Good for you George.

I would like to keep chooks but I think there is a bit too much Heptachlor Dieldrin and DDT on my propety

OK, can keep 2-3 chooks and wouldn’t need more than that.

Not eating a chook after stop laying, make army boots look tender in comparison. (chinese neighbor served an an old chook up at a dinner.)

So. . .any idea of suitable breeds? Not bantams, but not a huge breed either, good layers.

St George of the Garden wrote on May 30^th, 2013 at 7:03pm:


Leghorns are good - I've got one that's at least 6 years old and still laying.  In that time we've seen plenty of Isa browns come and go.  The leghorns don't lay quite as often as the Isa Browns, but they have a much longer laying life, and total lifespan.  Perfect for a personal egg supply.

As well as eggs and manure and getting rid of scraps chooks also make a great “tractor” just turn them into a vege bed you want cleared.

... wrote on May 30^th, 2013 at 7:37pm:


Agree re the Isa Browns.

We kept them. Plenty of eggs, nice ones too.

But they do 'book off' fairly regularly.

Worst thing about living in town in a unit, I do miss the animals
and birds we had on the horse-property I lived on previously.

John Smith wrote on May 30^th, 2013 at 9:02pm:


Keep mongoose on the farm. 

*******

I think chickens are the last of the dinosaurs, aren't they? Still have scales on their legs.

My brothers cockerel was brutal on his hen harem.

If you don't think Nature is cruel in tooth and claw ~ then you've never observed chickens pecking the lowest in their pecking-order. Skinned alive.

**********

Needless to say, backyard chook keepers are the biggest neighbourhood cat-killers in the country.

It's a vexed question that hasn't really been answered yet by the authorities:

Is it legally acceptable that your cat occasionally enters your neighbour's property?

Some will say 'no' ~ and some, myself included, will say 'yes'.

I would have the law state that it's illegal to kill a cat on your property.

Over the years I've trapped cats on my property and taken them to the vets where at no cost they are checked for a microchip, and then put down if no one claims them.

Simple, clean, and fair.

And as for bitching about your cat 'invading' his property ~ it's nothing like the 'invasion' of crowing roosters at 4 in the morning.

I have a Lebanese neighbour who keeps chickens, and boasts that he kills cats on his property with a brick.

Needless to say I would have him frog-marched up the steps of an airliner and sent back to his goat-fking country.

   

Quote:


I was lumbered with a baby chick a few years ago. It turned out be a rooster. He hated everyone except me, but his crowing was a problem.

He was free range during the day and acted like a guard dog, but at night I put him in a cage with a dark cloth over him so he'd think it was night until about 7 am.

The neighbours rarely heard him. He was a lovely animal. It's the second rooster I've had as a pet and when they're on their own without hens to distract them - their behaviour isn't much different to a dog.