urgent advice - CHICKENS from school???

[teagg]

Dear All
as my youngest DD was going to bed tonight - the question arose as to whether we could adopt some chickens from school... apparently they've hatched a load and tomorrow (Friday), the chickens go (somewhere)...
should I get some?  and if so...
how many
what do I need to do
what do I need to get/build
are they expensive
can I get just girls
will they lay eggs for me (you can see where I'm going with this!)
what do I do if they're not a girl or they don't lay
can I keep them in the garden
are they easy enough for my husband to look after when I take the girls on hols for 3.5-4 weeks in July (am I seriously asking that question...)
what other advice would you give me

just fyi - we live in Sydney - but on the northern side, we have a garden (not huge, but not small), I don't have sons (don't know if that's really relevant), I'm a SAHM (most of the time!!), I've never kept chickens before, but we had lambs in the garden in England as kids, and a cockatiel flew in and we looked after that too, in the UK (learnt very quickly to ensure that his cage cover was on the night before... summer dawns are VERY early in the UK!!!!)...

I understand that ticks are a big worry for dogs (one of the reasons we don't have dogs, amongst many), are there any major worries like that for chickens?
are chickens expensive to keep?

if I need to get rid of them... is there somewhere/someone they can be sent to??? (I realise that there probably isn't but someone might have a relative who's a chicken enthusiast and would happily adopt them if we are completely incompetent in doing this....)

Please advise me as soon as you can!!! this is a time critical issue!!!!!! 
with great appreciation,
regards
Gillian

[achookwoman]

Teagg.  Just a few points that might help.
Make good pets if they are girls.  You would need to ask if they were sexed.
Not expensive to keep as will eat scraps and a bit of chicken food,  need fresh water.
Need to be able to lock them up at night and when you are not around,  pet shops sell cages with runs for Chooks. Cats and dogs can be a pest.
If you are not clean with the food, mice/ rats can be a problem.
Most councils won't let you keep roosters.
Will scratch in the garden and make holes for a dust bath.
Will start to lay when about 20 weeks old. Depending on breed, will lay between 3 and 6 eggs a week.
How many depends on the space you have.  2 or 3 good to start with.
If you get rooster,  by chance,  they are difficult to get rid of.
sounds a bit negative ,  but I have kept Chooks for 30+ years.  Love them as do the GC.

[goldfish]

Hi Gillian - I've done just that.  I was visiting a school where I used to teach and they had a similar project.  Parents weren't too keen, so one teacher took 4 and I took 6.  This was a almost 3 weeks ago.

Here are my suggestions.

If you do decide to get some I would get at least 3, preferably 4.  They're very social creatures and one on its own would be miserable I think. - so that number I feel is a good number if all survive.  If one or two don't survive, then you still have your small group.

What do I need to do, get, build (send me your email address and I'll send you a copy of the sheet of information/suggestions I put together for the staff there to give to parents who were interested.  (warmth is essential and will probably have to be kept inside until they're fully feathered.

Expensive? No, not really.  A large (mine's outside at the moment - I'll check the weight later)  bag of chicken crumble (medicated - and this should not be made available to any other chooks, especially laying ones) costs around $35 - later, food scraps and laying pellets

Girls or boys> no there are no guarantees.  I live on the northern beaches and the council does not allow roosters - so all I can do is cross my fingers and hope!!  Otherwise, I shall have to rehome him/them-

Eggs?  yes - when they're around 16-24 weeks of age

There are certainly ways of rehoming roosters and I can send you options later on if you wish.

Gardens are great - we have 2 large Australorps who freerange in our backyard but if you have gardens you don't want them to dig up you'd have to arrange for some barrier between the chooks and the garden - or have them  live in coop or "tractor" (a coop with wheels on one end that you can move around like a wheelbarrow)

Husband?  I think you'll have to ask him . . .

Ticks - yes we have them but so far it' has only been the dogs and the humans who have been victimised by these little brutes.

