ISA Brown

[Dufflight]

Ordered 3 female and 1 male. Should be here on Thursday. Not sure if they will supply the male but it may be easier to just buy these at 12wks old.

[GaryD]

Hi Duff,

Laying chickens are a must for backyard farmers.

Unfortunately, a fox sorted ours out a couple of nights ago. While we live in an urban area our block is uncharacteristically large (at 3000 square metres) and it connects through several other similar blocks to a drainage creek......and foxes live in this environment.

Until their untimely end, our four chickens were producing an egg a day and hardly costing us anything. They were eating BSF larvae, very few pellets and some scratch grain......and whatever they found during their daily wanderings in the back paddock.

We'll re-stock this weekend.

Now, if we could just eat foxes.

Gary

[Dufflight]

You can make a fox trap as part of your chook pen. Open door for the fox to get in and a trap door to keep him there. Then BBQ time.

[Dufflight]

4 females. Hope the dog does not work out how to get into the chook pen.

[GaryD]

Hi,

We replaced the recently departed layers with seven new pullets.....three red ones and four black ones.

I also gained an insight today into why I will never become wealthy.

We went to buy four layers and then, on the spur of the moment, Jan decided we should have six.......and then that was going to leave one left (and Jan decided it just wouldn't be right to leave it on its own) so we ended up with seven. We really only need two but (so the thinking goes) if one dies, that leaves the remaining one on its own.....so we get three. If you're going to have three you might as well have four.

When I questioned the logic of ending up with seven chooks, I was told that we'd get a lot more eggs. Since we only eat the eggs from two chickens, I give the rest to my team at work. Now, they are going to be really pleased because I'm going to have the eggs from the five extra chickens to give them.

Does anyone have a spare gun?

Gary

[Dufflight]

At least out this way feed is easy and cheap. Got a mate that offered me some of his wheat. He has 7tonne spare.

[GaryD]

Yeah......cheap grain is one of the benefits of living in the bush.

Actually, I find that my chickens eat relatively little in the way of grain and pellets when they're doing the free range thing.

We usually give them a few BSF larvae when we let them out of their night quarters in the morning. During the day, they forage and we might give them some greenfeed (a few leaves of silver beet or similar) or some kitchen scraps. At night, we lock them up with a small container of pellets and (of course) they always have free access to clean water.

.....and that's pretty much it.

Gary

[Moby]

Hi all,

We have eight chooks free ranging on 1/2 an acre. I am a chef so get to bring home lots of goodies for the girls.
They get a ten litre bucket each day, mostly fresh food off cuts (salad and veg prep), some cooked stuff (chips mainly). They still come to the back door in the afternoon asking for scratch??
I think they are a bit greedy and too well looked after.
The apprentice was given a dozen eggs for doing me a small favour now he makes a chook bucket for me on my days off because his Mum wants a steady supply! How I love bartering with the excess.

With the small amount of eggs I sell chooks are a free way of disposing of waste, creating compost and providing a free meal every morning. What more could I ask for?

Ben

[Dufflight]

Plus the entertainment value.

[Bidadisndat]

Hi Dufflight,
I've just now read this thread, having returned only 30 mins ago from Qld, where I've been a bit out of touch.
Regarding your ISA Browns: Your supplier won't be able to supply a male to begin breeding with. The ISA Brown is a hybrid, developed in 1978 by the Institut de Sélection Animale, (from whence the name), as a battery hen for egg production, and is the result of crossing Rhode Island Reds and Rhode Island Whites, (though some claim that a variety other than the R.I.White is used). ISAs are known and bred for their high egg production, (approximately 300 eggs per hen in the first year), and we're going to add four of them to our flock for that reason. We currently have a couple of R.I. Reds that have just come into lay, along with three Australorps. The Australorps are beautiful birds and we'll add another three so that we'll have six brown and six black chooks, though we'll probably double that number later. Lots of eggs, but we've got a ready market at the base where I work.

......Bid...