keeping chickens

[Debbie]

Prehapes one for Moorf (if you get a mo), or any other chicken owners out there.
How difficult is it to keep chickens?
I had ducks as a kid which were great but very messy, eat everything in sight. We lived in a town but had a large garden. The problem with them was you had to be back every day before dark or the fox would get at them as they were to stupid to put themselves away. It was no good asking a neighbour to round them up for you as all our neighbours were real city folk, thought we were mad and frankly were a bit scared of the ducks.
We were on holiday recently and went to the Centre for Alternative Technolgies and saw the chickens there and it took my fancy. You need much less space than I thought. What worries me is, although I would never assume or want to rely on someone else to look after my 'pets' I wouldn't want to get into the same situation that we had with the ducks where you worry if you are delayed and can't do anything late into the day.
-In NZ do many people keep chickens-- working on the theroy that your neighbours are less likely to think you mad and know how to help occasionally in an emergancy.

-Do chickens need to be tucked up in bed at dusk or can they do it themself.

-Do local area councils have by-laws on keeping livestock in your garden.

-Is there anything I should be aware of to put me off this latest idea.

Thanks loads Debbie

[adamsat]

Where we live, which is just outside a small rural town, everyone keeps chickens. In fact you're more likely to get strange looks if you haven't got a few wandering around the garden. I think some of the cities have laws about what you can keep in urban areas, from what I've seen hens are OK but not roosters

Our chickens will always find a place to sleep, not always back in the hen house though! We had a few problems with a feral cat recently and lost 5 of them to it. You can also have trouble with stoats and ferrets and we have lost one to an eagle too. On the occasions where we have been away for the day and come back after dark they have mostly put themselves away.

They are really easy to keep. Ours free range and get most of thier food that way although we do feed them some layer pellets first thing in the morning and as we put them away at night. Layer pellets and chick crumble are readily available from supermarkets like New World.

We also have some ducks too - and although they need a bit more space they aren't as destructive as chickens - they don't scratch to find their food.
Ours put themselves away at night, and have so far missed the attentions of the local predators.

[mossum]

Hi Andy

thanks for the info on chooks - I cant wait to get some .
Keen to explore all things green so I think chooks will just be the start

vic

[Debbie]

Thanks Andy,
I should have realised I had defective ducks.
Ours distroyed and ate all the lawn and all the plants in the garden, had purple poo every time any of the fruit bushes were in season and ate the contence of the veg plot. They used to bully the cat and never wanted to go to bed, (hence the fox food). They always managed to bite you in-between your thumb and first finger on that fleshy bit. Basically they were hooligans but great characters, (and we used to earn extra pocket money by hiring them out to neighbours to clear their gardens of slugs and any young bedding plants they had nutured).
Yep, I think I'll try my luck with chickens this time.
P.S Do chickens bite?
Debbie

[Moorf]

Debs - they are so easy to keep/clean/feed and generally look after. Having never had chooks before buying this place (which came with 3 Plymouth Barred Rocks aged about 2/3 yrs) I can honestly say that I wasn't the one who wanted to keep them - Woz did. Now I wouldn't be without them! Whilst they don't have the same sort of "pet" value as the dog they are endearing and I love going out and shouting "choock choock choock" and they come running (literally - have you SEEN a chook run - so cute!) and I take them treats like grated carrots and tomatoes (their fav!).

To answer your questions:--

a) Do they need to be tucked up? No. Not here anyway - they have a chicken coop in their area of the garden (which is actually a large tree-shaded paddock) - they put themselves to bed and whilst we used to lock the coop door we haven't bothered for a few months now and they've been fine. There are lots of cats here but we (and the previous owners) have never had a problem and a rat would eventually work its way into a coop if it really wanted to - again, no probs there yet. Even Summer keeps a respectful distance and doesn't bother them!! Sometimes people lock them in and leave them locked in until midday or so - that's so that you can collect the eggs from their nest box - if allowed out to lay they often will lay in secret places and you'll never find the eggs!! We leave ours to do what they want - mostly the eggs are in the boxes mid-morning and I nip out and check.

b) Not sure on by-laws re chickens, but I know that you can't keep roosters in city limits - and our neighbours did ask if we intended to get a rooster and closely followed this up by comments on how they'd love to ring the necks of the roosters just down the road - they are noisy so bear your neighbours in mind if you go down that route... alternatively (and quieter) is to buy fertilised eggs and pop them under your chooks... !!

c) Things to put you off? Obviously you'll need someone to feed and check them if you're away for a long period of time. If we go away for a weekend or a few days we put out the auto-feeder which drip feeds pellets for a few days. Ours are also free-range and they have a large area to dig so they get much of their food this way. If we are away for longer the neighbours look after them - and we do the same for them. No-one minds at all...

Bear in mind that you'll need some straw, a coop, and if you have a nice garden and want to keeep it that way it's worth keeping them contained in their own "space" - otherwise you might find they are eating your prize veggies and flowers!!!

Yes, they peck. But it doesn't hurt - sometimes if we need to get under a broody chook you get a few hard pecks - but I think I'd do that too if someone was rummaging around in my nether regions!!

You also need to keep their coop relatively clean of poop - the only unpleasant side of it - once a week we brush down the coop, change their straw bedding and replenish their pond! Takes no more than 30 mins. I reckon that's a good job for kids .


The reward? A lovely flock of loyal followers that bring a smile to your face when they come running and lovely yellow yolked rich eggs (I still get excited coming in with freshly laid, warm eiiiiigs) .... can't beat that!! And all three are fed layer pellets (and veggie scraps/treats!) - a huge bag of pellets from the Feed Barn nearby is $20 and lasts at least a month!

Hope that helps!! I've gone from being "not so interested" to "not getting rid of them"... and there's talk we might get 2 more (have been told to keep them in odd numbers - don't know why!).
Moorf

[adamsat]

None of our chickens have taken a bite at us yet. We did hand rear a batch from some fertile eggs we bought from Trademe! Of the 12 eggs, 9 hatched and 8 were roosters! Some of them were really tame, one of them a black Frizzle (they have their feather on backwards - he looked a bit like the sought of thing Sirley Bassey might wear) called Jagged was a real character. He used to wait outside the back door at feeding time and them hitch a ride on the top of your welly as you walked across to the barn.
Sadly he was one of the victims of the cat - just too friendly for his own good. We're now up to 20 odd hens and about 6 roosters - which makes for a pretty noisey morning.

The ducks did make a bit of mess of the veg patch, they are real characters though and quite easy to get used to a routine. The lawn hasn't suffered too much yet, and I've now taught them where the stream is, so they spend most of their day splashing around in there.

We didn't keep any chickens or ducks (not to mention the geese and the turkeys) before we moved out here. It wasn't really practical where we lived before. I think they're great though, and it's not to you start to keep them that you realise they all do have their own personalities.

[Moorf]

He used to wait outside the back door at feeding time and them hitch a ride on the top of your welly as you walked across to the barn.

Hehe - yep, we have one that, if we don't feed them by mid-morning, will sit on the gate with the "Chooks of Hazzard" sign and sqwauk until we feed her... she even ventured out to the garden area the other day but followed me back to the coop when she saw I was laden with tomatoes

They're moulting at the moment and look really shaggy!!

Andy - are you guys selling bales of straw??? Could do with a couple....