Brown or Red Shavers are the best layers around, and they seldom go clucky. You dont have to buy the ex poultry farm ones, they are bred and advertised for sale from chickens upwards here on TM.
koru_designs,
Nov 5, 9:08pm
How much space do you have! We live on a normal suburbian block in Melbourne & have Pekins who free range in our back yard. They're bantams, so the eggs are a bit smaller but they don't fly over the fence or dig in the ground (except to bathe) & because they have feathered feet, they do less damage to the garden. They also lay well & make good broodies if you want to try your hand at hatching some chicks. If you're wanting full-sized chooks, Australorps & Orpingtons are good choices - they're good for eating as well as laying & are very well natured (so good for pets as well). But there are *lots* of breeds out there.just really depends on what takes your fancy, what you want out of your chooks & whether or not you want to show them.
koru_designs,
Nov 5, 9:17pm
cont. As for day to day care.well, where to start. What would you specifically like to know! Yes, you can grind the shells & toast them, then feed them back as grit but it's just as easy to give them commercial shell grit (they need some grit to help them grind their food up & give them calcium - very important for when they lay). I have a recipe here for chook food if you want it.but your local commercial feed supply will have everything you need as well. Coops.well, depends on whether you want them to free range or keep them in a run. Ours free range, so they just have a coop that looks like an oversized rabbit hutch to eat, sleep & lay in.then we have another coop (which was their old one) which is smaller but has a run, that we currently use as a broody coop. Coops can be big (my grandfather used to have ones the size of garages) or small.& they can be moveable (chicken tractor - where you keep the chook in the coop & move it round so they can eat the grass) or in one place.
koru_designs,
Nov 5, 9:17pm
cont. You can find lots of plans for coops on the web, plus they're often for sale on ebay or in the paper. You'll also need to worm your chooks regularly & check for mites. Don't feed them meat scraps (let them free range & offer a treat of live mealworms sometimes.they do need protein but meat scraps can be a bit dodgy if left too long), raw potato peelings or citrus fruit. If you fed them potatoes, make sure they're cooked 1st. And don't assume chickens are like a compost bin - scraps must be fresh (or they'll get sick) & don't give too many (chooks can get fat too!). Ours like the occaisonal grated hard boild egg (don't give them whole ones or you might find they start canabalising their eggs) & I often cut an apple in half & leave it out on a board with nails in it (to hold the apple in place).
hairydog2,
Nov 5, 9:18pm
I've never had any problems with ex battery red shavers, friendly as hell and good layers. A lot cheaper than pullets or point of lay.
val14,
Nov 5, 9:28pm
ok first lesson of the day tinart we call them chooks not chickens. *looks at profile. hmmm I know a Lara in Hamilton, wonders if it's the same one*
tinart,
Nov 5, 9:40pm
hmm well i imagine if i had started life in a battery farm i might have psycho tendancies! thanks koru - great advice!Val.the only Val I know is my grandad in-laws partner!Arnie!
val14,
Nov 5, 9:45pm
I have orpingtons I got orpingtons because they are a good dual purpose bird which means they are ok layers but not excellent layers and a plump bird for eating. I now wish I hadn't got orpingtons because I have discovered none of us will do the deed so they are only layers to us and not the best of laying breeds. I never let my chooks in the garden unless I don't mind them scratching everything and eating some of the herbs and veges. Their house should be somewhere warm and dry with round perches not too thick or thin for their feet and claws. I like having the nests accessible to the chooks from their house so that on rainy days they can go straight into the nests from their house. Mine are at the same level as the perches. I like being able to collect the eggs from outside the house and nests without having to bend over.
val14,
Nov 5, 9:47pm
you would be a home educator if you were the same one
val14,
Nov 5, 9:59pm
diet they must have access to grit for their crops and for the calcium to make strong egg shells. Oyster shell is said to be best but you can also feed them their own shells but make sure they are dried and crushed so they don't start eating their own eggs. Water supply at all times, garlic clove in water helps prevent worms. Access to lots of different greens and dirt/leaves to scratch in for bugs and worms. Long grass/pasture is good for seeds and bugs. Clean containers or clean ground for you to feed them off. I don't feed mine meat at all, though a neighbour does feed hers bacon rind. They love little fresh sprats (fish) and snails, though you need to crush the large, hard shelled ones. You can feed them bought kibbled maize, wheat and/or layer pellets and food scraps- leftovers, fruit, cooked vege (not raw potato). I have also planted trees and plants in their area for them that provide food. I also grow extra vege for them, silverbeet, kale, puha.
