Backyard Chooks in Canberra

http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/di/1995-129/19950915-10035/pdf/1995-129.pdf

Code of practice for the welfare of captive birds

uncle Joe’s runs are awesome! have never looked back from getting my own chikkies. They are lovely! (and laying well too)

There are various regulations about distance from dwellings, type of flooring etc, this may be a good place to start:
http://www.health.act.gov.au/c/health?a=sendfile&ft=p&fid=1241747243&sid=

I never really used to eat eggs until I kept chooks, now I love them. There is no comparison between fresh and store-bought. I keep two chickens, bought on point-of-lay from the stockfeed place in Fyshwick. They’re Isa Brown crosses. I get two eggs a day. I feed them scraps and scratch mix, and let them free-range around the garden as often as I can, and otherwise pen them in a very large space about 50sq metres, and they sleep in a hutch at night. I couldn’t be happier.

We have a couple of killer attack chooks in our backyard. There a guy called Joe who makes mobile chook runs – Google him. They’re fully enclosed, have all the water and feed containers included, and can easily be moved around the back yard. So your chooks get a different patch of grass to walk on every day, and your back yard slowly gets fertilised by the chooks.

One thing to watch: Don’t keep their grain feeder overfull in summer. It will attract mice, which in turn attracts snakes.

I second Snarky’s advice… the foxes get around in the stormwater systems, I think, as well as using all those walkways and green belts.

Also – you need to make sure the run is secured well enough to prevent big dogs from breaking in; I had a couple of AWOL huskies using my yard regularly as a ‘drive through’ snack bar about five years ago. Until the huskies took on the Lowline calves about five km away and were shot by the farmer, that is.

Powells Stockfeeds in Phillip have fabulous Mt Isa chooks – I had one lay an egg a day for five months straight; then she moulted for a month, and started laying an egg a day except once a week she would lay TWO.

Apart from that, if you only want one chook you could partner it with a rabbit.

This way, your chook is not lonely, does not have to put with a pecking order, the rabbit consumes all those garden weeds, and they both make fantastic (not for native plants,though) mulch out of the bale of hay you chuck in for them to waddle around on.

my backfence neighbour recently lost her half dozen chooks to wily foxes – so securing their pen is critical. good luck!

Buy point of lay chooks (NOT a rooster) 4 at most. If you want to spend the money, get a portable hen run which acts as a green feeder and fertiliser on your back garden, I have seen them at the Hall markets. Otherwise they will need a secure run (if the fence is not high enough you may need to clip new hens wings (not painful but requires one to hold and on to clip about 2 inches off the feathers on one wing. They soon realise that they cannot fly well and although the wings grow back, they never seem try again. You will need a weather proof shed with a pole to roost on and nesting boxes. You may have to teach them for a few nights how and where to roost. Feed them on a scratch mix available from rural suppliers and kitchen scraps and lawn clippings. Make sure they have plenty of fresh water. In summer put fly traps around the run. DON’T LET them run free in the yard if you have plants you treasure. They will make bee line for them and destroy them.

The eggs you eat will be delicious and VERY FRESH. The Roman Emperors feasted on same day laid eggs which were called “golden”. Chooks are not cheap, but once you try the eggs you will never want to eggs acaged egg again.

If you go ahead with chooks make sure you use a fully enclosed run, or at least a shed where they can be locked in securely at night, every night. Canberra is rife with foxes in all the suburbs. We lost our 3 all in one night because we didn’t have them locked up. Didn’t hear a thing – just came out to a pile of feathers the next morning.

🙁

I haven’t got the booklet on me but I recently picked up a School Holidays happinings type booklet at the library. Wow, it had heaps of stuff for school kids to do!! But anyway, one of the adverts was a lady who was offering a clutch of eggs and equipment to raise them – so kids can watch chickens hatch, feed them etc. Then after two weeks you can choose to give the chickens back or keep them. I would think this would be a good start, with someone to guide you and advise. Duck into your local library and check out the booklet, it’s only a small ad.

There seems to be a thriving backyard poultry scene in Canberra. We have six happy chooks in the backyard of our small block in the suburban inner south of Canberra, and know quite a few others in similar situations, although mrs faustus is the expert in our household, not I.

Mrs faustus spends a lot of time on the Backyard Poultry Forum, which seems to have a fair number of Canberrans on it, and quickly recommends it to anyone interested in having chooks in Canberra. I’ve no doubt some of the local chook fanciers are also here on the RiotACT, but if you don’t find the answers you’re after, check out the Backyard Poultry Forum.

(This is only a plug in that I’m aware it’s considered a useful resource – I don’t have any personal interest in the site. Hope this doesn’t come across as spammy!)

hi
my sister just got chooks you can send me your email address and i’ll put you in touch with her: beth@bethjennings.com.au
cheers
Beth