- Apr 23, 2013
- 16
- 1
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Hi, my name's Ursula I live in Dunedin, New Zealand with my husband, Chris, 15 month old daughter, Bella (Isabella) and our boarder (and good friend) Aimee, we have another baby on the way who should arrive in November as long as nothing more goes wrong. we live in the suburbs and have about 400sqm of garden/lawn in the backyard (around 6500sq ft for the Americans). We're looking at getting some chickens and rabbits for eggs and meat. we can have a rooster as far as I have been able to figure out as long as the neighbors don't object, I figure if I can keep him from crowing at disgusting o'clock in the morning and share some eggs with them we should be OK. I've been thinking I'd like Araucana's, I've read they are a dual purpose bird so good for meat and eggs, which is what we want & I really like the idea of the coloured eggs.
I'd also eventually like some other types of birds, for meat and/or eggs, maybe quail. I like the idea of ducks and pheasants or partridges too but don't know if we have enough space/facilities for them here. would love peacocks but not until we can afford to move to the country and have plenty of space for them (and more distant neighbors). have thought about dove or pigeon as well.
locally we can get:
quails
Ducks
Pheasants
Partridges
Guinea Fowl
Turkeys
Geese
Chickens (obviously)
and even a couple of emu! (not that we have space for those!)
we have quite high fences around our backyard (about 1.8m/6ft) and will be putting in gates the same height to keep them from the front.
If anyone has any suggestions on getting started with chickens, or can answer any of the questions below I'd appreciate the advice.
what type of housing might work best with only 400sqm of backyard? given that I'd still like to be able to use the backyard and not have no lawn.
what other types of birds might work well in that small a space along with chickens?
what do people think of Araucanas for dual purpose when just starting out?
how many birds should I start with?
what breeds of birds would be good for our situation?
I'd also eventually like some other types of birds, for meat and/or eggs, maybe quail. I like the idea of ducks and pheasants or partridges too but don't know if we have enough space/facilities for them here. would love peacocks but not until we can afford to move to the country and have plenty of space for them (and more distant neighbors). have thought about dove or pigeon as well.
locally we can get:
quails
Ducks
Pheasants
Partridges
Guinea Fowl
Turkeys
Geese
Chickens (obviously)
and even a couple of emu! (not that we have space for those!)
we have quite high fences around our backyard (about 1.8m/6ft) and will be putting in gates the same height to keep them from the front.
If anyone has any suggestions on getting started with chickens, or can answer any of the questions below I'd appreciate the advice.
what type of housing might work best with only 400sqm of backyard? given that I'd still like to be able to use the backyard and not have no lawn.
what other types of birds might work well in that small a space along with chickens?
what do people think of Araucanas for dual purpose when just starting out?
how many birds should I start with?
what breeds of birds would be good for our situation?
