Chook chat thread

[Ceres]

I just noticed that we don't have a chook thread yet. I am on the verge of getting my first ever chookies (as soon as their pen is complete!). One of the sheds will be their shelter and there's a 3x3m permenent enclosure being built on to the front of it. I was thinking of getting 3 chooks - that way if one dies I won't have a lonely chook and won't have to go through the process of introducing a new one. It will probably be too many eggs for the 2 of us but I'm pretty sure the neighbours won't mind the excess.
Anyway I just think chooks are the best - not only are they massively entertaining to watch, they are an integral part of the permaculture setup.
Any other chook fans want to give me some hints for chook care?

[GreenGully]

Very exciting!!

[Sarasvati]

I have nothing useful to add, just want to say I'm insanely jealous. What type of chookens are you getting?

[Beatrice]

Yay chooks! fak

My only piece of advice is to buy Alanna Moore's Backyard Poultry Naturally (um, and then actually finish reading it :uhh :lol).

[GreenGully]

You can have my copy Ceres.

[Anaed]

Once we get our backyard fenced we are getting chooks :D

Not sure whether or not to get bantams or biguns yet, need to go research more

www.backyardpoultry.com.au :)

[Ceres]

I don't know what type they are exactly, they are just some kind of mongrel backyard chook :lol brown with white specks and they're sold by the local livestock place.

[bella]

They are a hybrid breed, most likely, selected because they lay and lay and lay and lay and don't go broody or carry on with other nonsense! Possibly Isa Browns or Lohmanns. :)

We have kept chickens for a few years now, probably six? We currently have around 50 chickens of varying kinds. We have a small incubator, a chicken poly-tunnel house and a LOT of grassy and treed space for them to enjoy (they're very free-range)! There are bantams and silkies as mothers, the laying stock, excess roosters go into the pot (we're mostly veg, but decided to eat our own chickens last year)... I think Immi has about 10 or more different breeds (and wants another 10 or more varieties, I'm sure!)

Um, tips - grow greens for them if they aren't out all day - sow chook grain, perennial greens, mesclun mix, dandelions, etc into a section of their run fenced off, or nearby for you to pick and share.

Get them to like eating garlic, it's a great wormer and immune booster. If they won't eat it in little slithers, put it in their water on the full moon each month.

Use vegetable oil with neem oil mixed in to paint on legs and perches if they have scaly mite. Use dolomite to dust them if they have those other little bugs.

Apparently there's scraps they shouldn't have, but ours pick through everything (including lots of icky avocados which is meant to KILL chooks?!)

Shredded paper is good for nests.

Ping Pong balls make suitable 'fake eggs' to encourage laying.

Um... I'm sure there's 100001 more random facts I could ramble off, but that might do for now, huh? :p

[Ceres]

Wow, thanks Bella! 50 chooks sounds huge, what do you do with all the eggs?

[~*heket*~]

I am joining the ranks of the insanely jealous :runcry

[Anaed]

I was thinking of getting pekin bantams for their cuteness/friendliness/non-flying ness.

Can you recommend a bigger bird that doesn't fly and is friendly?

[bella]

Australorps are fat black chooks which aren't very flighty in our experience (3 different lots to date). They can be quite calm and friendly if raised from chicks, lay ample eggs and are also a good meat bird if you're interested in breeding for table.

Lots of pekins I've known are quite shy. Same with our silkies. But the silky-cross ones are fine. I'm not sure that you can pick your personality traits by breed so easily with chooks...

Ceres, we don't have 50 laying hens, so not a massive amount of eggs. We eat about 2-3 dozen a week (there's 8 of us, plus extra kids all the time and WWOOFers sometimes). We have maybe 20 laying hens, many of whom are in their 2nd year so laying less now. Then there's the teensy tiny bantam game hens, the 5 or 6 roosters, the dozen or so who should be laying "any day now" (I'm sure they're 7 months so can hurry up already!), and a couple of older girls who lay every now and then but are cute pets... So some are pets and some are workers (but they all eat, LOL!)

It's easy to offload the excess eggs, though not legal unless you're a registered poultry farm.

[Ceres]

Ahh ok I see. There's just me and my boy in our house so a dozen lasts us a week.

[cgull]

atm, we have 2 laying hens, an ISAbrown (probably) and a white leghorn (is there any other colour of leghorn?).
We also have 2 chicks. We did have a third, but we think a neighbour's cat got the smaller one. We're hoping the two that are left are female. They hatched out in our electric skillet about 5 or 6 weeks ago. We got the eggs from a friend, who's just let his rescue chooks interbreed so they're 'mongrels.'

[Ceres]

Chicks! How exiciting. Fingers are crossed that they turn out to be girlies. What are you going to do if they're roosters?

[cgull]

Well, in theory, eat them. DH says he's happy to do the killing part, but we'll see when the time comes, atm they're his darling pets that he has to bring inside out of the rain! If he does, I suspect that means it'll be my job to pluck and gut (I have Jackie French's "Backayard Self-Sufficiency" which gives instructions on the procedure)... Err... Maybe I'll try taking the killing job instead...


