How many chicks should I get in the spring?

[Kabootar]

When I learned that you live in Australia I raised the number of chicks to eight

 

[The Backyard Bantams]

When I learned that you live in Australia I raised the number of chicks to eight

What's that supposed to mean lol

 

[Kabootar]

What's that supposed to mean lol

I have been told that there are many hazardous creatures down under. Venomous snakes and spiders and lizards.

 

[The Backyard Bantams]

I have been told that there are many hazardous creatures down under. Venomous snakes and spiders and lizards.

Oh gosh, the stereotypes...I live in the suburbs. I have never seen a venomous snake before, maybe at the zoo. As for spiders, I have only seen little daddy long legs (although I am still scared or them) Lizards? Never seen those either. My only problem is foxes, but they will be in a fox proof coop. I’m not really worried about predators, mainly sicknesses in the chicks.

 

[PDXJULES]

Oh gosh, the stereotypes...I live in the suburbs. I have never seen a venomous snake before, maybe at the zoo. As for spiders, I have only seen little daddy long legs (although I am still scared or them) Lizards? Never seen those either. My only problem is foxes, but they will be in a fox proof coop. I’m not really worried about predators, mainly sicknesses in the chicks.

I assume you need to choose heat-hardy breeds. If you want them mainly for eggs - production can vary wildly by Breed, and I wouldn't choose Bantams. Up to you. Have fun!

 

[The Backyard Bantams]

I assume you need to choose heat-hardy breeds. If you want them mainly for eggs - production can vary wildly by Breed, and I wouldn't choose Bantams. Up to you. Have fun!

It does get relatively hot here, in summer, not as hot as up north. Melbourne is one of the cooler cities. In the peak of summer, at the hottest time off the day it would be 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) but in all the other months it’s just mild or warm. The coop is quite shady.

As for breeds, I’m mainly into bantams because they are small and cute, and I can have more precious little chickens in less space.

Chickens for me are cute pets - with the benefit of eggs. So whil I do want them for eggs, I’m more focused on a cute breed than a master egg layer like an ISA brown.

I was thinking of getting a couple bantam australorps - they were bred here in Australia, so they are heat and cold hardy. They also lay very well, often 6 eggs a week, and lay better in extreme heat and cold. They are cute! I’m also interested in silkies, not for eggs but just cmon, they are so wacky and cute. Oh, and I like ameracuanas because they are good layers of blue eggs. And Dutch bantams, they are just so tiny, but lay pretty well for their size.

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

Hmmmmmmmm
I would get 2-3 chicks, as you want them all to be comfortable. Maybe a sexlinked breed like Cream Legbars or non production strain sexlinks? Those would delete the possibility of a rooster. You would also have to get a very heat tolerant breed, as I’m pretty sure Australia is on the warm end of the spectrum. And they would also need to be cold tolerant, as you guys experience both ends of the spectrum to be honest.

 

[The Backyard Bantams]

Hmmmmmmmm
I would get 2-3 chicks, as you want them all to be comfortable. Maybe a sexlinked breed like Cream Legbars or non production strain sexlinks? Those would delete the possibility of a rooster. You would also have to get a very heat tolerant breed, as I’m pretty sure Australia is on the warm end of the spectrum. And they would also need to be cold tolerant, as you guys experience both ends of the spectrum to be honest.

I am interested in funny bantam breeds. As I said, australorops are perfect for here. I don’t really want sex links. It doesn’t get too cold here, I’ve rarely ever seen it freeze at night. It is the middle of winter now, but the days are pretty mild. I will focus on more heat tolerant bantams though.

 

[The Backyard Bantams]

We got 7 little chicks 2 weeks ago, 4 silkies, a lavender Araucana and 2 EE girls (who were professionally vent sexed.) I was planning on only getting bantams, but the EEs and Araucana were just so cute...

I told myself I would be decisive, not waste time, and enjoy getting to see chickens and choosing the nuggets. Yeah right. It was such a blur. I did catch a glimpse of the most gigantic chicken I haven ever seen, aka orpingtons, but only saw the silkies out of the corner of my eye.

When we came to the house we were concerned we had taken a wrong turn. I don’t know how to explain this, but up to the front gate was an absolute junk yard. Like, stuff piled up 2m high, equipment, dead trees, old furniture....we called the guy to make sure we hadn’t ended up at a serial killer’s lair or something. Then, out of nowhere, he came out of an entrance I hadn’t noticed before. We followed him in. We walked along a narrow, twisted path lined with junk. It was like when’s God helped Moses part the Red Sea, except the Red Sea was trash

As we turned a corner and came into the back, I saw a chicken. It was an ISA brown. I almost screamed in excitement. I haven’t really seen many chickens other than mine before. But......there were more! The yard was huge, And, you guessed it, very messy. There was a large flock of GIANT chickens (orpingtons) just snacking. Dozens of wacky chickens were just doing their chickeny business in very small rabbit hutches and cages. There’s was a shed and a bunch of bee hives, with some polish and silkie chickens. One of my biggest regrets was not seeing them properly. I could’ve seen an adult silkie IN PERSON, in all her fluffy glory!

He had promised us the night before some Mille Fleur d’uccles. He had none, and we were the first customer, so no idea what happened. There were lavender Araucanas, EE’s, ISA’s and silkies. I was hoping for some lavender, white, or splash silkies. He only had mixed colours. I wanted to carefully look over the chicks, making sure they were healthy, trying to find ones that looked like girls. YEAH RIGHT.

