Chook, chook, chook

[Stardust]

Can we start this up again?
I'm in the process of getting a chook yard built and I need info please! We'd love to get little bubba chookies, but not sure of the work involved. Is is better to get POLers? And most people I know have Isa Browns but they are not the best ones apparently? I've been looking at breeds and there are so many gorgeous ones out there. I'm all confused. LOL

[Moneypenny]

Depends what you want?
If you want to use a tractor to dig up garden beds in rotation quickly, any big chook will do.
If you want the same thing but longer time, bantams are great.
If you want a placid pet, bantams are great. Mum has Belgians and Amergin plays with one most days, even carries it in a sling!
If you want eggs, get pol. The breed depends on your fancy really.

I have 4 atm with hopefuly another 3 to be added when they hatch in about 20 days. I have 2x 5week old frizzle silky x bantams and 2x frizzle pekin bantams (dont think they are going to be frizzle though...) I want them for the occasional egg but more for pets and to work my garden beds. It already looks like one of my silky x is a rooster, so getting POL does save that problem......

[Madi]

Oh I have some chooky questions too!

It it really financially worth it to have chooks? We would use probably on average a dozen eggs a week..... so really, even buying organic free range, that's only $7. Chooks would cost me more than that a week right?

[Moneypenny]

here is a great link with heaps of tractor designs
http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/tractors.html

[Moneypenny]

not if you are giving them all your kitchen scraps ;) My mum has her daycare parents bring all their scraps too. She also sells the eggs for $3 a dozen

[soulmama]

Oh I have some chooky questions too!

It it really financially worth it to have chooks? We would use probably on average a dozen eggs a week..... so really, even buying organic free range, that's only $7. Chooks would cost me more than that a week right?

3 chickens are costing me aprox $6 in feed a week (organic pellets) right now supplementing the scraps from home and the local organic f&v shop.

We usually have around 18 eggs a week... and sell a dozen or so every fortnight for $6....

:D

I like that maths. :2lol

[Stardust]

Bantams do sound good. We want egg production (we go through 2-3 doz a week :ohmy) and gentle chookies for the kids.
Was wondering if people go the babies or the point of layers? Sheryn, I know you're loving your babies!

[Moneypenny]

babies are fun for the kids AND all that patting and holding is what makes them into such a great pet. You may not get such a good pet if they are POL. Maybe consider a mix of both? thats what my mum has. She has 7 rhode island reds for eggs and 3 bantams for pets

[Ethereal]

I am so gonna get me some silkie bantams, the ones that look like they went in the dryer and shouldn't have :laugh.

[michelle_j_r]

we had a regular rectangular timber hutch roost thing last time around.
This time we have a dome and i have to say the chickens seem to really love it. Plus the idea is to move it around the garden to clear vegie patches so i like the dome tractor idea much better than the framed up roost/run/hutch thing.

[cherish]

we are loving our chicks- I have no idea what they are.. but one of them looks like they got attacked today.. or they other chick is pecking at it.. poor little thing.. hoping it survives the night..

[Bron]

it should be isolated and kept warm cherish. otherwise it may well pass away overnight.

rob's currently working on a small chook tractor ($5 coffee table, marine ply box we had, shadecloth, wire and hardware, about $95 all up) for the 5 babies we've brought home from school. 2 are def roosters, 2 I'm not sure on still, and one is definitely a girl. One boy and girl are pekins, so we'll keep them. The boys will have to go :(

We have isa browns but never again. not cos they're a bad chook, but because buying them supports the caged egg/hen industry and we don't do that. australorps are good, rhode island reds, sussex (pretty chooks!), langshans, wyandottes.

[Stardust]

We had an offer for 3 free Isas today. They are two years old. I don't know. I do like the though of diff ages, but do the older ones attack the younger ones? Do different breeds mix ok? I was all set to bring home the babies from kinder (mix of australorps, and a couple of others I can't remember) but a couple have real problems, not the healthiest batch so I won't.

[Stardust]

We're not handy at all so will have to buy a tractor. Any ideas on cheapies??

[mama_bel]

Ask on freecycle for a chook tractor? You never know! :p

We have 62 chickens plus we're chook sitting 10 or so (I forget, luckily Immi knows what's going on). Some of our chickens are babies, some are old pets (one silky hen is 6 years old), and some are for laying. We try to keep the flock to around 50, so Immi will likely sell some, and I guess about 50% of the young ones will be for the table?