In any case, we won't be keeping any roosters at this stage.Tthere are places near here you we can offload them if we decide not to eat.

[bella]

Yes, there are brown and black leghorns too, that I know of, maybe even more? We have a small group of bantam black leghorns and they are my least favourite of our chickens so not recommended! ;)

Fingers crossed for all girls cgull.

[cgull]

cheers

[mandalaine]

We have 14 hens, we get between 4-6 eggs a day. Some are at point of lay some not ready just yet.
And its cooling down, so taking that into account.
I have 4 breeds, 3 lomans 1 leghorn, from a feed barn.
5 not sures, a type of bantam. Black and white.
5 black and gold hens, not sure what they are.
Out of all of them the lomans and the leghorn 'talk to us' some when called 'chook chook chook" lol, yes they come.
The other ten, come like cows following the herd, but are not at all social.

The get loads of scraps, we avoid the onion and tomoato, they love avo and have never had it be a prob.
THey get a grain mix, but waste an awfull lot.
I give them macadamia meal, mixed with water to make a slurry, they love it.
We are weighing and writing down how many eggs we get each day to make a graph.
They range from 64g - 76g. For the loman and leggy.
The bantam type unknown **** are abour 54-60g average.

They have a night pen and a day yard around a nice big garden.
Also for Qld residents, ask the WSPS if you are in a "Quoll Habitat" and you may be eligible for thier grant, as they are poultry preditors. (grant for preditor proof poutry pens, to thier specs, but up to $750 can be a pretty neat night pen and day yard)

I have sent off an email, just waiting to hear back.

Cheers
Mandalaine

[~*heket*~]

leghorn is a breed is it? I thought it was a cartoon character!!! Wow! :D

I want chooks :runcry

[mandalaine]

I'm going to go and google it just to be sure, I was 'told' my white one was a leghorn.
I'll let you know what I find.

[mandalaine]

Yup it is!
Qld dpi site says so, lol.

[~*heket*~]

WOOHOO! Now all I need is a Foghorn :rofl And a property in rural NSW ;)

Looks like I'll have to stick to worms for the time being.

[Eir]

i have serious chook envy too. i like silkies -- they remind me of fraggles.

[~*heket*~]

I forget what fraggles are ...

[homebirthmum]

Oh I loved 'Fraggle Rock'! (TV show Heket... cute muppet like characters)

wE have 5 chooks. They are big and brown - isabrowns i think. The bloody things have been off the lay for months. If I was tougher i would have eaten them by now.:rofl

seriously we love having them. The kids enjoy them. we have had one 'batch'??? of chicks which was great fun.

[~*heket*~]

Toughen up :lol

[mandalaine]

I asked a friend one day. "How do I encourage my chooks to lay?"

She said................."Stand an axe in the corner of the pen!"
:)

[homebirthmum]

WE tried gold balls. I think they lay when they are ready... nuttin' much you can do about it. :blueroll

[bella]

You can increase the daylight they're seeing, and the protein in their diets as two basic things to increase egg production...

We have chicks at the moment - six of them. So, so, so cute!

[Ceres]

Aw how adorable! They are so cute and fluffy when they're little. I worry about hatching chicks myself tho because I don't want to end up with roosters that need to be disposed of.

[Eir]

my dad was just talking about his chooks this morning -- he's introduced three roosters (one for each of his separate chicken colonies) who are all competing with each other for crowing -- starting well before dawn. i suggested the winner is the one who should get eaten first :lol

[homebirthmum]

:roflI like it. Yep, the winner is eaten first.

[Ceres]

My chook yard is *almost* completed! Just waiting for my dad to weld me up a gate and then I need to buy some nesting boxes. I saw some swanky ones with a lid you can open from outside the shed so I don't have to tramp through their yard to pick the eggs up. I'm glad I waited till the weather warmed up a bit, I would have felt a bit sorry for the baby chookens out there in the middle of winter!

[cgull]

Update: Two of our chicks disappeared - neighbourhood cats, we assume - but the third is a girl, so that worked out! One of our older girls has started laying again after their winter rest, but the other two are still shirking ;). They got scaly leg, which we are attempting to treat with a mixture of pyrethrum and tea tree oil (and a good clean out of their pen)

[GreenGully]

My chook yard is *almost* completed! Just waiting for my dad to weld me up a gate and then I need to buy some nesting boxes. I saw some swanky ones with a lid you can open from outside the shed so I don't have to tramp through their yard to pick the eggs up. I'm glad I waited till the weather warmed up a bit, I would have felt a bit sorry for the baby chookens out there in the middle of winter!
Woot!

[Anaed]

We picked up four chicks yesterday, SO exciting :D
Fluffy and cheepy.

