getting chickens?

[nuddle]

the thought has crossed my mind, we have the room, but I guess would need to build a safe coop type thing. We have a cat...

what would I need to start? and how many chickens is a good number just for us for eggs?
do they lay an egg a day?

how easy or hard are they to look after?

do you need to clean the coop? dust them for mites? feed them special stuff?

[XavysMummy]

Come over to the Chicken Lovers thread...we'll sort you out with all the answers...

I have had chickens for almost a year now and bought our first coop and extended it myself when i got more chickens than originally planned lol...

Laying breeds like Isa Browns & Australorps will lay around 300 eggs a yr. they go off the lay in the cold weather for around 6wks (mine are off the lay now)

Austrlorps are more friendly than Isas, but if you want them purely for eggs Isas are fine.

I have 2 Isa Browns, 1 Black Australorp X and 4 Pekin Bantams which are VERY friendly but lay small eggs... I love my Pekin bantams as they are so friendly and love a cuddle and both mine lay 6 eggs a week so are FANTASTIC layers for such little chickens and one of mine just went broody and sat on eggs and raised 5 chicks.

[quaver]

chickens would be great to have. My parents have chickens, i am no expert but i remember a few things.

A secure cage is important. They are on a 5 acre property and once very early on the chickens were taken ( presumed by fox or wild cat?) We built a door height coop. Dug a trench about a foot deep, wooden posts and put the chicken wire into the trench and covered with cement. We used an old screen door and attatched a vegie patch/chicken run next to it.

when we were kids we used to have bantam (sp) chickens. they are a smaller chickens and produce littler eggs, that i used to love. they also have little feathers over their claws, so they dont look as scary to kids. we had 4 hens and a rooster and we used to get 3-4 eggs a day once the matured enough to start laying, and in season.

they are fairly easy to look after. there are some grains, water that you need to give them everyday but we used to give them heaps of table scraps too. We would cover the floor in hay so that occasionally we would rake it up and change it.

there are some good books out there as i cant remember much more. oh except that when they start to get older they stop laying... we had a lot of freeloading geriatric chickens!

[Electric Rodeo]

the thought has crossed my mind, we have the room, but I guess would need to build a safe coop type thing. We have a cat...

what would I need to start? and how many chickens is a good number just for us for eggs?
do they lay an egg a day?

how easy or hard are they to look after?

do you need to clean the coop? dust them for mites? feed them special stuff?

I have chooks, the thing with the coop would be to have some shelter from weather and chicken wire around to stop anything getting in. Have it totally enclosed cause the chooks can fly out(unless you clip their wings) and things can get in. I don't find our cats bother the chooks (foxes do the buggers) but they do eat the eggs on occasions. In the coop they need a nest box and a roost cause they like to sleep up high.
I have treated mine for mites once when they looked a bit mangy but not since, I just dusted them with mite powder, not sure if you should do it more often:o. They look alright to me.
You would usually get an egg a day and they keep for ages in the firdge when they are that fresh. 6 chooks would be OK to keep you in supply(I'm not sure if your in town or not).
You wouldn't need to clean the cage but then again shovelling out the pooh evry so often(great fertiliser) wouldn't hurt. We have only 3 chooks left after a fox attack and they live in a coop that use to house 1000 chooks so it doesn't need much cleaning.
We feed ours wheat and fresh food scraps.
Chooks are easy to look after. As long as they have fresh water and plenty of grain to pick at. I let mine out free range but they make a mess of the garden.
If you want to let them out, lock them up for a few weeks when you get them so they know where there home is, then when you let them out, they'll go back at sunset to perch in their home.

Hmmm sorry it is all over the place just writing as it comes to mind.
Hope it helps

[SammiAnn]

Hi nuddle :wave:,

Kazc and quaver have already given you some great advice but I just HAD to add my two cents worth on the topic ;)!

I can really only comment on the bantam side. We have pekins. They have the fluffy feathered feet quaver mentioned. My girls love them and they are extremly quiet. My DH just sprayed them for lice, something we've never had to do before. We've had the original hen and rooster now for nearly three years without any pest problems. Our girls are reasonable layers, though the eggs are smaller and they do tend to 'go off' the lay during the cooler months.

Ours love their grain and pellet mix but get extremely excited when our girls take the scraps down, or when our neighbour throws her's over the fence!

As Kazc has said, there is a thread she started solely for chicken worshipping, I'm sure there will be lots of answers for you if you have the time to read through it. Feel free to PM if you have any other Q's.

Sam :flowerz:

PS I LOVE your 'freeloading geriatric chickens' quaver :laughing:! Great mental pic!

PPS Here is the chook thread: CLICK (http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/forums/showthread.php?t=206058)

[nuddle]

thanks for that, will go and check out the other thread