If you need to rehome all of them, yes, there are plenty of ways to find good homes for them (see above for roosters)

Hope this helps!!

Have just seen Chookie has posted . . but I'll post this anyway.  

[teagg]

Oh ladies - thank you so much for posting... sitting here in our cold house wondering what to do... and I've wanted to get chickens for ages -- and this seems a rather good option...
oldest DD seems worried by it all...
DH is at his father's funeral in the UK - not sure I want to bother him... but then not sure he'd want to turn up to a surprise... aarrgghh....

might try texting him - I ought to give him at least a heads up I suppose...

I'm quite excited to try, to be honest...

I'll pm you my email address as I would be very interested in more details!!!

thank you so much again!!!
Gillian

[Wonder]

Teagg, I would say go for it. I've wanted chickens for ages but I work long hours and just wouldn't be able to fit them in at the moment. There are a few members on here that will give you great advice when they come online.

[obbie]

Teeag, I would  take 4-6, incase 1 dies.

We have 8 chickens, and 1 rooster.
i get 8 eggs per day.

very very easy to look after.

[goldfish]

Gillian good luck with your decision today   depending on where you live it can be difficult to find people willing to take on roosters, but I've been very fortunate in being able to find homes for several that we've ended up with over the years.  If you do decide to go ahead and end up with a male or two, let me know and I'll see what I can do to help...

[achookwoman]

GF, good point about the warmth.  When very young we keep them in a cardboard box with a desk lamp over the top.   

[cookie1]

How exciting for you 

Do be careful and find out if they have been sexed. Most times we hatched chickens at school we had nearly all roosters as the hatchery was trying to get rid of them.
Chooks are gorgeous. Good luck with them.

[Delightful Den]

That is how we got our first chicken.  DD comes home from school and asks if she can go in the chook raffle at school. They hatched 3 chickens in class, there were 20 something kids odds seemed pretty good that we would miss out.  Little did we know that all but 3 other parents said no.

We lived in a unit in East Fremantle with a small back yard. Casey (named after antarctic explorer) was a great pet.  She would let the kids pick her up and carry her around and we got an egg almost every day for 4 years until we moved and couldn't take her with us.  It was easy to find her a home.

[cookie1]

Cute story DD.

[mcmich]

Lovely story DD.

I'm kind of thinking that we could have some chickens now. Or maybe adopt a greyhound?

[judydawn]

That's one extreme to the other Michele 

[goldfish]

Lovely story DD.

I'm kind of thinking that we could have some chickens now. Or maybe adopt a greyhound?

When in doubt - do both!!

[teagg]

Dear All
a quick update on the ongoing delights...
managed to email and text husband... and then this morning received an acceptably neutral view on the matter from him - which of course I interpret as 'go ahead' 
So - the daughter who was sceptical about her sister's suggestion last night, is now coming up with names for the little chicks... we get to school and as I go to the classroom to discuss the matter of adoption and how many, eldest ex-sceptical daughter is in tears as another child in her class (not the chook class) has apparently been promised all of them, and his mother is there to pick them up.
I suggest a split or even minor share or even borrowing for a few weeks and then return... but to no avail.
So I, with a slight realisation that this might be well within my benefit (as we're off on hols in Jun/Jul and DH is on his own...), suggest that we'll look into the matter again after school hols...

Text husband to that effect... no response... he's probably over the moon... or otherwise engaged in more serious matters.

Day spent volunteering at local show... lots of egg-end-products (I'm acting as an unskilled helper in the baking section!)...
Pick up kids...
to discover that the kids have spoken, and we're now apparently on again for multiple chicks... and arrangements are to be made over the weekend as to the chick-exchange...

and that I'm coming down with a stinking cold...

So - as you can see, it's the exciting high life, action packed, and no doubt the envy of all good bodice-ripping, blockbuster, page-turning authors, that we lead here... 

I'll let you know (if you're mad enough to be still reading this!!) what happens (if anything!!) as and when it does!!!

thanks for all the comments and advice...
Gillian x