Anybody Keep Chickens?

[Dave70]

Long story short, we're moving onto an acre of land shortly and seller asked if we would like the four chickens they have roaming around thrown into the deal. Well I love eggs, and watching chooks scratch about, pecking and clucking I also find oddly calming, so it's a done deal.

Just a few questions that spring to mind:

How many eggs can I expect per chook?
Do I need a rooster, and do they realy crow at sunrise? - on that note, how would one prepair a bird for the table?
Can I supplement the birds diet with spent grain?
If so, will roasted barley make the eggs taste like stout? (realy, dose the diet affect the flavour of the eggs?)
How long do the live?
Will having a two blockheaded dogs, lab and bullmastiff cross, eyeballing through the chickenwire put them off the lay?
Can you use shredded documents for them to nest in?

I do have a couple of books on the way dealing with all things chook, But if you know a little about poultry, I'd be keen to hear it.

 

[raven19]

My folks in law have chickens, and a rooster. They will occasional let a chook if sitting to raise the chicks, then introduce the youngers ones, and knock off then eat the older ones!

How many eggs can I expect per chook?
1 per day but they may stop laying or lay more.

Do I need a rooster, and do they realy crow at sunrise? - on that note, how would one prepair a bird for the table?
No need for a rooster, yes they croak in the morning.
Meat can be a bit tough in older birds.

Can I supplement the birds diet with spent grain?
Hell yes, they will eat anything.

If so, will roasted barley make the eggs taste like stout? (realy, dose the diet affect the flavour of the eggs?)
I dont think so, but the manure makes good for the Hop Garden and vege parch.

How long do the live?
Not sure, but I would have thought 10 yrs+ ?

Will having a two blockheaded dogs, lab and bullmastiff cross, eyeballing through the chickenwire put them off the lay?
Nah, make a coup for the chickens, they will be fine.

Can you use shredded documents for them to nest in?
I dont see why not. They are not too fussy.

Overall a low maintenance pet/animal if you have the space.

 

[razz]

We are raising our very first chooks Dave. This site has lots of info.
http://www.chooknet.com.au/index.php?optio...&Itemid=129

 

[drsmurto]

I have 6 chooks and only 1/2 an acre. The chooks are currently scratching around the vegie patch, removing the bugs, fertilising it and ploughing it all at the same time. They normally have 2 runs that i can block off to allow the grass to grow and provide them with something to scratch around. My hops grow along the edges on both sides of the chook run so are well fertilised.

1 egg per day per chook max although that will likely average out to 200-250 per year depending on the breed. I have the standard browns which lay at the top end of the range, probably over it as they don't go off the lay during winter like some breeds do.

I also feed them all my spent grain and they go ga ga for it. I notice the difference after feeding them grains or the next week i will get the full 6 eggs per day. i dont notice any chage in the flavour and we sell 2 dozen per week ($3.50/dozen) to work colleagues and other than compliments on how good they taste there has never been comments made as to a beery flavour! They also get food scraps (leafy veg, bread, cheese). When i walk down to the chooks they run up the fence and cluck excitedly as they know what a bucket means - food! Commercial chook food - i feed them Golden Yolk.

No need for a rooster unless you want to breed and then kill excess for food. I don't and yes, they do crow every morning just before sunrise as my neighbours have 1. I did get a mate who worked for Ighams to kill one of our chooks and then gutted/plucked it. Pain in the ar$e and not worth the hassle IMO.

I have 2 cats and they get along fine with the chooks. The cats can get into the chook run (dogs cant) and they dont hassle each other. A dog will kill a chook if given a chance, my parents lost a few to their neighbours rottweiler.

The chook shed is filled with straw (ground, laying boxes etc) to absorb the smell. The floor of the shed is concrete (fox proof) so straw is needed in this case and you will need to replace that once a month or more. Never thought of using shredded documents. I get bags of this from work but put it in my compost piles.

How long do they live? Not sure yet, the longest we have had one is 18 months (current batch) thanks to foxes killing 2 flocks in the first 2 years we lived here (too late in locking them up at night).

One other thing, we clip the wings on our chooks as the neighbours chook run is adjacent to ours and their chooks are the same breed as ours. This stops them from flying but doesn't prevent them jumping up a few planks to roost. They like to sleep high up for security.

Have fun, fresh scrambled eggs on brewday is one of my guilty pleasures. Eggs are an hour or 2 old max and need no cream or milk to pad it out. :icon_cheers:

 

[komodo]

Mum and dad always had chooks and still do. We had about 30 birds at one stage.

Eggs 1 a day from point of lay pullets untill they are about 18 months old then they tend to taper off. You'll find things like sudden weather changes affect their laying. There are additives for their water etc you can get to encourage laying. Also the different foods will affect yoke size and colour. We used to feed a mixture of maize and chicken pellets and ocassionally some wheat along with kitchen scraps. We also used to feed them egg shells. Some people will advise against this practice though.
We've had birds live upto about 7 years old. The do tend to have a fairly high mortality rate.