Hermione - Barnevelder

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2529/3764530621_fe20fff3e9_o.jpg

Lucy (at the back) - Australorp & Suky (Plymouth Rock)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2578/3764530507_b80bd9db68_o.jpg

Molly - Rhode Island Red (Named after Molly Weasley cause she is a bossy chick and seems already to be the top bird :lol )

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3595/3765327276_74a1003c42_o.jpg

[cgull]

How exciting and sweet

[Ceres]

Oh that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Aren't chicks just the cutest things ever?

[Anaed]

They are, and are so precious and fragile to hold.

[irishwillow]

Sooo cute, when we get stripy ones like the top one, my girls call them emu chicks.
If your kids spend lots of time with them inside, they will think it's O.K to lay inside...I've found eggs on my glass table...with rods of glass all over the floor. LOL
Susan

[Aurora]

Quick question: if one wanted to get chooks, but lived in a rental, would one ask the real estate for permission or just do it? Suburban household.... ;)

[Ceres]

I'd check with the council about their rules. I wouldn't worry about asking permission from the realestate if you're not erecting any kind of permenent dwelling.

[neek]

OMG they are adorable!! So tiny and cute. I bet the girls love them.

[Sarasvati]

I'd actually get permission off the owner, they'd be classed as pets.

[Beatrice]

We're moving our chooks over soon but our chook tractor isn't big enough for all four of them and our chook shed is built into the yard now so we're leaving it. So we have to find a new housing solution. At the moment I think we'll be going with enclosing an old trailer frame which my BIL left here. If it's in a fenced off enclosure for safety, d'you reckon they'd be okay with it if we just used tarpaulin for weatherproofing? We're (hopefully) not going to be here that long to make it worth building something elaborate (and more expensive)...

[Ceres]

Are there foxes where you live? In SA everything has to be fox-proofed or the poor chookens will be someone's lunch. Do you think they'd be ok sleeping outside? Do they usually sleep locked up?

[Beatrice]

We'll enclose a secure yard for them. We've had chooks for four+ years at our old house and never seen a fox, but it's not worth taking chances. The tarpaulin and frame is just to build them a dry roost and a dark place for laying.

[Beatrice]

Oh, and at least two of them are seriously independent and will end up roosting in trees whatever I make for them :blueroll

[Ceres]

Sounds like it should be ok.. obviously my chooks are going to be a little bit molly-coddled :lol

[cgull]

...but the third is a girl, so that worked out! ...
:oops We'd just given her a permanent name and she started crowing yesterday!

We'll give him a couple of months to fatten up and fertilise another bunch of eggs for us so we can try again, then ... soup :cry ... ;).

Hopefully the neighbours son't complain about the noise in the meantime...

On a positive note, the scaly leg has improved, but we may have to repeat the treatment on the oldest girl.

[Beatrice]

When we ended up with a male, a friend told me about a trick to stop them crowing which really works. When they crow they stretch their necks up, so if you wait til they've gone to roost then put them on the floor and put a box over them so they can't stretch, they don't crow. I wouldn't want to do it every day on a permanent basis but if you're worried about the neighbours it might be a solution.

Come to think of it, I don't know if it's because of the neck stretching thing or because it blocks out the light, but whatever reason, it worked for us.

[cgull]

Thanks, I'll remember that! He's pretty quiet so far, but practicing...

[Ceres]

I've heard a similar theory - put their roost near the roof so they can't stretch their neck up.

[asimplelife]

cgull, how did you treat the scaly leg with the TTO? One of my girls has it and I did the whole rubbing vaseline over their legs about a month ago but have no idea whether to do it again or not (I scrubbed out their nest and roost as well). Do their legs return to normal after the mites are gone or bumpy for ever?

I love having the chooks but I dont' like the dying or being killed thing.

[cgull]

cgull, how did you treat the scaly leg with the TTO?

We took a 2L juice bottle, filled it with water and added

10 drops (from an eye dropper) tea tree oil (2mg/g from the health section of the supermarket)
2 tsp pyrethrum concentrate (4g/L - from the hardware store)

We put 500 mL of this mixture in a spray bottle and the rest in a rectangular 2L ice cream container - which turned out to be just the right size and shape. We cleaned out the roost box and sprayed it. Then we dipped each of the chickens' legs in the ice cream container and sprayed their undersides - easier as a 2-person job but dh did it by himself a couple of times. We tried to do it every evening but missed a couple, so they got about 4 treatments over 6 days. We re-sprayed the roost box once or twice in this time, too. In all I think we went through about 6L of the mixture (we reused the stuff in the ice cream container - keeping a lid on in between - a couple of times, unyil it was really dirty).
The scales are gone from the legs of the younger hen (2yo white leghorn) and they were coming off the older one (3.5yo ISA brown) but have come back since we stopped the treatment. Kit, the rooster (5 months) never got it at all, so I guess there's a lot to be said for being young and fit - although the 3yo is still a prolific egg-layer, so she's not on her last legs yet.

I suspect following this treatment twice a day for 4 days, followed by vaseline on the last day, would be sufficient for the toughest mites. I think this is what we'll try with Brownie next.