I wouldn't ever bring home someone else's 2 year old Isa Browns. They're so hard to keep in good nick sometimes. They put all their energy into making sooooo many eggs that they end up skinny and take agest to re-feather after moulting and just seem poor. First 2 years are okay, then they're often had-it. Depends on the stock, but that's our observation after having them twice (in different towns)...

We feed our chooks mixed grain, kitchen scraps, garden 'scraps' (bolted lettuce, outer leaves of cabbages, some greens and grains grown for the girls, etc), as well as shell-grit and other minerals, supplements, herbs, etc. They free-range a lot and there's heaps of seeding grass in the paddocks so they eat that seed often, and all the grubs and bugs and beetles and basically anything they can catch. So ours cost us about $20 a week in grain. Chook pen and run and bins for feed and stuff probably cost us up to $500 over the last 2.5 years. We sell excess eggs for $4/doz, so that helps with expenses. We've had to learn to eat our roosters (we breed our own chooks unless we want something new in the flock, then we normally buy sexed chicks from the feed barn)... We get many dozens of eggs for us to eat. The chooks bring such joy that I wouldn't mind if they cost us money to keep, honestly. Their antics are hilarious!

I love Australorps, Silkies, Frizzles and Sussex birds the most. We have heaps of mixed bred chooks though, and they're great. We keep a nice big red/coloured type rooster to keep all the big laying hens in line, and then we have some bantam roosters who look after the various 'pet' birds. The bantam hens still provide lots of eggs too!

[Ethereal]

Ok, this might be a really, really silly question: Bel, how do you know which eggs are ok to use and which are, er, not?

[mama_bel]

What do you mean? All the eggs are probably fertilised, but if they aren't under a chook, a chick doesn't develop. They need to be kept warm and turned underneath a chicken (or in an incubator) for 21 days to create a baby chicken. Is that what you mean?

If you find a nest of eggs hidden, and you're not sure they're fresh, you can put them in water. Fresh eggs sink, maybe-okay eggs sort of float half way and icky rotten eggs float to the top. We have lots of egg collectors here though, so eggs are found and brought inside a few times a day!

[~kaoss~]

Subscribing, because when we move house, chicken are on the agenda.... woohoo!

[cherish]

well.. my chicks survived the night. I tried isolating the chick- but they both cry for each other.. so cute. She seems fine this morning.. but looks sore under her wings

[Stardust]

Can you give a chick arnica Kylie?
Wow, thanks for all that Bel! I do like the sound of the silkieand Australorps too, they are lovely. I want em now!!! Might ask on freecycle or the tractor. I just did my first ever offer post on there.

[Bron]

Stardust, we're far from handy :rofl you should see some of our projects. The best one was when we took my mum's advice to loop the huge roll of wire over a star picket banged in the ground (part of the fence we were making) to help keep it neat and tidy. Unfortunately, we then put the dog wire on the star picket and then realised we hadn't removed the roll of wire! :rofl :rofl we laughed and laughed and laughed!!

Once the tractor is finished, I'll post a pic. But the chicks will be safe :D They'll have shade, a warm dry place to sleep and get out of the weather, and no animals will eat them :) Of course, they may not be too safe from my kids!

It is pretty bad to mix ages of chooks, unless they free range and have plenty of room. You should always integrate new chooks at night if you can. Chooks have shocking memories and don't really remember that 'new' chook wasn't there yesterday :) That's my theory anyway :)

2 years old may be pretty old for Isas. Depends on what sort of life they've had. Mine are awfully spoilt and so are still laying, not daily, but almost every day, at 4+. We got them shortly after moving Dec 05, POL.

Cherish, they weren't crying for each other, but their mum :) Just like our babies would. Having hatched these chicks in incubator has convinced me never to do it again, unless I absolutely had to. Chicks need their mama! We gave this lot a teddy bear to snuggle up to, but it still isn't the same.

[cherish]

I don't know.. they are very settled together, but when separated, or one gets stuck somewhere, they start crying.. then resettle once together again.. I'm sure they would like a Mum, however they seem to know each other!

[Bron]

oh yes, they're not animals that can be alone :) maybe they see the other as their mother :D

[cherish]

maybe.. funny little things.. they do chase and play with each other- it's cute! don't know about the arnica- sure it wouldn't hurt.. you can give it to dogs!