Oi Oi Oi (Aussie Aussie Aussie was already taken)

[Whales&Chickens]

Evening all

I found my way here from Hervey Bay in Queensland, Australia. Google it if you please and my chosen forum name shall make sense.

Never before have I owned chickens but as of 3 days ago I now own one. My wife & 3 children got one each as well bringing our flock (or is it 'brood') to five. So far we have two eggs & a lot of excitement from our five ladies. The coop is not yet finished but it was at least habitable prior to the arrival of Moo Moo, Snoopy, Lilly & the 2 as of yet unnamed others.

This is all part of being more self-sufficient and a good way for all of us to connect with our food & environment as well as stimulating learning & enjoyment for our girls (the children, not the hens obviously). To be honest the learning & enjoyment is definitely for the parents as well.

So far so good.

Cheers,

SDtG

 

[dixiechick]

Welcome aboard! You will SOOO connect to your feathered ladies. You're already in step 3 of your new addiction. You own chickens (step 1), you named them (step2), and now you are a BYC member (step 3). It's hopeless now, you cannot escape!

The only thing left to do is to continuously feed this new found addiction by connecting with the rest of us enablers!

Glad to have you here!

 

[Portia]

Congratulations and

We started with a bunch of mail ordered peeps last March, intending to keep a flock of 6-8 free range chickens, including 1 roo. At last count we have 11 laying ladies, 4 more that are ready to start any day, 4 more girls at 11 weeks old and 1 girl at 5 weeks. Add to that our head rooster, 2 more boys that are 21 weeks old (1 to be rehomed tomorrow) and another little guy that's 11 weeks and will be rehomed once we see a bit more plumage. Oh yeah....and 2, 5 week old wild turkey poults being raised by one of the hens.
So....you see what it can lead to And never a dull moment.
Have fun!!

 

[marytoast]

Better make that coop nice and big! We have lots of enablers here that will encourage "MORE CHICKENS"

When I started 1 year ago I had 3 and now I have 8 chicken , 31 guineas and 2 turkeys!

 

[Whales&Chickens]

Thanks for the warm welcome.

We are fortunate (at this time) that local council laws have placed a limit on our potential enthusiasm. We are allowed a maximum of 20 poultry, NO ROOSTERS. We may become to begrudge their limit in years to come given the rapid presentation of enablers on BYC.

Marytoast: I am curious. Are "Guineas" guinea fowl (short round spotted birds) and if so do you have them for meat or do they lay as well? I should point out that despite my absolute inexperience with poultry I do understand that they would lay, but is it laying for human consumption.

I have posted a brief run down of the construction with images on the forum. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=2599311#p2599311 It ended up being much grander than planned and as such that before I undertake any further construction projections I shall provide complete plans & costing, an accurate time frame & a comparative cost with getting whatever it is in a prefab form. Still Mrs Whales&Chickens is quite happy with it regardless.

 

[marytoast]

One can eat guineas and their eggs. I do neither. I have chickens for eggs. We have guineas to eat all the ticks and other bugs around the farm. They are also great watch dogs. They make quite a lot of noise when a strange car comes around. Here is a great site to learn more about them. Oh, and they are hilarious. They chase my car and just generally look funny.
http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/