Hope you don't mind the detailed description. Personally, I prefer to be given as much information as possible and tweak to suit myself, rather than just read 'dip in 10 drops of tea tree oil per litre of water' and having to figure out where to find the TTO, guess what strength, how to dip, etc.

PS We modified this recipe from one we found in 'Chook Wisdom' which is an Earth Garden book (or is it Grass Roots?)
PS2 If you're not aware, pyrethrum is a natural insecticide extracted from pyrethrum daisies and is allowable for organic farming. It decomposes in contact with air and /or sunlight within 24 hours. It is always packaged with piperanol butoxide, which enhances its effect, and a number of artificial stabilisers and things.



I love having the chooks but I dont' like the dying or being killed thing.
Well, we haven't actually got around to killing any yet, so we'll see if we have the guts when the time comes;)...
But I don't think we can afford to feed a chook who's not pulling his weight in the egg-laying department...
Also, I think killing and preparing our own meat is a self-sufficiency skill that we ought to learn. Getting a fishing license is next, and backyard aquaculture when the kids are older and I'm more au fait with vegie gardening in general.:)

[cgull]

cgull, how did you treat the scaly leg with the TTO?

We took a 2L juice bottle, filled it with water and added

10 drops (from an eye dropper) tea tree oil (2mg/g from the health section of the supermarket)
2 tsp pyrethrum concentrate (4g/L - from the hardware store)

We put 500 mL of this mixture in a spray bottle and the rest in a rectangular 2L ice cream container - which turned out to be just the right size and shape. We cleaned out the roost box and sprayed it. Then we dipped each of the chickens' legs in the ice cream container and sprayed their undersides - easier as a 2-person job but dh did it by himself a couple of times. We tried to do it every evening but missed a couple, so they got about 4 treatments over 6 days. We re-sprayed the roost box once or twice in this time, too. In all I think we went through about 6L of the mixture (we reused the stuff in the ice cream container - keeping a lid on in between - a couple of times, unyil it was really dirty).
The scales are gone from the legs of the younger hen (2yo white leghorn) and they were coming off the older one (3.5yo ISA brown) but have come back since we stopped the treatment. Kit, the rooster (5 months) never got it at all, so I guess there's a lot to be said for being young and fit - although the 3yo is still a prolific egg-layer, so she's not on her last legs yet.

I suspect following this treatment twice a day for 4 days, followed by vaseline on the last day, would be sufficient for the toughest mites. I think this is what we'll try with Brownie next.

Hope you don't mind the detailed description. Personally, I prefer to be given as much information as possible and tweak to suit myself, rather than just read 'dip in 10 drops of tea tree oil per litre of water' and having to figure out where to find the TTO, guess what strength, how to dip, etc.

PS We modified this recipe from one we found in 'Chook Wisdom' which is an Earth Garden book (or is it Grass Roots?)

PS2 If you're not aware, pyrethrum is a natural insecticide extracted from pyrethrum daisies and is allowable for organic farming. It decomposes in contact with air and /or sunlight within 24 hours. It is always packaged with piperanol butoxide, which enhances its effect, and a number of artificial stabilisers and things.



I love having the chooks but I dont' like the dying or being killed thing.
Well, we haven't actually got around to killing any yet, so we'll see if we have the guts when the time comes;)...
But I don't think we can afford to feed a chook who's not pulling his weight in the egg-laying department...
Also, I think killing and preparing our own meat is a self-sufficiency skill that we ought to learn. Getting a fishing license is next, and backyard aquaculture when the kids are older and I'm more au fait with vegie gardening in general.:)

[asimplelife]

Thanks! I love detail, so that was really helpful.

As for the killing thing - what I actually meant was chooks being killed by predators (or a neighbour's dog in our case - hopefully never again!). I have several friends who kill them for self-sufficiency, but that's not something I've thought about yet. I only have 2 chooks left now and only 1 is laying and the other girl is tiny but I'm sure she was laying at some stage (they're both banties).

[Beatrice]

We're a bit soft, cgull - we have one chook who must be 8 or 9 years old and only rarely lays and we haven't got the heart to dispose of her. She's a pet, and my oldest would be heartbroken if we killed her. But I think we'd have to harden our hearts if we were doing this on a larger scale...one is okay but ten or twenty superannuated layers is too much.

[cgull]

Thanks! I love detail, so that was really helpful.

As for the killing thing - what I actually meant was chooks being killed by predators ...

Yeah, that bit really sucks. We'll have to make sure we've got a more secure space to put the growing chicks before we try hatching any more.

And Beatrice.... well, we'll see how we go killing our pets, but I suspect it may not happen...

[Ceres]

I really don't want to have to chop the head off of any chooks! Well perhaps if it was very sick.... and even then I'll probably call my dad to do it for me. Old non-layers can still be useful for keeping the weeds down and making manure.

[Anaed]

Our chicks are going through the ugly stage :lol getting more and more feathers and but still with some fluff.
Am borrowing a big dog crate off a friend to house them in soon as they are getting too big for the 120L storage tub.
We bought an aviary to house them once they are 6weeks oldish, just need to put it together.'

