Chickens at home

[#jonesy]

Mine are all finally laying. 2 small 2 medium and 2 larger eggs is the maximum we get a day. On average it is about 4-5 a day

[2010banditsa]

My missus has diversified into ducks- great tasting and the eggs are good too. We have around 11 chooks, 3 ducks , 4 ducklings and 12 eggs currently being sat on. The drake gives the ducks a fair hammering, casanova he aint.

[GGV8Cruza]

We lost a chook the other month, just got sick one day and was not going to recover so I fixed her up. Went and got another two Isa Browns and they have fitted right in

The chooks used to put themselves to bed every night but of late they have been roosting outside in the open, when its going to rain I put them away and luckily the local fox's have not visited. Still getting a great number of eggs and the friends and neighbours are happy with a few now and then

GG

[#jonesy]

My 6 have slowed down and only getting 3 a day. Small medium and large. The middle one is the supermarket size.
The Silkies keep going clucky every month or so. So it goes in solitary for a few days. A 1 x 1.5m cage with only a perch and nowhere to next. 2 days and they are cured. Seems a bit cruel but gets the quickest result which is better for their health. I did try all the other methods.

One of the Isa Browns learnt how to peck a small hole in the eggs and suck out the contents. She didn't eat the shell and left only a small hole. We were losing one or two a day. Tried golf balls as a decoy and a sloping next box so the eggs rolled out of each. Once I figured out who it was I suggested a roast dinner but the kids wouldn't let me. So a few weeks in solitary didn't work. A last chance effort was to file a bit of the beak to get rid of the sharp point.  Luckily this worked.

[Troopy_03]

my 10 chooks and one duck have been on strike for about 6 weeks... Actually I think a couple are past it anyway, but I'm not allowed to lop off their heads. Might just leave the axe leaning up against the chook pen for a couple of days though 

[Woore]

Worth giving these girls a hand if you can, I'm getting a couple soon to add to my 7 girls, theyre still layers too, no doubt they need a break!

http://greendean.com.au/the-kfc-project/

[scrapsD40]

my 10 chooks and one duck have been on strike for about 6 weeks... Actually I think a couple are past it anyway, but I'm not allowed to lop off their heads. Might just leave the axe leaning up against the chook pen for a couple of days though 

Shoot one, then watch how quickly the rest start laying.

[jayjay]

my 10 chooks and one duck have been on strike for about 6 weeks... Actually I think a couple are past it anyway, but I'm not allowed to lop off their heads. Might just leave the axe leaning up against the chook pen for a couple of days though 

Menopausal/ geriatric  chooks are a problem- especially in the suburbs. Don't know about anyone else, but I am not particularly interested in feeding geriatric chooks that don't provide a return on investment for the feed I pay for! Just out of interest, how do others in the suburbs, dispose/despatch of chooks that have past their use-by date?

[scrapsD40]

Menopausal/ geriatric  chooks are a problem- especially in the suburbs. Don't know about anyone else, but I am not particularly interested in feeding geriatric chooks that don't provide a return on investment for the feed I pay for! Just out of interest, how do others in the suburbs, dispose/despatch of chooks that have past their use-by date?

Send them to Wed arvo bingo! I've seen amazing results.

[Troopy_03]

Send them to Wed arvo bingo! I've seen amazing results.

Haha, when I was a kid, my old man used to do that. He'd get us to knock off their heads, pluck and clean them, then he'd take them to the pub on a saturday morning and raffle them off. But he never went to the same pub again, too soon after a raffle. 

[tk421]

Menopausal/ geriatric  chooks are a problem- especially in the suburbs. Don't know about anyone else, but I am not particularly interested in feeding geriatric chooks that don't provide a return on investment for the feed I pay for! Just out of interest, how do others in the suburbs, dispose/despatch of chooks that have past their use-by date?

Natural death or my kids would never let me forget..  I let ours out to free range, so they perform pest control. Keeps the slugs and snails down, and fertilise the garden, so I see that as return on investment.

[Fox67]

We haven't had an egg from our 5 chooks for two weeks now, very frustrating. They are about 18 months old and seem to be going through a heavy malt stage, feathers grow back fairly quickly though.

[tk421]

We haven't had an egg from our 5 chooks for two weeks now, very frustrating. They are about 18 months old and seem to be going through a heavy malt stage, feathers grow back fairly quickly though.

No eggs whilst they're molting is normal. Just feed them decent food. All their energy is going into making new feathers

[#jonesy]

I forgot to add the photo the other day.
The middle egg is the supermarket size.

[GGV8Cruza]

Scratch 1 chicken. Mr fox was hungry and one of the chickens decided that the coup was too full at night so she decided to roost outside the fence. Bad choice

All others are doing well and have dealt with the trauma well. So did the kids

GG

[SambOz]

We have get various chooks over the years. Best are Isa Browns, very quiet and good layers but very important is not to keep them over 2, very maximum 3 laying seasons - our experience.

Reasons - they drop off laying (numbers of eggs) after first season and by third are getting egg bound etc etc.
You feed as much feed($) to a poor layer as a good one, might as well feed a good layer.

Bantams will go clucky every five minutes, we didn't keep them unless a breeding program was on the cards and had a rooster.

Best eggs ever 

edit..meant to add, if your chooks are laying all around the place it will be because the nesting boxs aren't suitable, IME they like darker well enclosed protected nesting boxs.

[Paddler Ed]

Mate has managed to get all of his kids/family involved in chook shows... some have done very well over the years ($$$ as prizes, and the birds are worth a bit)



Some of his families birds:

[tracker]

Chooks look great when covered in gravy....and roast spuds......

[SambOz]

Nice chooks Ed, who can argue tracker..........

[GGV8Cruza]

Bloody foxes

Now dont need anyone to look after the chickens while we are away over christmas. Buggers didnt go away the other night and we lost all 4 in one night. For 18 months we have had no problems, looks like a new fox family has moved into our area. Might be time to get the 22 down from up home

Next job when we get home is to build a new pen fully enclosed and stock with a new flock.

GG

[D4D]

Bugger, pretty upsetting for the kids. Sounds like time for the 'Harfa Sniper' to come out to play.

[britts]

Fox pups are out of the dens in the last month or so,

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[GGV8Cruza]

Took the plunge today and went and picked up 4 new chooks. Will get them used to the Taj for sleeping quaters for the next week prior to release into the daytime larger run.



We must of got a good one because after 3 hours of being in its new home we get our first egg.

GG

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[GGV8Cruza]

Not having a good run with our chooks. The only one that was laying decided to have a long rest and it was a really friendly chook.

We now have one Isa Brown and a couple of marems

One of the marems is huge. Might have to grab a couple more Isas to equal out the pecking order

GG

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[Bad Scott]

Not having a good run with our chooks.

GG

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Did you call any kanTong, KFC, Sunday, Red, etc