Before our move to Tasmania, we had had no experience with chickens and I was surprised at just how much I really really liked them!
They are hilarious creatures – free entertainment really – and they totally pull their weight when it comes to earning their keep!
When we first moved here, my parents came to visit to check out our new surrounds and my Dad took it upon himself to clean out the coop and run – and got us our first 6 chickens as a housewarming present! (Thanx Dad!) It was so exciting.
Four years later we have had chickens come and go, but one of our original girls, Screecher, is still with us.
She is quite tame and doesn’t mind a cuddle but when you pick her up – she screeches!!
We don’t have too many problems with our girls. They are Houdinis when it comes to getting out of where they should be and into where they shouldn’t be!! Trust me when I say you don’t need them in your vegie garden!! Apart from hoovering everything in sight, they are like mini back hoes the way they dig! One of them (I have my suspicions this one) –
got out of the chicken run, under (or over) the fence that separates the two halves of the yard, up to the strawberry patch and found the one hole in the netting and had a perfectly lovely couple of hours rotary hoeing my strawberries!! And then put herself back as if nothing happened!! Complete Strawberry Devastation! The strawberry harvest was sad this season and the above bird is VERY lucky she didn’t end up on a sandwich!!
We once had a possum visitor that made itself comfy in one of the nests. It had no inclination to leave and it was quite the event evicting it!! The girls weren’t keen on their new coop-mate and found a new nesting place to lay eggs for about a week before I found them and retrained them back to their proper nests!
Between the chickens and the compost we have very little kitchen waste. They are like little garbage disposal units with attitude!!
They get plenty of fresh garden greens and I can pick up free out of date bread from the local supermarket if I ask at the right time. I also like to cook them seed/grain cakes and make them warm mash in the winter. As a result, the eggs taste divine!
We have plenty of eggs for ourselves and we sell the excess to family and local friends. They are always in demand and I love having eggs ‘on tap’ to use whenever it takes my fancy.
The coins we get paid for the eggs get put aside which pay for their feed, with the rest saved for some specific thing we want to do or buy. We put in two screen doors and screens on the windows from the egg money. The egg money also bought a book of movie tickets!! Awesome chickens!
Chickens can be kept in smaller areas in normal backyards (if your council allow it) quite successfully. I highly recommend having them – they are not difficult to take care of and there are very few issues we have come across. I think the worst is when they die as you get so attached!! (Yes – we cry) Clean water, safe area to scratch around, nice mix of pellets and scraps, a place to lay and roost and that’s all you need – er – plus your chickens of course!!
Go for it!
Cheers