I love watching the chicks do grow up hen stuff like dust baths and scratchign around in the shavings, funniest thing is the other chicks hover around and pounce and peck at invisible grubs :lol

[Sarasvati]

They are still cute! Like Hooch cute :lol.

[asimplelife]

i'm so excited, both my chickens are laying! It's been months and months.

[Anaed]

Thats great to hear :)

It turns out that Lucy is a Lucius and Molly is most probably an Arthur .. will find out for sure in a few weeks. :(

So now I am on the hunt for two 4week old chicks to join the other two, probably going to go for bantams.

[Ceres]

Oh dear! New pets?

[Beatrice]

Bother. That's always the risk with chicks :(

[Anaed]

Dropping off our two roosters this week :(

<s>Molly</s> Arthur
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs160.snc1/5974_153277634950_703299950_3491605_5924196_n.jpg

Suky
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs160.snc1/5974_153277659950_703299950_3491606_468774_n.jpg

Ginny (L) and most of Hermione
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs160.snc1/5974_153277684950_703299950_3491607_48926_n.jpg

[Ceres]

They are so cute and fluffy!

[Ceres]

Here's our girls..

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs202.snc1/6931_138798978563_573113563_2754059_6043497_n.jpg

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs222.snc1/6931_138798983563_573113563_2754060_7414211_n.jpg

Being stalked by the cat!

Their names are Freda (Freddo), Esme and Lou.

[Anaed]

Hooray for chooks! I need to post some new photos of my girls, they are so beautiful!

Suky on the left, Fleur on the right
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs254.snc1/10131_166105209950_703299950_3670142_5725490_n.jpg

Ginny
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs274.snc1/10131_166105604950_703299950_3670145_4984510_n.jpg

Hermione
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs274.snc1/10131_166105284950_703299950_3670144_7229646_n.jpg

[Ceres]

Ooohhh they are so beautiful!

[cgull]

Well, our rooster started chasing Little Bear down and attacking him, so his fate was sealed (if it wasn't already). On Sunday DH beheaded him and plucked and gutted... didn't work al that well, but we got there in the end. We roasted him last night. Very yellow meat. Haven't actually eaten any yet, as we were invited to a friend's place for a barbecue of fresh-caught fish. A very self-sufficient meat week!

Interestingly, a week or so ago we were eating some chicken legs from the butcher and Little Bear said, "That was a chicken, it's died... I don't like died meat." He got over that within a couple of seconds, and went on to eat the lot ;) We hadn't realised he was following everything so closely, and he's fully aware that it's Kit in the fridge.

[Anaed]

My poor blue Silkie Fleur has a very puffy crest, noticed yesterday that she was walking around a little lost and was separate from the flock, she was also very very easy to catch, Anya was able to catch her (and squeeze her, ran outside to the sound of strangled chook, she is ok thankfully)

I did some reading on backyard poultry and the general consensus was to trim the puffy feathers to enable her to see, so I did. ANother suggestion was to use a hairtie, fark that was funny, she shook it out as soon as we let her go, but it looked so damned hilarious. You can see in the photo how offended she was :lol

Trimmed a bit, have trimmed off more so will need to get an updated photo, she has a bride of frankenstein look going on
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs254.snc1/10131_171073264950_703299950_3726854_2194140_n.jpg

bwahaha poor chook

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs254.snc1/10131_171073289950_703299950_3726855_5614194_n.jpg

[Beatrice]

Silkies are so silly :rofl My mum had a couple who looked like they were wearing toupees that had slid over their eyes.

[Ceres]

OMG that is hilarious! :lol

[Ceres]

My chookens seem to have settled in now, although one of them still wants to perch on the top of the fence (even after clipping her wings). They've been scratching, dirt-bathing and eating grass, excellent chook-like behaviour for girls who've been raised in a cage :(

[cgull]

Wow, Ceres, they must think they've gone to Heaven!

I love the photo with the hairtie.

[Ceres]

The cat is still desperate to get in their enclosure. I've been locking him in the house when we go out but I don't trust him at all. I think we'll have to put mesh over the top to keep him out.

[cgull]

How big and tough are your girls? Our hens have no trouble facing down the neighbourhood moggies. Maybe just let your cat learn its lesson by letting the chooks loose on it ;)


We have four more chicks! (At least the rooster got to live a full life before he got the chop! ;)) We'll be more careful with them this time, not let the cats get to them before they're big enough to fight back. Hopefully get a couple of new hens. Although the whole point of raising new hens was the expectation that the older girls would slow down their egg production. Other than a much longer winter moult (now over), they're now both back to laying almost daily (in their third and fourth laying year respectively). But they'll have to run out some time, so it's best to be prepared, hey?

[Ceres]

They're just babies, not sure how many weeks but they are *just* full sized and not laying yet. They're a bit shy still so I think cat v chook wouldn't go too well.

What do you do with all your spare eggs? Do you sell them?

[cgull]

I give a lot to my Dad, who's not got a lot of money atm. Otherwise we bake!

