what type do you find lay the best, is it brown shavers?, and how many chickens per square metre is good when they free range, and do yours fly?
rainrain1,
Nov 30, 5:25am
Brown shaves are lovely chooks,feed and water them well and they will do you well in return, and yes they can fly, but you can clip their wings.just buy as many as you can manage eg how many eggs per day would you use.
vintagekitty,
Nov 30, 5:29am
we have a large area we are going to build a free range pen and a old shed with we are going to convert into a coop with box's and ladders. As for eggs, as many as we can get, as I will give away what we dont use. I thought maybe 30 chickens?. Mind you, when im looking on here, im loving the fluffy and unusual types as well.
aperfect,
Nov 30, 5:38am
Oooh thirty is a lot as a 'starter'.... think about this: a healthy young chook will lay an egg a day (on average, sometimes two a day, sometimes every second day) all summer! Most people I know have about 2-10. One bit of advice from my Grandad.....try not to get just one of any variety. Hens can be superficial, lol, and 'beat up' chooks who look different, so get a couple of a 'type' & they can stick together.
rainrain1,
Nov 30, 5:39am
Yea the fluffys are beautiful too. Ours are free range, but we locked them in their house for 2 weeks when we first got them and now they lay in their boxes every day.I like the chooks, the girls named then all after new zealands top models from telly :-) The only name I remember is Danielle
4mywants,
Nov 30, 5:40am
we have 2 shavers and 2 pekin bantams. I have heard that the shavers never go clucky..it has been bred out of them! they do lay great eggs everyday, but i prefer the pekins nature..more friendly, but tiny eggies. If you had 30 shavers you would potentially have 30 eggs a day! they do eat a surprising amount of food and if free ranging, they will destroy parts of the garden you may not want them to. I would think 12 eggs a day for personal use would be enough. They need lots of fresh water and sunshine, dry shelter and i feed chook chow, mine are free to wander and eat anything, beautiful eggs bright orange yolks and hard shells..enjoy!
vintagekitty,
Nov 30, 5:42am
Oh great advice from your grandpa, ok, sort of like gangs, having "turf" wars!, I havent read my chicken book all the way through yet. Honestly, there are some amazing looking chicken breeds on here!.
4mywants,
Nov 30, 5:42am
If locked in a free range area, they will toatlly eliminate the grass in a surprisingly short time, then you will need to offer greens yourself and feed grains etc...can get expensive unless you have access to leafy greens.
vintagekitty,
Nov 30, 5:43am
Thats great advice, thanks. I did think if I had lots of chickens, i'd have lots of eggs and our local food bank would take all my extras for their clients.
vintagekitty,
Nov 30, 5:44am
Give me a sec and i will take a pic of my potential area, and you guys can tell me how many would "fit in".
4mywants,
Nov 30, 6:07am
great size, and a very pretty space! go for fewer chickens, you can always add some, but yeah they do follow the old pecking order thing and it can be ugly! I would say a dozen, even though it could house more, the damage to the ground would be slower etc. with less chooks, and chook chow is about $30 a sack...mine can all fly to a height of around a metre or a bit more, although they really don't attempt to often. A good idea is to drop a plank on the ground and after a few weeks lift it and then offer what we call the "smorgasboard" to the girls...all the slaters and worms etc..they love the weta "crays".....very entertaining watching them eat, and chase each other.
rainrain1,
Nov 30, 6:15am
If you are penning them into that area 30 chooks is a lot.It's all very happy in the Summer but 30 chooks in the Winter will make one hell of a mess.Go for less 1 dozen perhaps.I don't know...ours have the run of the place away over the paddocks, plus they water themselves at the creek.Must be just penned chooks that fight, ours don't seem to
sue1955,
Nov 30, 6:26am
talking about chooks - I watched my neighbour herd (do you herd chooks?) 3 of her free range ones across our country road today to the other side. I had to giggle as it made me think of the old 'why did thechicken cross the road?' jokes. I really must catch up with her to find out what she was doing.
vintagekitty,
Nov 30, 6:28am
great, good advice, thanks. What about the tree, is it ok for shade?, or should we prune it back?. We are going to lay irrigation down to provide fresh water for them
4mywants,
Nov 30, 7:18am
someone in farming wants to know about chooks too, and one member has said they have 2 runs ,and the chook house in the middle to give the trees and lawn a break every few weeks, sounds like a good plan.
vintagekitty,
Nov 30, 7:54am
that sounds like a awesome plan
uli,
Nov 30, 7:54am
Not sure why we have several of these chicken threads in "Recipes" when so many are worried about "non-recipe" threads here - including poster #1.
I have given a link to "pets" last time this came up - but been told it was not to poster #1's "taste"....
rainrain1,
Nov 30, 8:40am
Hot chicken wings!!
vintagekitty,
Nov 30, 9:08am
like chicken wings, but can you feel ok eating your pets?
vintagekitty,
Nov 30, 9:13am
go away uli, dont take your toxic harpiness in here.
rainrain1,
Sep 19, 8:14am
Oh no I don't eat my lovely chooks....I only eat their ovals :-)
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