General Chat

my dad had chicken when i was little

the cockerel was massive

and used to chase everybody

down the path

we never needed a guard dog

with Horace about

Hi everyone, thank you all so much for your replies, I have had a lovely time this morning reading through your replies.
Gail and Mick I have a cousin and other rellies in Oz that I have been hunting down for years but only found them just over a year ago, they live in Glen Waverley, we keep in contact and have swapped photos, it was good to learn about her part of the world.

Chickens, I have had a look at a few web sites, so far I have found this one the best,

http://www.southmead.dsl.pipex.com/index.htm
And
http://www.perfectpoultry.co.uk/

Both are not too far from me so Andy can drive me to get my babies, I am going to name every single one of them lol
I am definately going to get Hybrid chickens because of there immune system being a lot better than pure breeds and of course they seem to lay more eggs, colour of eggs was another thing, I wanted to have some chicken that laid dark eggs, I know it won't change the flavor but they look healthier eggs being brown, well they do to me lol.
I have picked a few I like the look of

Blue Belle/Haze
Bovan Nera
Speckledy
Maran Cuirvree
Black Rock
Maran
Sussex Buff
Golden Laced Wyandotte

I don't want white chickens.
I have someone who is giving me one of his bantams, I don't know what sort it is apart from hubby has told me it has a fluffy top knot and it's female lol.
I was going to have 6 and now I've chosen 8.
Our run for them will be covered in over the top as I cannot possibly risk letting a fox get to them, I'm not sure about the electric fence Mick as I have a cat who is getting on a bit, I was very cross when I noticed the other week that a neighbour a couple of houses away has added razor wire to the top of his panel fencing, it's not as if Buster my cat goes to his garden, Buster never ventures near gardens with dogs, so he has ours and next door the opposite way to the doggy neighbour. Right next door to me is a girl who does dog grooming for her job so she always has dogs in her place, he never goes there lol.

When I finally get these chickens and it will be in the next couple of weeks, I shall name them and take photos to show you all.

Gillie XX

Thank you kind Sir!
I will look at all these sites.
Tina

Hi,

A coop which is off the ground by 20 or so inches will add space to the run area as well as keep the chooks better protected from Mr fox and Mr Badger.

Chooks take up much less space that one imagines. a run 6 foot long and 3 foot wide wil be fine for 6 chooks.

for coops and arks try albanypets on ebay, new chook homes at great prices

for info and a good laugh try rickschicks, honest advice with humour

Lord Martyn

Thank you so much Sandra. Cheers. ...now I wonder ....perhaps OH would like a few for our Wedding Anniversary ....LOL.

Will hastily go and have a look.
Many thanks.
Tina

Hi

You need 1 & a half square foot per chicken, take a look on the websites on my previous message it will show you coops & explain it in full, If you have foxes etc wire the underside of the run as well so they can't dig in to the run.

sandra

Ooh I would love to have chickens in my garden and a duck pond I am very envious.

But reading these replies wonder if perhaps it is possible. We also have foxes and badgers coming into our garden - which we love by the way . Whats the minimum amount of space you could allow for a couple of chickens - say 6?
(The side of our garden is about 20 feet wide and 20 feet long).
Tina x

Hi

I had chickens as a child & we decided to get some for our garden a couple of weeks ago.
We bought the coop off of ebay from Albanypets they have a large range of different houses / coops.
We have 4 chickens which we got off of a website henhousechickens. which is close to us.
We got a mendlesham blue, fenning black, bluebell, & a cou cou
They are very friendly but won't lay until the end of march as they are still to young.
There are alot of websites that explain abpout keeping chickens the poultryclub is a good one to look at.

sandra

Gail
I am in West Gippsland
in a very small town.

Sounds lovely Gail. Would have liked a bigger garden and more animals but didn't happen, a bit too late now methinks.
Lizx

Mick, some of my Mum's family were from Silly Suffolk lol
I am a Norfolk girl myself !
Dad was from Buckinghamshire.
x

We had a big suburban block - quarter acre.
I used to have chooks, ducks, pheasants, a peacock, quail, guinea fowl, pigeons , budgies and rabbits at various times and sometimes all at once!
I dont know how my mother put up with it all,
but she was a country girl herself from a small
Suffolk village.

I was always scared of picking them up when they were little as I was worried I would squeeze them and hurt them. Don't like picking any feathered creatures up now, even Mum's blasted budgie, if he sat on my head I would hate it but couldn't lift him off, Mum would have to do it! If I find an injured bird, I have to put a cloth over it and pick it up like that. My brother has budgies which he breeds and my other bro has chickens and bantams but he has a lot of land, I only have a small paved garden, used to have a dog who fancied living with you Mick. She was a real digger and ruined any lawn she was on.
Dad used to have homing pigeons too and we had rabbits but I stopped eating those after my pet one went missing lol

Lizx

Hi Liz

Thats exactly what my father used to do!

Every so often he would bring home a dozen
day olds in a shoe box!

Thats what got me started on my life long
love of chooks

xxx mick

My dad, a country boy, used to keep chickens in our garden when I was young and used to get them as day old chicks. He would make a wooden pen for them first, stand it on newspaper in the living room with a stone hot water bottle in the corner covered with an old wooly jumper, the chicks would huddle round that thinking it was Mum. They were fed on chopped up boiled eggs and when they were big enough would go outside in the chicken run, no foxes there so safe. I remember Mum drying the eggshells out and crushing them, also she used to put potato peelings in a pan on the fire and boil them into a mush with some bran added I think, and it made the chickens a warm meal in the winter time.
We used to get lots of eggs and would sometimes pass them on to neighbours too.
Happy memories, when I worked at the Railway Parcels office, we would get dozens of boxes of chicks sent through, they would be brought into the office at nighttimes till they were collected and the peep-peep would remind me of those chicks at home.
Lizx

Well my electric wires 6 inches off the ground
all around the pens have kept them safe for
16 years now.

Yep
many years ago I left a ladder leaning against a
chook house - fox climbed the ladder and dropped
in on the chooks! I still cant work out how
he got out again!

No worries Gail
Drop in next time you're in the area.
and I will give you a setting!

I have crossed in various breeds
over the years, but only hatch from the
right coloured eggs.

xx mick

Gail

Most of mine are Aruacana cross - they all
now lay a range of various shades of green
and blue coloured eggs.

Hi Gillie

I have kept chooks for 40 years.
The only sure way of keeping foxes out
is an electric fencing wire at fox nose height.
This never fails!
I also recommend crossbreds-
some commercial layer types
are dumb as doggydoo!

xx mick