[Anaed]

We finally got an egg this morning!
I think its one of the silkies though, its teeny, barely 25grams :lol

In this photo the one on the right is an 80gm one from the markets.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4337260&l=e7917b26b2&id=703299950

[Echo]

I'm getting chooks soon too!

[Ceres]

Aww that's so exciting!
I was looking into silkies, just for fun. They are SO cute. $40 each though!!

[Anaed]

I got mine as chicks.
Have you checked out http://www.farmstock.com.au/Classifieds/Poultry/Sale/index.html to see if there are any in your area?

In hindsight I would go for pekin bantams, or two other chooks (Aracuna or Wyandottes) instead of silkies. They are very cute and very cuddly but their puffy things need trimming and thats annoying :lol

We got another egg this afternoon :) Hermione our Barnvelder was carrying on very loudly and then went and sat in the nesting box, checked it out when I saw she was out of it and there was another egg :D A bit bigger than the other one and speckly but still oh so tiny hehe. I can see that Hermione is going to be a loud layer, it was like she was shouting "I AM GOING TO GO AND LAY AN EGG, JUST LETTING YOU ALL KNOW"

[Ceres]

I did but I got sick of scrolling through the listings. There were some cheaper as chicks but I'm hesitant.. I don't want to end up with 3 roosters. I'm not even keen on one rooster.

[Himalia]

Well I am down to one chook now. She is very lonely and often hangs out with the dog. She even layed an egg in the dogs bed the other week. I went and looked at getting some more Isa's but have decided I want something a little fancy this time. I will get white sussex or barnevelders.

[Anaed]

Barnvelders are beautiful :)

Here is Lauren with our barnvelder Hermione
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4339191&l=7627c69ecf&id=703299950

[Himalia]

Oh they are beautiful :)

[StarryOne]

I asked a friend one day. "How do I encourage my chooks to lay?"

She said................."Stand an axe in the corner of the pen!"Haha! In Tassie our neighbour used to say 'Show 'em the axe!'

We have fourteen chooks-five Australorp hens and a rooster, four New Hampshire hens (their rooster got chased off by a dog) and four chicks that they've hatched over the last few days. The number may increase more!

We have two geese as well which are pretty entertaining.

LOVE that hair tie photo!

[Beatrice]

Our adventurous two rediscovered that they could fly out of the run this week, so back in the chook tractor for them! But K and H discovered where they had been laying on their excursions out of the run...in one of these chiminea things my ILs left on the back patio :roflI guess it makes sense, if you're a chook :lol

[Ceres]

:lol That's a very cute nest!

[GreenGully]

omg i only just saw the hairtie pic. hilarious!!

[shaestar]

We have chooks! 2 silkies and a pekin bantam. Very cute. About 4 months old :-)
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h141/shaestar/4b866081.jpg
Tannah with her silkie she has named "White" Like the singer Pink bet different she told me lol
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h141/shaestar/435f9c7a.jpg
Willow with her silkie she has named "Cheeky"

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h141/shaestar/d67dae4f.jpg
and that's me:lol with our pekin who is yet to be named. Can't find one that fits yet..

Am excited :eager

[Ceres]

Oh wow they are so cute! I love silkies.

[GreenGully]

OH they are lovely!

[Sarasvati]

Anaed has an update, don't you Anaed? :lol

[Anaed]

Yes! Three of our chooks are now laying :D

Ginny the youngest Silkie is yet to lay :)
Very exciting, and bloody hilarious.

Hermione actually makes the "Im going to lay an egg" bok boks when Suky is in laying the egg :lol

[GreenGully]

Naw! I love chookens!

[Ceres]

Yay! I was so excited the first time we found an egg.

[Ceres]

Here's our 3.. Esme, Lou Cooper and Freddo. Does anyone know what breed they might be?

[Anaed]

I would say they are commercial Isa Browns :)
Purpose bred as a battery hen for uber laying.

[Anaed]

I am picking up another chook to add to our flock tomorrow :D

A lavender Araucana! SO excited, have been trawling farmstock for one of these in brisbane for ages, she is coming from a person who has recently moved off an acreage so has to sell off some of their chooks.

This isn't her, but what she will possibly look like.

http://www.dorabbiton.co.nz/images/useruploaded//Lavendar-Araucana-2-03.07.jpg

[Ceres]

They are so gorgeous, almost regal looking.
I suspect my girls have isa brown in them (they do lay very reliably!) but I don't know if they're cross-bred with something else.

[Anaed]

Maybe post a photo at Backyard Poultry forums?

Just found this in a google, could possibly be these ones

Red Cross: Rhode Island Red/New Hampshire (light brown egg)

[Janet]

I decided as I was making xmas cake in December that I vow to make it with our own eggs this year. Bowing out of this thread again now till next year. :lol

[Himalia]

I am still down to one chook and she hangs out with the dog. She sometimes even lays in his bed :lol

My neighbour a few houses down only has one chook too and mine and his team up every now and then and hang out together.