I was so overwhelmed by the tiny chicks and chickens, my mum was hurrying me up, I was trying to make a good decision...so we grabbed the chicks. We had our 8 nuggets, mum hands the guys the $80.. he goes “nah actually they are $20 each.” I politely remind him the ad said $10. He goes, “no they were always $20, I just put $10 to attract buyers, I have quail and other stuff too.” There were no quail on the ad. Then he goes, “my friend mike puts ads up for free, and then makes open pay hundreds. I didn’t want to be dishonest.” My mum only had enough for 7 chicks on her, so we had to put a precious silkie back.

The guy also had a couple sebrights. Now, I know sebrights are tiny, but I genuinely thought they were like, 8 weeks old. They were at POL!! I begged my mum for us to get just ONE, but she said no. Now I’m glad we didn’t! In fact, he said he sold POL lavender Araucanas for $300 each. So I suppose I was lucky to get little “Stegalls”. They are a bit rare. Now that I think about it, I can’t imagine what he would have charged me for a sebright

It’s not it’s like the guy committed a horrible crime or anything lol, but I was a bit a disappointed!

A N Y W A Y...........

They all seem happy and healthy, I’m hoping for good ratio of girls!! At least I know the two EEs are girls, I have a hunch that two more are also females! The guy also said he’d swap roos for hens when they are adults (which is wonderful bc finding good homes for roos is incredibly hard, I’m not allowed any) but now I’d bet a kilo of mealworms that he’ll make us pay

So there’s my chicken rant on how we got the nuggets. That took me 45 mins to write oop- what am I doing with my life.......?

If anyone is interested, I’d be happy to give an update when they are older!

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

We got 7 little chicks 2 weeks ago, 4 silkies, a lavender Araucana and 2 EE girls (who were professionally vent sexed.) I was planning on only getting bantams, but the EEs and Araucana were just so cute...

I told myself I would be decisive, not waste time, and enjoy getting to see chickens and choosing the nuggets. Yeah right. It was such a blur. I did catch a glimpse of the most gigantic chicken I haven ever seen, aka orpingtons, but only saw the silkies out of the corner of my eye.

When we came to the house we were concerned we had taken a wrong turn. I don’t know how to explain this, but up to the front gate was an absolute junk yard. Like, stuff piled up 2m high, equipment, dead trees, old furniture....we called the guy to make sure we hadn’t ended up at a serial killer’s lair or something. Then, out of nowhere, he came out of an entrance I hadn’t noticed before. We followed him in. We walked along a narrow, twisted path lined with junk. It was like when’s God helped Moses part the Red Sea, except the Red Sea was trash

As we turned a corner and came into the back, I saw a chicken. It was an ISA brown. I almost screamed in excitement. I haven’t really seen many chickens other than mine before. But......there were more! The yard was huge, And, you guessed it, very messy. There was a large flock of GIANT chickens (orpingtons) just snacking. Dozens of wacky chickens were just doing their chickeny business in very small rabbit hutches and cages. There’s was a shed and a bunch of bee hives, with some polish and silkie chickens. One of my biggest regrets was not seeing them properly. I could’ve seen an adult silkie IN PERSON, in all her fluffy glory!

He had promised us the night before some Mille Fleur d’uccles. He had none, and we were the first customer, so no idea what happened. There were lavender Araucanas, EE’s, ISA’s and silkies. I was hoping for some lavender, white, or splash silkies. He only had mixed colours. I wanted to carefully look over the chicks, making sure they were healthy, trying to find ones that looked like girls. YEAH RIGHT.

I was so overwhelmed by the tiny chicks and chickens, my mum was hurrying me up, I was trying to make a good decision...so we grabbed the chicks. We had our 8 nuggets, mum hands the guys the $80.. he goes “nah actually they are $20 each.” I politely remind him the ad said $10. He goes, “no they were always $20, I just put $10 to attract buyers, I have quail and other stuff too.” There were no quail on the ad. Then he goes, “my friend mike puts ads up for free, and then makes open pay hundreds. I didn’t want to be dishonest.” My mum only had enough for 7 chicks on her, so we had to put a precious silkie back.

The guy also had a couple sebrights. Now, I know sebrights are tiny, but I genuinely thought they were like, 8 weeks old. They were at POL!! I begged my mum for us to get just ONE, but she said no. Now I’m glad we didn’t! In fact, he said he sold POL lavender Araucanas for $300 each. So I suppose I was lucky to get little “Stegalls”. They are a bit rare. Now that I think about it, I can’t imagine what he would have charged me for a sebright

It’s not it’s like the guy committed a horrible crime or anything lol, but I was a bit a disappointed!

A N Y W A Y...........

They all seem happy and healthy, I’m hoping for good ratio of girls!! At least I know the two EEs are girls, I have a hunch that two more are also females! The guy also said he’d swap roos for hens when they are adults (which is wonderful bc finding good homes for roos is incredibly hard, I’m not allowed any) but now I’d bet a kilo of mealworms that he’ll make us pay

So there’s my chicken rant on how we got the nuggets. That took me 45 mins to write oop- what am I doing with my life.......?

If anyone is interested, I’d be happy to give an update when they are older!

That guy sounds, first of all rude, and possibly not quite right in the head. The mess you described made me a bit worried, like in a horror movie when they find the broken down building with the murderer in it.
Baby chicks are not worth 20 dollars, especially silkies that don’t have ‘correct’ coloring. I wouldn’t buy from him again if I were you, without getting a lawyer and a video camera that is. That guy cheated you and your mom out of $70 bucks, but I mean it worked, he got the money.

An update when they are older would be nice.

( 10 Australian dollars equals 7 ish USD, for anyone that doesn’t know.)