Getting started in chickens

I’ve been doing some research on keeping chickens in our backyard. We are allowed six fowls according to the Brisbane City Council:

Household premises with a total area of more than 800 square metres can keep up to 20 fowl, including ducks, geese and peacocks without a permit.

If your residential premises has a total area less than 800 square metres you can keep up to six fowl.

Poultry sheds must be set back at least one metre from a dividing fence.

I’m pretty sure we will just keep chickens as Matt says ducks and geese are really messy. I was expecting to see something in the law about not allowing roosters.

I’m tossing up between Australorps which Jackie French raves about – they are good layers and make good eating. They are docile, great mothers and are good if you have children. Better yet, they are an Australian breed so they are adjusted to our climate. Silkies will leave your vegetable beds alone and make excellent pets for kids. They are placid and tolerate being handled. We eventually decided on three Australorps, so that we’ll have enough eggs for ourselves and some extra to sell or give away.

You’ll need:

• chook house, which includes weatherproof shelter and a perch
• nest and laying box
• dummy egg
• organic feed, eg from Country Heritage Feeds
• water
• shell grit and dirt

Jackie French suggests growing the following plants for chooks:

• Amaranth
• Avocado trees
• Carob
• Chilacayote melons
• Fruit trees
• Grains and maize
• Nuts
• Potatoes (cooked)
• Quinoa
• Sunflowers
• Tree lucerne
• as well as sweet potato, pumpkin, arrowroot, chestnuts, honey locust, taro, yams, kumara, jerusalem artichoke, and chokos.

Others have suggested comfrey and herbs to repel lice and intestinal worms, including feverfew, tansy, rue and wormwood. It’s ideal to plant these around the chook house.

Chickens

• Backyard Poultry (see the Bulletin Board)
• City Chicks
• Heritage Hatching and Hens <– we want a starter pullet at $25 for Australorps
• and also consider Battery Hen Adoption

Chicken coops

• Backyard Chicken Coops – timber
• McCallum’s Chicken Coops
• Royal Rooster – aluminum

Chicken accessories

• Red comb chook feeder

Books

• Backyard Poultry Naturally – Alanna Moore
• Chook Book – Jackie French (excellent)
• Healthy Free Range hens – Neil Christensen
• How to Care for Your Poultry – New Zealand Lifestyle Block
• Keeping Chickens – An Australian Guide

Resources

• Henderson’s chicken breed chart
• How to make your own chicken or poultry feed
• Poultry Hub
• Poultry keeping  on a small scale  (PDF)

The post Getting started in chickens appeared first on Gustoso.