I am hoping to get barnevelder and white sussex soon. Ive had Isa's (?) for years now and I want something exotic ;)

Anaed hope your araucana was what you were expecting?

[Anaed]

She is not show perfect, but is very pretty
She is separate from the others atm as they all went her when I tried to introduce them, so will take it nice and slow.

Here she is, Luna, looking thoroughly pissed off at having to go into a car again.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/Just_Dee/photo.jpg

[Ceres]

Awww she's so pretty! I love chooks.

[Ceres]

I've had a couple of eggs from the silkies this week - they are so tiny and cute! They weigh about 1/3 of the other chooks' eggs. Still struggling a bit with chicken politics and psychology. My current arrangement is that they all sleep together and spend the morning together (the silkies usually hang back in the shed and the red hens are in the yard) then I move the red hens to the temporary yard until bed time to make sure the silkies get a chance to eat and drink and scratch in the dirt. I really need them to start getting on well by winter because I don't want to leave any of them out in the rain in the temporary yard which has no proper shelter.

[Anaed]

Hope they settle in soon. Took a few weeks for ours to accept Luna. Every now and then they will chase her, but she isn't as low down the pecking order as she was.

None of mine are laying atm. Need to leave an axe in the run I think!

[cgull]

We're pretty excited. We've managed to complete an entire life-cycle, if you like: chicken to eggs to chickens to eggs.

We incubated another 6 eggs, fertilised by the last rooster before we ate him. 4 of them hatched, and we've managed to keep them all alive to adulthood, this time. 1 rooster and 3 hens. They took a looong time to start laying, but the older ones have been off the lay, too - maybe the heat??? - and then yesterday DH found their hidden nests - I guess a couple of them have been laying for about a week or so (unless there are more nests to find :)). So we've tempoarily confined them all to a smaller area without much in the way of nesting spots, to teach them to lay in the official nesting boxes. And we had a HUGE omelette for tea last night, to use up all the eggs, since we didn't know how long they'd last.

The rooster's a beautiful, striking fellow. Less aggressive but more game than his dad (has a lot more success with the ****** than his father, too, when we let them get near each other :)). We had to separate them because he was guarding the food for his sisters and not sharing with the mums. If we had more space it'd be nice to keep him, like a sort of living lawn ornament... But we don't, and he's probably grown as big as he's going to get, so his execution is scheduled for this weekend :(. We've actually got more hens than we can really keep, too, so I'll be giving one of the pullets away. But not Higgledy-Piggledy my black hen!

[Ceres]

Who gets to carry out the execution?

[Janet]

My chickens crack me up. Every time I go in the backyard they sprint from wherever they are to check out if I'm carrying food. You'd never know they have a big backyard and spend all day foraging!

[Anaed]

Chickens are fricken hilarious when they run :lol

[Anaed]

I think Ginny is my new favourite, she has spunk.

http://twitpic.com/1fp1ib

Luna has settled right in and now bosses Fleur around who is back to being the bottom of the pecking order.
http://twitpic.com/1fp1lp

[Himalia]

Oh wow Anaed you have such a great variety, love the barred rock. I'd love to see your chooks, where do you get them from? I have an Isa (Cranky), a Barnevelder (Gentle) and a Campine (Lively). After we finish a few things around the house, I want to build a new chook house and run, then increase my numbers and varieties. My Isa was on her own for so long(before I got the other two) she befriended a neighbours chook and she often toddles off down the road to play with her friend :)

ETA Oh and the Lav Araucana is lovely too, the women I got my chooks from had one and she offered it to me, I wasn't sure about the blue eggs :)

[Anaed]

The reason I have her is because of the blue eggs :lol

The barnvelder & the plymouth rock (who is hte top chook) we raised from day old chicks (also had a Rhode Island Red & Black Australorp who were Lucy & Molly but turned into Lucius & Arthur .. so we erm ... found somewhere for them to go)

We got the silkies from farmstock.com.au a breeder out farmy area somewhere as 4 week chicks, although Ginny was only 2 or 3 weeks.

The Araucana I also got from farmstock.com.au, I had been looking for a point of lay araucana for aaaages, and was so stocked to find her.

We have 5, th limit is 6, I am SO tempted to get another one, there is a heritage breeder who goes to the moggill markets ... so so so tempted to get a Wyandotte from him.

[Himalia]

Farmstock, I'll have to look. There is a breeder at Fernvale (that's where I got mine) she has every breed you can imagine, well almost :) and you can put in an order, she will raise them to point of lay or you can get them as chickens.

[Ceres]

I want a second chook house I think. What do all your chooks reside in?
ETA.. with pics if possible!

[Anaed]

I have a 1.5x1.5 aviary that they sleep in, and a section of yard fenced off that they stay in during the day, unless the girls leave the gate open and then they wander around the backyard crapping everywhere.

[Ceres]

Do you have to pick them up and put them to bed every night? I have a fenced off area for the silkies but it means I have to go out and put them in the shed at dusk every night which is a PITA.

