Do you recommend any particular race system, and/or local supplier for the appropriate structures for housing chickens in suburban back yards? Much rather support local business and do the right thing and lets be honest the poo for the vege patch is almost as valuable as the eggs.

Also I assume being social animals you should get at least a pair?

Yes, I’d say three is ideal. They need company to stay healthy, that’s for sure.

About the race and housing, you don’t need very much at all for a shed housing three chickens because they’ll only need one roost, one or two nests at most because they prefer to share and space for themselves protected from the elements. You could build one upwards like a cubby house so that it takes up much less space on the ground and then build fencing any shaped space around it. It’s the race that will take up the room but
in no time they will eat it down and be having dust baths in what will be devoid of greenery.
I’d build my race around some pine or fruit trees because it looks far more attractive when
all the grass is gone plus they love hopping in branches. You could also split the area in half for rotating eaten down areas.Some people use mobile systems. But most well looked after backyard layers are spoilt with dinner scraps besides their normal pellet feed.

If you are a handyman or you know one, you can build a shed out of the most expensive flash materials or you could opt for recycling materials which is obviously better for
the environment , your pocket and aesthetics in my opinion. You could get everything you
need from the tip. A roost can be just a piece of dowel going over a wire framed box to contain their poo. A nest can be a converted old bookshelf that you put hay in to keep
the eggs clean. Then it’s just a matter of making sure they are protected from rain, wind,sun and predators.

Some people buy them prefabricated, ther : http://www.howlongfencing.com.au/pages/dogchook-runs.php

I hope that gives you an idea, if I find some interesting designs on the net I’ll
post them.

Hi cb60! What age will the chickens be in December? Are we talking point-of-lay pullets or older girls (hens)?

I have three lovely ladies (Isa Browns) from Gallaway Girls – just near you also in Burra. They are great value as pets – the eggs are a bonus.

Hi gertel,

Good on you and the Gallaway girls. I keep meaning to find where they are exactly to
say hello.

These ones are like isa browns but are bred as hi-sex browns and will be 80 weeks in
December. A couple of them I have yet to discover are laying eggs like an older hen
but the rest still lay lovely brown eggs which our restaurateur remains very pleased to buy.

Oh I see – they’ll be past their best egg laying age. Mine are probably coming up to that age as well, so I’ll probably go for some point-of-lay pullets to prop up egg production and give the older girls are break!!

Gallaway Girls are on Candy Rd.

On average how many eggs a week would 3 hens lay ?

Our isa browns are still young and we get an average of 2 eggs per day from the 3 girls – so around 14 eggs a week. This rate will decrease with age and they also lay less during winter. I’ve heard some chooks stop laying while they moult but ours never have.

Some of my fathers chooks lay two eggs a day – seems with isa browns the more you feed the more eggs they produce – they have been bred to lay eggs basically!

Hi-sex browns are both commercial layers – look the same and behave the same and it’s true the more you feed the more they lay.

But I don’t agree with you Gertel about their being past good laying age- not at all. I used to take my mum’s chooks aged the same and they kept on laying for several years. And it’s
better they go as backyard layers than be slaughtered in my opinion.

Sorry I meant hi-sex browns and isa browns are both commercial layers but from my
experience hi-sex produce a bit more. My mum had isa browns for many years selling organic free range eggs, so i decided to try the hi-sex and find i’m getting a near 100% rate of lay.

Oh, sorry cb60. When I googled hi-sex browns and read their ‘performance data’ on a poultry breeders site they listed laying period as 17-80 wks. So when you mentioned the chooks would be 80wks in December I assumed you were selling them because they were past peaking laying. Sorry for the incorrect assumtpion. Can I ask why you are selling them?

From 80 weeks they are considered commercially not cost effective because they require more feed so they are often sent on for their meat or just dumped to make way for the new.
I’m not running a factory farm so I can make sure the chickens go on to live productive
happy lives.

Free range is NOT organic. Our family wouldn’t touch these with a barge pole. Google VRE if you want to know why?

sprintman, I didn’t say we are certified organic but my mother was and this was her property.
We don’t use any chemicals on the property or give our chickens any drugs so we may as well
be organic except we DO feed our chickens commercial pellets from the produce store.

It seems there are some people out there wanting to bring us down and I can only put it
down to jealousy of some sort. But everyone knows us knows I am a huge animal lover and
treat my chickens so well they not only have their own paddocks but I let them free range around the whole house when I am here all day.

The absurdity of your remark is we don’t care if we don’t sell our chickens. We just gave away six to St. Mathews in Page because I knew they would be well taken care of – it’s not about the money. The eggs are about the money and they are all already sold.
Don’t need anymore customers because too much demand and we are only a very tiny operation.

So sprintman, we don’t need you to touch any of them and you are so misinformed and throwing wild accusations that it is good your family stays well away.

I just read VRE and we DON’T give our chooks antibiotics and it is NOT in their YS feeds either. You shouldn’t JUMP to conclusions.