Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[mooandmcgee]

I'm not an enabler, but if you think you'll end up with 5, you are better off getting them all together now and letting them grow up together.  Introducing new girls later on can be a "drama".

We will stay at a flock of three then. I was hoping later to add a coronation or lavender Sussex or possibly a blue Australorp. More then happy with the three little ladies we have and thinking the smaller the flock the less damage to the garden.

 

[User395221]

and thinking the smaller the flock the less damage to the garden.

You'd be surprised what tiny little chicken people can achieve. My new tiny girls could dig for England. They leave their older/bigger sisters for dead in the "destructo-skills" department. They turned the yard into a moon landscape in very short time.

If you want a garden, and you want chickens, you have to separate them. Chickens dig. It's what they do. If you give them a bowl of food, they'll dig in the dirt rather than neatly eat out of the bowl. They will dig up anything "dig-uppable", they have no concept as to what is "good stuff" and what is for them. Having big girls and little girls, I think each could wreck a garden with their skills.

 

[Fancychooklady]

We will stay at a flock of three then. I was hoping later to add a coronation or lavender Sussex or possibly a blue Australorp. More then happy with the three little ladies we have and thinking the smaller the flock the less damage to the garden.

Just a little hint, only my silkies are allowed in the garden. The bigger the feet, the greater the damage.

 

[mooandmcgee]

You'd be surprised what tiny little chicken people can achieve.  My new tiny girls could dig for England.  They leave their older/bigger sisters for dead in the "destructo-skills" department.  They turned the yard into a moon landscape in very short time. 

If you want a garden, and you want chickens, you have to separate them.  Chickens dig.  It's what they do.  If you give them a bowl of food, they'll dig in the dirt rather than neatly eat out of the bowl.  They will dig up anything "dig-uppable", they have no concept as to what is "good stuff" and what is for them.  Having big girls and little girls, I think each could wreck a garden with their skills.  

Hahaha!!! Yep going to stick with just the three of them. At the moment they haven't even looked at our lawn & have only been digging around the bamboo garden where there is a ton of natural mulch.

Just a little hint, only my silkies are allowed in the garden. The bigger the feet, the greater the damage.

Are silkies easier on the garden?

 

[Fancychooklady]

Hahaha!!! Yep going to stick with just the three of them. At the moment they haven't even looked at our lawn & have only been digging around the bamboo garden where there is a ton of natural mulch.
Are silkies easier on the garden?

Most definately . They will still dig a dirt bath but they don't scratch all my wood chips onto the pathways.

 

[User395221]

At the moment they haven't even looked at our lawn

If you've got a nice thick-thatched buffalo, you might keep it. Anything softer, you take your chances.

I don't really have a garden, just wilderness, so I don't care, but I try to create little "treat areas" by putting a paver down and then lifting it up later when all the bugs have congregated underneath. Maybe you try to train your girls that the bamboo area is the place to be by putting their scratch there, or putting pavers down or releasing bugs there. If there's enough going on there to keep them there, they might not wander further afield (don't place any bets on it though LOL)

The bigger the feet, the greater the damage.

I think Flossie's got little feet, it's just that they never stop moving. She's like the little energizer bunny, she's constantly kicking her feet back and forth. The big girls tend to go peck peck peck peck kick, but she's kick kick kick kick.

 

[mooandmcgee]

This is a picture of a small part of the one area they LOVE to hang out in. It's about twice as long and is along the side of the house that we call the junk side. Hahaha!!! (The potted plants are waiting for a friend to pick up and are usually not there. They can ripe it to shreds and no one would notice.

If you've got a nice thick-thatched buffalo, you might keep it.  Anything softer, you take your chances.  

I don't really have a garden, just wilderness, so I don't care, but I try to create little "treat areas" by putting a paver down and then lifting it up later when all the bugs have congregated underneath.  Maybe you try to train your girls that the bamboo area is the place to be by putting their scratch there, or putting pavers down or releasing bugs there.  If there's enough going on there to keep them there, they might not wander further.

OMG you have just given me hope. Yes I will put little treats for them to find over there. What a great idea. My hubby has spent the last 10yrs perfecting our lawn. It is super thick buffalo grass almost like a thick shag carpet. There are garden beds all along the yard that the chooks can have (nothing in there for them to destroy).

 

[Fizzybelle]

This is a picture of a small part of the one area they LOVE to hang out in. It's about twice as long and is along the side of the house that we call the junk side. Hahaha!!! (The potted plants are waiting for a friend to pick up and are usually not there. They can ripe it to shreds and no one would notice.

OMG you have just given me hope. Yes I will put little treats for them to find over there. What a great idea. My hubby has spent the last 10yrs perfecting our lawn. It is super thick buffalo grass almost like a thick shag carpet. There are garden beds all along the yard that the chooks can have (nothing in there for them to destroy).

Nice! We've got a similar area, with little palms and other plants, it's like a mini jungle. The girls love hanging out around there, digging and relaxing under cover, it's fun to watch them

 

[Fancychooklady]

I have lots of garden and I guess it depends on how much space you have , but apart from the occasional momma hen and chicks I only allow silkie bantams in the garden.
My favorite pic of our resident sea eagle.

 

[sjturner79]

I love your pics. They all look very interested in the camera - and I call that a flock. Like a family it doesn't matter how many there are.

There are many of us who wish we could keep a rooster.

I have too many chickens at the moment because I've done some hatching to build my numbers after a fox killed some of my birds and where I now live I can have up to 20. I have orders for some birds. So what I have now is not what I'll end up with. I don't name anybody until I know they are keepers.

So the list of keepers goes.
2x blue Australorps Liz Taylor and Fraidy
2x Barnevelders Cagney and Lacey who crows like a rooster and so did her mother.
2x orpingtons not yet laying hard to name, one thinks she's a D'uccle
1x cuckoo Marans which is actually pure black - Ninja
1 naked neck - Nelly
1 black Australorp I suspect bantam cross
2 Dorkings chicks
2 brahmas hatched this weekend
2 Sicilian buttercups
3 D'uccle - Honey and still considering names
1 Pekin
1 bantam cross - Flubber

I always get to know my chooks before I name them. The unnamed ones above are too new.

Nice flock. Where did you get your Dorking chicks?