val14,
Nov 5, 10:04pm
dirt to have dirt baths in they need to do this to rid themselves of lice or mites. A varied diet helps them stay healthy.
kaydubya,
Nov 5, 10:40pm
#8. "Chickens" seems to have taken over as the popular name for what were once exclusively called "chooks" or "hens". Even a roast chicken was always called a hen or chook. Another example of the influence America has had on our language and culture since the advent of television.
val14,
Nov 5, 10:43pm
clucky chooks (otherwise known broody hens but as I am a farmers daughter they are called clucky chooks) After laying a certain amount of eggs, some chooks think it's time to sit on them and hatch them so go clucky. If you take the eggs away each day, you can delay this and also it stops hedgehogs and rats stealing them. Leave a false egg or two in the nest to encourage them to lay there. A false egg can simply be a golf ball or similar. Clucky chooks don't lay eggs so if you want them to start laying again the trick is to keep them off the nests for about 3 nights and days. I have a separate coop to put them in that doesn't have nests. They start laying again a few days to a week after they stop being clucky. If you want them to sit on fertile eggs, they will hatch in 3 weeks but do think about what you will do with the baby roosters. A young chook's eggs may produce all roosters. One rooster is enough per group of hens or the roosters will fight.
val14,
Nov 5, 10:45pm
ahh but chickens to me are the babies or more correctly, chicks. Chicken is the meat.
val14,
Nov 5, 10:51pm
Hens are what the English call them same with broody but I am a kiwi farm girl through and through so they are chooks. I tell people if you called them chickens you sound like a townie, if you call them chooks you sound like a farmer and know what you are talking about
whitehead.,
Nov 5, 10:53pm
chickens can eat meat what do you think worms are made of .feed lots of greens and wheat or mash any thing you eat they will
coolnzmum,
Nov 5, 11:08pm
Ours get lots of fresh vegie scraps and meat if we have scraps including any chicken carcasses they love meat and never leave any.On top of that they get layer pellets and wheat plus they free range.Also feed back crushed egg shells and if any eggs get broken in the nest the hens will eat them.
javlin,
Nov 6, 1:26am
we used to have shavers ex battery and found them to be good layers but ours were very flighty and noisy so I started looking around for quiet chooks ad ended up with New Hampshires. They are a similar colour to shavers but are bigger and much quieter. Mine follow me around and talk to me, which I like. We dont have a coop as such, just a garden shed with nesting boxes and perch. They are free range (I shut the shed when it's cold at night otherwise they can come and go as they please.) We have netting over the veges in the garden to protect them from inquisitive beaks. I feed them commercial pellets and kitchen scraps (no meat) They love grubs.
javlin,
Nov 6, 1:32am
We made the nesting boxes out of scrap timber They do get their own egg shells back with the kitchen scraps, but don't seem to touch them. I find them very easy care for the returns they give! Wouldn't be without them. The only downside - they are not very bright and it can take quite a while to persuade them that your cat which just wandered innocently past is not out to get them!
kaydubya,
Nov 6, 2:12am
#17 I'm not English but as kids living in the country they were always hens to us, even when they were cooked for the table (only on special occasions, mind, like Christmas). They could be called chooks at a pinch, but that was akin to calling cows moo-cows, or horses gee-gees. Calling them fowls was a bit posh. Chickens were those little cheeping yellow things up until the time Colonel Sanders arrived.
pandaeye,
Nov 6, 2:57am
this time of the year you have to watch for red mites, if you want layers, choose light breed such as minorca, leghorn, ancona, etc. they are flightier breeds, pays to clip their wing.
gimmee69,
Nov 6, 2:59am
Make sure you get girls The boys don't lay very well.
hairydog2,
Nov 6, 4:02am
Chickens are little round, cute, yellow fluffy things, that go ,cheep, cheep. Adult hens that lay eggs are called chooks.
oakhills,
Nov 6, 1:33pm
Mine have just .wandered in through the back gate trailing 12 chickens.Wonder where they laid that pile!!
val14,
Nov 6, 1:41pm
#22 very interesting. What part of the country were you raised in and were your parents raised in England! .just interested, I love the English language and especially how different it is around the country.
Since the public registrations are closed, you must have an invite from a current member to be able to register and post in this thread.
Have an account? Login here.