Egg Success!!!

It has finally happened. After months of patiently checking the coop, talking nicely to the chickens, pleading with the chickens and then finally threatening the chickens - we FINALLY have our first egg!!!!!
Hopefully the first of many!!!! I am SO excited!!

More Chickens To Complete Our Little Brood

We have added 3 more chickens to our brood. They are Silkie cross Frizzle bantams and they are gorgeous. I'm totally in love.
Bantams are very cute, look a little bit odd with lots of fluffy bits, and, are very good natured chickens. Our ones were hand reared from birth so they are extra friendly.
Bantams aren't huge layers but will still pop out about 100 eggs a year once they get going. Often their eggs are a blue/green colour too - just to add to their cuteness.
After a little bit of scrapping between the bigger hens - Florence, Ivy, Vader, Cath and Belle all seem to be the best of friends.
Above they are enjoying their favourite afternoon snack of watermelon.
However, none of them have started laying yet!!!

Meet Florence and Ivy

We have two little friends to add to our suburban farm - Yay! So meet Ivy and Florence. These two are ISA Browns that we picked up at the local farmers and craft market.
ISA Browns are a crossbred chicken that are probably the best layers within the chicken family. They lay approximately 300 eggs per year. They have a bit of a reputation of being a bit high strung and sometimes a bit of a bully. But these two are just the opposite and seem to be best of friends. Both are a bit shy at the moment but are getting tamer every day.
Ivy is a bit of a houdini escaped on the first two days - so both have had a wing clipped now and it seems to have solved the problem.

Ivy

Ivy is the more photogenic of the two. Florence keeps hiding behind Ivy when the camera comes out so below is the best we could get!

Florence

Hopefully our first eggs will follow soon! But they are such fun and interesting pets despite also giving us nice, fresh eggs.

We Are Getting Chickens!

When we shifted into our house it came with the most amazing cubby house. It has sensor lights, electricity, power sockets, everything! We had no use for it but felt it was too good to pull down.
Since then we have made the decision to keep some backyard chickens, so our cubby has now been converted into a chicken coop mansion. I haven't fully pimped out the exterior of our chicken mansion yet so you just get a sneak peak at the moment.

The Chicken Mansion

Both myself and my partner grew up having chickens in the backyard. I clearly remember being horrified when I tasted a store bought egg for the first time - it tasted awful! You can not compare home eggs to store bought eggs. Home eggs are far better in not only taste but also size and yolk colour.

Although we both grew up with chickens and everyone says 'its so easy to keep chickens', this is still a first for myself and my partner. We are super excited but also a bit nervous.

To keep chickens you need a secure coop that keeps animals like foxes out, and, keeps the chickens dry and warm. You also need an outdoor area where you can let the chickens out to scratch and forage during day light hours. You should aim for about 2 square meters of space for each chicken.  You can drop down to 1 square meter per chicken if you are really stuck for space. 

Place your coop in a space where the chickens can get lots of sun but also some shade. Ensure that you have looked up your local council website also. Each council has there own rules and regulations about where you can place a chicken coop and how many chickens you can keep. Generally you cannot keep roosters in residential/urban areas.

Nesting boxes

For 3-4 chickens you need about 4 nesting boxes. We have used shallow plastic containers that we picked up cheaply from Ikea. We then built a wooden frame to slot and secure them into. You then fill the nesting boxes with straw. The straw needs to be changed about once per week. By having these lift out boxes we can just lift out the box and tip the whole lot into the compost - the chicken poo will be fantastic for the compost. Being plastic you can also wash them out easily.

The Perch

Chickens won't sleep in the nesting boxes so you will need a perch. Chickens like sleeping on perches as it makes them feel safe and also keeps them warmer. You should have a flat surface rather than a rounded surface for your perch. The reason for this is that it causes their feet to flatten out, which then causes them to sit on top of their feet and this actually helps keep them warmer. The perch should also be made of wood as the chickens have trouble gripping other materials.

There are varying recommendations as to how high you should have your perch above the ground. I have come to the conclusion that as long as it is higher than your nest boxes and at least 30cm above the ground you should be ok.

Ensure that the perch is not above the nest boxes as your nest boxes will end up full of poo.

We have covered the bottom of the chicken coop with lino and then a layer of straw. The straw provides warmth for the chickens, and, the lino makes it very easy for us to clean the chicken coop.

The completed interior of the mansion.

So now all we need is chickens!!!!