For the most part we used to get the "used" chickens from battery farms. Used to cost about $2 a bird. You'd get them and they'd have no feathers left and it was nice to watch them learn to walk around and grow their feathers back. BUT you'd have to watch them as they would kill one another sometimes.

Roosters are more trouble than they are worth unless you have plenty of land they will piss you off. In fact in many councils your not allowed a rooster unless your on more than 5 acres.

Dont get bantoms. They are useless and tend to be prone to desease.

They are great to have running around the yard. Remember to lock them up and remember their pen will smell - and not like roses. They will scartch all your mulch off your garden beds and can be frustrating but over all they are quite plesant to keep (untill you're walking bare foot down the path at 10pm and stand in chook shit - then you tend to be slightly displeased with the situation!)

 

[thanme]

Man my parents used to have rooster that would crow at somewhere between 3 - 4 in the morning. What a retard It was still a bit sad when he was taken by a rooster though...

As for dogs, these chooks have 6 very active sheep dogs harrassing them when they are harrassing sheep and have no dramas laying at all

 

[komodo]

Yeah mum and dad have a german shepard (they had two at one stage) and a little yapping ******* dog and they have no issue with the dogs. Keeping the dogs and the cats seperated is more hassle. My Lab also HATES cats (I mean really hates cats - would kill one given a chance) but doesnt bat an eyelid at mum and dads chickens when we take him to their place

 

[Snow]

We have 6 chooks and love em. It's amazing how different their personalities can be. Anyway, most of your questions are answered above, but i can offer some dog training advice if you have problems. We have a mature black labrador who chases and tries to kill all the bush turkeys that get into our yard. When we got our chicks (1 week old) I gradually introduced them to the dog and let her sniff them. Every time she got too excited, I went "bah!" and shook her by the scruff, then would put the chick on the top of her head, or let it walk around in front of her, whilst holding her collar. I did this once a day for the first 3 days, then from then on she got bored with them and left them alone. The only time she gets narky with them is when they peck at her food bowl while she is eating, so we just make sure the chickens are in the coop when we give her her dinner. She still chases the turkeys.

I had a mate who's dog killed one of his chooks and he tied the dead bird to the neck of the dog and left it with it for 24 hours. The dog never went anywhere near another chicken for the rest of it's life

Cheers - Snow

ps - learn to make a really good poched egg - you'll never look back!

 

[praxis178]

Long story short, we're moving onto an acre of land shortly and seller asked if we would like the four chickens they have roaming around thrown into the deal. Well I love eggs, and watching chooks scratch about, pecking and clucking I also find oddly calming, so it's a done deal.

Just a few questions that spring to mind:

How many eggs can I expect per chook?
Do I need a rooster, and do they realy crow at sunrise? - on that note, how would one prepair a bird for the table?
Can I supplement the birds diet with spent grain?
If so, will roasted barley make the eggs taste like stout? (realy, dose the diet affect the flavour of the eggs?)
How long do the live?
Will having a two blockheaded dogs, lab and bullmastiff cross, eyeballing through the chickenwire put them off the lay?
Can you use shredded documents for them to nest in?

I do have a couple of books on the way dealing with all things chook, But if you know a little about poultry, I'd be keen to hear it.

If so, will roasted barley make the eggs taste like stout? (realy, dose the diet affect the flavour of the eggs?)
Diet does affect the flavour of the eggs (and the meat), e.g. a diet high in fish will lead fishy flavoured eggs.....

My chooks like to eat shredded paper, yours might not.

Everything else has been answered....

 

[Bribie G]

If you want real old fashioned delicious eggs in huge quantities, supplement your chooks with four to six Muscovy Ducks, although you will have to get them a wee kid's splashing pool (plastic one from Toys R will be fine). Ducks to Chooks are a bit like Canadians to Americans, when God was giving out the brains he gave most to...........oops sorry Katzke, you're obviously of Canook descent :icon_cheers:

 

[manticle]

No, I don't have chickens but we do get eggs delivered to our door semi regularly which were laid by my partner's father's partner's chickens (if you can follow that). Easily the best eggs you can eat - like the first time you eat an organic free range egg times 7.

We did have a rooster once.

Grumpy antagonistic arsehole he was. I actually thanked the foxes that eventually ate him.

 

[bum]

we do get eggs delivered to our door semi regularly which were laid by my partner's father's partner's chickens

Lonestar, I see your Schwartz is as big as mine.

 

[manticle]

Never underestimate the power of the Schwarz

 

[bum]

Even with strawberries.

 

[Bribie G]

Accompanied with Pizza the Hutt