighbours before getting chooks to make sure they are fine with it and to talk to them about any concerns they might have. The promise of free eggs might get them on board. It might also be easier if I tell them we're renting first. So they can get used to the idea while knowing it's only temporary.

With regards to the dog, I'd probably keep the chooks seperate. Another one of my concerns is chook poo everywhere... Don't want the kids covered in it constantly when out and about. Dog poo is pretty easy to pick up. Chook poo is a completely different issue. Yes, i know, it's a great fertiliser, but i just can't help my poo-phobia :-)

I was thinking if I keep them permanently, I will get one of those portable chicken tractors. That way I can take the whole thing kid and caboodle to a friend if we go on holidays...

lol I was going to suggest a chook tractor. We're looking at one of those.
For us rats/mice and snakes are a huge issue but we live in the desert where they're an everyday thing for us anyway.

Ok, this is going to sound really silly. With a chook tractor, seeing that they have some shelter and also some fresh ground to scratch on, do you need to let them out every morning? Or would the occasional run about be enough?

Also, what breed would you suggest? I want them for both, a pet for the kids AND for the eggs. I heard that Bantams and Silkies are best for pets, while other breeds are better for laying performance but not so good as pets. Or would a mixture be the right thing? Maybe a couple of Silkies for the kids and a hybrid or something like that for the eggs? Or even an ex-battery hen? What do you guys think.

I just love BellyBelly, no matter what you wanna know, there is someone here who can help. Such a wealth of information.

Oh, and there's a place in Brisbane, called City Chicks where you can rent or buy them. For rental they have either Pekin Bantams or Hybrids. They have many more varieties for purchase.

Hi There! Another chicken lover here :D

1) The kids would love it
Yep, no doubt about it. My DD2 reads to the chooks, gives them baths in buckets and tucks them into her bed :rolleyes:

3) bug and weed control- like I said previously they got rid of our wandering jew issue ;)

Now my concerns
1) rats and mice
We had rats come by now that we have chooks... but everything is sealed so they come and check it out and leave....they've never come inside the house.

2) rats and mice attracting snakes - eeeek
Yep, we have had one snake come by... a diamond python who took up in our roof for a little while. I loved it! We have diamond pythons around here near the bush and once the snake went into our roof, the rats disappeared and haven't returned. The snake left as well.

3) we have a lab, not sure how he'd go with them. He's pretty placid most of the time, though
We have 2 dogs and 2 cats, no issues what so ever wtih the chooks.

4) The Gold Coast City Council does not allow backyard chickens on blocks less than 800 square metres - grrr
Ours doesn't allow roosters but is okay with chooks...

5) Will I have the time to look after them?
Our chooks take around 30 minutes total a day to look after, we have a coop that is movable, so we don't necessarily clean it out much, we pick it up and move it. The nesting box gets replaced once a week or so. Our biggest job is sweeping the door step as well and cleaning off the chicken poo from the doorstep.

HTH!

Thanks Christy,
I wouldn't worry about Diamond Snakes (they say 3 out of 4 homes here have one in their roof), but the thought of a Brown Snake or something like that being in my yard makes me queasy. I didn't grow up in Australia, so am scared to death of the not-so-friendly residents of this otherwise fantastic country.
And as mentioned in my OP, I just have to convince DH that they won't attract droves of rats.

ETA:
Also, what do you guys do with chickens that have stopped laying eggs?

I go searching in the garden for where they're hiding them! When we got ours the farm lady said they will lay 6 days a week if there's enough protein in their diet. We have hybrids - ISA browns. They go on strike when we go away but that's probably the lack of leftover scraps.

Lol, Jennifer, I meant when they are too old t lay. From what i read, they will only lay for a few years, then live for another few (a bit like humans whose life goes on past Menopause I guess)...

Well you either just keep them, as most likely by that time they are pets. Find someone with a large property who is happy to take them. Of course the final thing is to um, get the axe out. No good for eating, well I suppose boil them up for a nice stock. Just keep on eye on them as they do get older. Some just look sad for awhile and you will find them dead one day. Remember to check their bums if they are looking quite sad incase they are fly blown (yes I know yucky, but a reality).

