Hello, My partner and I moved to 3 acres in northern NSW, Australia, 2 years ago, bought 6 chooks to provide us with eggs and have never looked back! We now have 18 girls and at this moment 3 chicks with more hatching overnight hopefully. I have been reading this forum since we got our girls and feel that I now have some experiences to share! We are trying to grow most of our own vege's and fruit, have a few fully grown avocado trees and lots of bananas and the mango's are just ripening. Hopefully will get a few before the fruit bats find them. We started our flock with just the regular laying hens from the local poultry farm (6 Isa Browns, then 6 white ones then 6 black ones - all crossbred laying hens I think) but have raised a few Barnevelders and other crossbred chooks - whatever comes out of the fertilised eggs we get from a lady nearby. We don't have a rooster as I value my sleep and have close neighbours so when one of the chooks goes broody we get a dozen fertilised eggs, pop them under and see what happens! Hope to be able to post some info on our experiences to help others starting out. Kate and Ian
G'day, and welcome to BYC, Kate and Ian. Glad you decided to our flock. A lot of us were lurkers before joining. ) I'm of the same mindset as you about having a rooster. I currently have 25 hens and no roosters, and I get loads of eggs without all the aggression, fights, biting and feather plucking, crowing in the middle of the night, feeding of non-productive mouths, drop off in egg production, and over-breeding and battering of hens that goes along with having roosters. My hens are stress free and enjoying life without a rooster around. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Cheers.
Welcome to BYC!!! There are loads of members on here…so if you have ANY questions…just ASK!!! Hope you have loads of fun and all your answers answered here on BYC the BEST CHICKEN KEEPING FORUM on EARTH!!
