Browse Forums Eco Living Anyone keeping Chickens? 2Feb 26, 2011 3:15 pm 1. 1 Steggles 2. None 3. Fisher and Paykel 4. Defrost before eating ...as you were. mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard Re: Anyone keeping Chickens? 4Feb 26, 2011 3:43 pm to_do_list 1. 1 Steggles 2. None 3. Fisher and Paykel 4. Defrost before eating ...as you were. Try Erin, she has chooks. Re: Anyone keeping Chickens? 6Feb 26, 2011 6:03 pm Quote: 1. What sort of chickens do you have and how many? 2. Approx how many eggs do they lay per week? 3. Did you build a coop or buy a prefab one? If possible do you have pictures? 4. Any helpful hints about keeping chooks would be appreciated Not any more, we have smaller yard here but in old place we had chooks for many years. 1. Not sure what sort - red, white, brown or black. We had aprox a dozen at any given time. 2. In peak season, almost an egg a day per bird. Less after they are 2 years old. They lay from late August until about May, stopping almost entirely over the winter. I guess this is natures way of ensuring offsprings survival, ie newly hatched chicks do not die of cold. I have been told you can extend the laying time by feeding them warm mush in off-season - tricks chooks' bodies into thinking it is not winter or something - cant say I ever tried it. 3. DIY version here - used an old corrugated iron water tank for the coop, cut out arch at front and holes to secure rails for roosting. Fence formed one side and then 2nd hand tin and chicken wire on other 2, (only needed 3 sides as tank formed the back)2nd hand screen door for entry, their water trough was the old cement trough from the original laundry of house. If I say so myself, it was a masterpiece of recycling. I wish I had pictures but not sort of thing you make sure you have photographic record of before moveing house. 4. Do not get a rooster. Creates unnecesary noise with no increase in production (bit like males in general, haha ) Also many people prefer unfertilised eggs. Also, if you have chicken wire or similar grow a creeper on outside (where chooks cant chew the roots) We grew bourganvillea on ours. once it was established never watered it again and got natural fertiliser from the chooks (see, everything got recycled ) and was covered in bright purple flowers almost year round. Re: Anyone keeping Chickens? 7Feb 26, 2011 11:40 pm Get cross breed chooks as they lay better and don't go broody as much (stop laying). The big black ones are Australorps so an aussie breed which is friendly with kids. Red ones aren't bad. White ones are an American cross breed and are much more flighty and aggressive. Remember they only lay well for about a year then the rate of egglaying goes down (eggs get bigger though) so better to only start with 2 or 3 (which easily kept our family of three in eggs) and then add a chook or two each year. If your chickens go broody, this is because of an increase in ambient temperature raising their body temperature (which makes them think they are laying fertilised eggs). Quickest way to solve this is take away their water overnight and when you give it back in the morning, crush one aspirin into it and leave it for one day. The aspirin lowers their body temperature (same as it works for fevers in humans) and the start laying again. Building tip No. 3: A raft slab will not get you down a river. A waffle pod slab does not go with maple syrup. My building thread https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=53000 Re: Anyone keeping Chickens? 9Feb 27, 2011 8:35 am Over the years we have kept many different varieties... Found that isabrown product the best egg for food conversion rate. A small chook that is hard to kill by accident. These isa's will product 260- 280 eggs a year... If they get slow in the laying department buy a can of 'good quality' dog food, or if you have dry food for dogs add some water... Those are about 2 years(now) old and still pump out an egg a day or 2. We got them as day olds.. that way the beaks haven't been cut, but they have been sexed. No roosters... unless you want to breed your own. Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Anyone keeping Chickens? 10Feb 27, 2011 11:52 am What's the smallest area for keeping 2 chooks ? We've got only approx 50m2, in the 'burbs, but DW'd love to have them. Chris My father rode a camel, I drive a car, my son flies in a jetliner, his son will ride a camel.Saudi saying Re: Anyone keeping Chickens? 11Mar 13, 2011 9:24 pm You could have a heap more chooks an an area that size! Check out a site, backyard poultry. It has a heap of info. As for fertilised and non-fertilised eggs - you cannot tell the difference! I never have and there is little difference in how the egg looks (although I have been told that there is a little white spot in the yolk that you can sometimes see and is bigger when fetilised - I haven't seen it). I do notice a change in flavour as the season goes on (I have ducks and the eggs tend to get stronger in the new year). I think that's just people freaking out about finding a chick feotus... Re: Anyone keeping Chickens? 12Mar 14, 2011 10:16 am Gone ducky - at one stage we had a rooster and we could tell the difference between fertilised and non-fertilised eggs - yes,the eggs looked the same from the outside but the white speck thing in the yolk was bigger and sometimes blood stained, even in eggs which were collected every day - ie which were refridgerated after less than 24 hours. I had chickens - cant speak for ducks but am surpised its not the same. Re: Anyone keeping Chickens? 13Mar 14, 2011 12:38 pm I didn't mean the outside of the egg for changes - I meant that white spot! I have a drake and I have never had a blood stained egg. I have had what may be a double yolker but one has shrivelled up and is brown, which is not nice when you go to fry the egg (and I hope its a double yolker)! We have large ducks so their yolks are always big! But that's about it. We have some new ducks but the drake doesn't get on all of them regularly - he has his favourites! The eggs all start to taste strong from about January onwards and I really can't eat them. Better off in baking than fried. Appreciate that Chippy. I won’t do sand under pavers and will connect all up under pavers, however I was going to do: 1) Roadbase compacted with manual hand tamper 2)… 10 30202 8 47238 I haven’t. But have a Lowe Design home. Not only did I find Matt Lowe patronising and a bully, but the home is NOT TO CODE. I have water coming through the bricks… 1 35421 |