If they do go off the lay, make sure they are on good food, try a worming treatment and often they will come good. Garlic in their water, especially on the full moon is very good for them.

As for breeds. Well the bantams lay little eggs and go broody at the drop of a hat. The little eggs can be an issue with baking where you really want a certain size egg. Hybrids, well, good laying, but shorter life. The more traditional breeds will lay for a lot longer (more than a few years), you just wont get quite as many per week. I have a sheet somewhere that lists the better layers amongst the traditional breeds, will see if I can find it for you. I have a soft spot for Australorps, but they are a bigger chook so need more space and food.

Thanks Astrid,
To my surprise, my husband was actually quite into the idea of doing a chicken trial. When showed him some cheap coops/runs on ebay, he said: "We should just have a couple of chickens permanently" Wow, I never expected that response. Then we had a good chuckle about how his parents would think we have completely lost our marbles. Which I think is weird. No-one would think twice if we bought a couple of ****atoos. Well, actually, I think they'd still think we're crazy. Hell, they think that already... So nothing to lose on that front!
Anyway, as we kept talking, and especially when I told him about our council restrictions, he's now worried about the noise. Can anyone tell me how noisy they really are??? If you have 2-3 of them?

By the way, someone asked earlier about the size of our property. I think it's about 650sqm, so 150sqm short of the 800sqm restriction :(

Australorps can be quite noisy. I think Silkies are fine for noise, we had one for a short while and don't remember any sound coming from her. Our other bantams seem to be quiet as well (mixed lot, not sure what they are).

ISA browns can be noisy as well.

Noise tends to happen after they have laid, some really like to announce it to the world.

Just remember that bantam is not a breed of bird, it just dictates the size. (Just remembered this myself), So you can get Australorp in bantam form along with other breeds. Sometimes you don't have much choice with breed, just depends on what is around at the time and some of the rarer, prettier breeds can be quite expensive.

If you can, barnvelders are a great chook breed, they aren't loud, and they are really pretty to look at too. Very friendly - we have 4 of them. As for noise, well, some chooks are louder than others, just their personality! We have araucanas as well (lavender) and they seem to be louder, although smaller?

Barnvelders lay large chocolate coloured eggs with brown spots which look really funky, and the araucanas lay blue eggs which are a bit smaller.

The younger the chook, the easier to make them tame, but the longer to wait for them to get to point-of-lay. And during that time you're still paying for feed etc.

Keep in mind you get about 6 eggs / week per chook, so consider how many eggs you eat a week! We give our spare eggs to our labrador! BTW, the worst problem we have with the lab is her stealing eggs, we've caught her a few times with an egg in her mouth! And we keep our cats in the chook run during summer, the cats are scared of the chooks.

Our 3.5yr old has daily chores of feeding the chooks and collecting eggs. When he falls over in the yard, we have to give him a "chicken cuddle".

Mine can get a little noisy at random times, but only for a few minutes. Maybe one will get excited once a day. They used to get all happy about laying but that dropped off.

Ours will stay on as pets when they stop laying. I guess we'll just have to get more!

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.

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

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

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!

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.

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Better than a water feature any day.

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:D

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 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.

Subbing :D

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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

:cryinglaugh:
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!

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

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

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

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:D

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.

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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!

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....

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!

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...

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.

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??

We live in a very rural town of less than 500. You'd be amazed of how many people have backyard chooks. Its not a drama here.

As far as i know, I pullet is a young hen.

From what I've learned so far, if you want something quiet, steer away from the commercial breeds. your hardware is probably selling commercial layers. Ask them.
Bantam chickens (small breeds) like silkies and pekins are often said to be pretty quiet, but there are always exceptions. However, they do lay small eggs and tend to go broody more often (they want to sit on their eggs and stop laying new ones).
Barnevelders are bigger, but still pretty quiet and lay more and bigger eggs. They are also very pretty.
If you google backyardpoultry you can find a recent thread from me where people have given me lots of advice on breeds.

I'm not 10% sure about the fine, but someone said it is just over $300.00 :rolleyes:
I just think it's ridiculous that I can keep a few dogs, a couple of cats, a parrot, some finches and budgies all together but not a bantam chicken.