[Morph]

Do your silkies not get on with the other chooks, Ceres?

[Ceres]

The other chooks won't let them in the yard so if I leave them together they spend the whole day in the corner of the shed. They are so much happier with their own fenced off area. Ideally I'd love a second chook house for them then give them some fertile eggs to hatch.

[Anaed]

No they all get along and go to bed when it gets dark :)

[Ceres]

I thought it's about time I stop littering the other chat threads with my chicken chat :lol
Ok I will admit, I'm slightly besotted with chickens. I initially got them for eggs and manure but it didn't take me long to love them and want MORE! I currently have 2 ISA browns, 1 silkie and 2 black hamburgs. I'm going to build a second chook yard so we can expand. I'm also interested in giving some fertile eggs to the Silkie to hatch - I think this would be a wonderful experience for the kids.

I saw one of these yesterday and wow what a beautiful bird! She's a bantam partridge wandotte.
http://www.sedgwickcommon.co.uk/partridge%20wyandotte%20bantam%20hen.jpg

I'm also loving the golden spangled hamburgs...

http://memberfiles.freewebs.com/84/37/41923784/photos/My-Other-Breeds/Gold%20Sp%20Pen%205.JPG

[Sarasvati]

Ooh there are so many gorgeous breeds hey?

[Beatrice]

I miss my chooks so much. Can't wait to get onto our own land so I can get a new collection. I'm definitely going to be going for older breeds rather than generic-laying-chook this time.

[mummy2boys]

Wow! They are some fancy chooks.

[Anaed]

I want to get a wyandotte, we can get one more chook so I may have to indulge.

[Himalia]

I have 3 atm, an Isa, Barnevelder and Campine. I'd like Brahma but they are so hard to get and about $70 each.

[Ceres]

I was really tempted by the wyandottes yesterday too! They are so lovely.
Here are our Hamburgs, they're just babies still :)

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs318.snc3/28566_388867978563_573113563_4178159_2972146_n.jpg

Poor old Mabel has no tail feathers at the moment!

[Ceres]

I'm a bit worried about Mabel atm.. I don't know if she's just not hit maturity yet or if she's not well, but her comb is pale and she looks like she has dandruff. Maybe she's just growing new feathers or something but it looks a bit like some of her feather have comb on their tips or something. GG took a pic so I can have a closer look and post on a chook forum about it.
They got new straw the other day so they're having a lovely time digging.

[GreenGully]

Here's the pic for you ceres

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs139.snc4/37272_405403436103_586531103_4859671_5903176_n.jpg

[Ceres]

Ta GG - your iphone takes good pics!

[Ceres]

:( Bit sad looking back at this thread to see the hamburgs - they became a foxes dinner. I currently have a motley crew of mixed breeds but as they are just for eggs and not for breeding it doesn't matter so much. Last week I gave the rooster away to a woman who shows chooks (he was a very gorgeous silver-grey dorking but bit too loud for a suburban back yard) so it's now a feminist collective of chooks. :)

[Morph]

Our beautiful turkey TomTom is going back to his original farm tomorrow. It just wasn't working well here unfortunately. Studley Dudley, our bantam Light Sussex rooster kept fighting with him. And I think Studley would fight to the death. His own death. So I can't let the chooks & TomTom free range at the same time, which defeats the purpose. TomTom had had his wings clipped so couldn't fly, which meant he's an easy target for foxes. And Meg & Molly, the turkey hens, wouldn't go far from him, so they were roosting low enough for foxes too. So the turkey breeding program will not happen & instead we will have 2 pet turkey hens.

[Ceres]

My chickens have taken to hanging out outside of the kitchen door, waiting for scraps to be thrown their way. Sometimes they knock at the door with their beaks. Last night I left the door open and one of them wandered right in. :lol They're such an entertaining mob. Not many eggs at the moment but as the weather warms up I'm hoping for a lot more!

[Beatrice]

Our two New Hampshires have just started laying again in the last ten days. Quite impressed with that, the feather dusters (bantams) we inherited with the farm didn't start laying til late October last year and then they almost immediately went broody :rolleyes Speaking of which, two of them have gone feral and started roosting in the hedge :lol I've been out with a torch once or twice to try and find them and put them back but no luck yet.

I wanted to get some New Hampshire day old chicks from a local breeder which I saw advertised lately, but we don't have a brooder or heat lamp set up and anyway the kids would probably worry them to death. It would be good if a later hatching coincides with having a broody hen, though; otherwise I might look into whether he expects to have pullets available later. This year, I want to put our mixed flock into a chook tractor in the paddock/house yard, and get a New Hampshire breeding flock set up in the big chook run. They're a good dual-purpose breed and if they start laying this early down here I reckon they're a winner.

[Echo]

My chooks have decided to lay on the opposite side of the yard to where their house & pen is. I thought I had the fence tall enough to keep them in...nope. So today's gardening bee will be spent building a 180cm tall fence. If they can get out of that I'll be really impressed! Then I can plant out my veggies as well (finally!)