Our pets with photos

[Bedlam]

GF, love the colour of those eggs. We only have isa browns and they lay varying brown colours.  I was thinkingitwould be nice to get a couple of white egg layers but wow that blue looks fantastic.  Dont know how or where to get different chickens over here, must investigate. Thanks for sharing.

[judydawn]

I've never seen them before GF, lovely coloured eggs.

[goldfish]

I must say I'm so happy to have this breed again.  We did have them years ago  in the North Parramatta area . . but foxes in the Sydney suburbs are incredible We lost both chooks and ducks.  At first I thought the birds  were being stolen until I caught a fox coming over a high paling fence in the early hours of the morning. 

Bedlam - you could try here for various breeds . . http://wapoultrytraders.proboards.com/

The other layers we have are two Australorps and some some hybrids (I'm guessing a mixture of isa browns/Rhode Island Red) brought home from a classroom hatching project at a school I used to teach at. 

I was visiting, and the chicks were to be "sent back" within a day or so.  Another teacher took some and I took the rest.  Have since persuaded the head teacher there not to pursue this activity any more.  When you think about it, it's worse than puppy farming. Hundreds and hundreds of schools (and multiple classes) do this each year and little regard is given to what happens to the chicks that are hatched.  "Going back to the farm" sounds a pleasant solution but it usually means the chicks are slaughtered on their return (I won't go into the details here, it's too sickening).  The charge is $200-$300 for a week's rental of the incubator, 10 or so eggs, and some chicken food.  A phenomenal money maker. So what does the "farm" do with probably thousands of unsexed chicks returning on a regular basis?  Statistics are that you can expect 50++% male chicks from any hatch. Families who are persuaded by offspring to adopt chickens usually find themselves with one or more roosters and more often than not those birds are then just dumped in reserves, etc.  I can't justify bringing chicks (or anything else) into the world without taking a responsible course of action for those lives.  If it's "life cycle education" you want , , , set up a group (2+ hens and rooster) on site, take responsibility for their care and well being; wait until one of the hens becomes broody; learn how to care for her; wait the 21 days for the chicks to hatch; learn the best care for the chicks and mum; decide in a responsible way what will happen to these chicks as the hen/rooster ratio becomes apparent.  (Soapbox moment over . . . just something I feel somewhat passionate about . .!)

[cookie1]

GF I know how you feel. We used to hatch chickens at school. The very first thing we did was get it in writing from someone that they would take the chickens, even if they were roosters, which they usually were. It only cost us about $25 to hire the incubator. The poultry place specialised in selling chickens and were right near our school.

[gertbysea]

I reckon the schools should do the full life cycle and turn the grown chickens over to the home ec department if they have such a thing and teach them how to kill the chicken, dress it and cook it. Then they would actually learn where there chicken nuggets come from. Oh wait ! There is no chicken in a chicken nugget!

In any case the students should learn the beginning and the end. If the home economics department had thermomixers the students could
Then learn how to turn a carcass into stock.  Win win.

Gert

[cookie1]

That would be good Gert. Usually the little classes do the egg hatching and home ec is in with the big kids. However lots of schools are doing a Stephanie Alexander garden and as well as raising vegies and herbs etc they are keeping chickens. One of the schools here had all the chooks killed by idiots a couple of weeks ago. The kids were broken hearted and said the new chooks weren't the same.  I don't know who kills the chooks if they use them in the primary school, it would be hard to kill ones that had been pets. I'm not sure if I could do it, but I could certainly clean them and prepare them to eat.

I'll never forget seeing Jamie O make nuggets out of all the yuk of a chook and tell everyone that is what they are eating when they buy nuggets.

[mcmich]

Unfortunately we like to protect our children these days from reality and then introduce we don't always come first programmes.
The chick class project would have been introduced with the best of intentions. We learn, grow and move on. 

[gertbysea]

Unfortunately we like to protect our children these days from reality and then introduce we don't always come first programmes.
The chick class project would have been introduced with the best of intentions. We learn, grow and move on. 

Is that a real thing Michele?

Gert

[mcmich]

Apparently so Gert. Children in schools these days have rubber arm bands sayings they don't come first.

[gertbysea]

That is hysterical. What are we doing to are kids??  My mother would never have allowed that one.

Gert

[astarra]

I too am against breeding animals without first having a plan. It is unthoughtful. 

Oh, and yes, my children are growing up with the knowledge of where their meat comes from etc. Miss 7 now goes to the farm with DH and sometimes even joins in the butchering side of the meat. DH wants to hatch some chickens and raise them to give the girls the hands-on experience there too, I just have to decide whether to have chickens OR vege garden as the space we have available cannot do both at once....

[cookie1]

Astarra could you halve the area and use one side for chooks and the other vegies? I had an Uncle who did this and each year he would swap them. He would let the chooks into the vegie side and they would eat all the bits left and scratch it up. Meanwhile he would plant vegies where they were the previous year. He had lovely vegetables.

[gertbysea]

That makes sense cookie. Sorry you are missing your trip but there will be time later.

Gert

[cookie1]

Plenty of time later.

[goldfish]

Astarra, Cookie's suggestion is an excellent one....the coop where they sleep and lay is in the middle and their little "escape hatch" is closed off when you want to reclaim that run as a garden, and their door to the other run opened.

I think I also put a link on the veg garden thread that shows a mandala or keyhole design for more garden space. I don't think you'll regret having the chickens at all (unless they get themselves into the wrong garden at the wrong time. )
Added bonus of the enclosed chicken runs/gardens is that marauding possums, bats, etc. etc. are kept out of your vegetables!!

Cookie, I'm sorry to hear you won't be getting away for now. I certainly hope your BIL makes a full recovery... sounds a pretty stressful time!