A Beginner's Guide to Keeping Chickens in Urban Areas
Course Notes
Why Get Chooks?
 They eat your food scraps to make delicious eggs  They provide you with manure for your food garden  These animal ‘tractors’ are great at preparing your veggie patch for planting  They help to control insect pests, and can keep grass and weeds down  Chooks are a wonderful for children  Chooks have great personalities! Chook House
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Where chooks sleep, lay, and escape fierce weather Build one, buy one, or perhaps convert an old shed or cubby house Must be fox proof Must be weatherproof yet well ventilated (dry and cool is much healthier than warm and moist) Chooks like to perch off the ground at night. Allow 30cm space per bird. You can use appropriate leftover pieces of timber or sturdy tree branches (if clean and crack-­‐free) – 40-­‐
50mm wide is ideal You will also need nesting boxes where the chooks can lay their eggs in private. Old lawn mower leaf-­‐catchers or wooden boxes are good. Add straw to the laying boxes. Allow 1 nesting box for every 3-­‐4 chooks. For more chook house ideas see: www.veryediblegardens.com/iveg/chooks Straw Yard
A straw yard is a fully enclosed fox-­‐proof small run adjoining the chook house (meaning you can go away for a few days and the chooks can come and go). In the straw yard the chooks will happily work to generate rich organic compost by removing seeds and insects from leaves etc then manuring and turning the matter ready for collection and use. You can throw food scraps including meat scraps directly into the straw yard for the chickens to process (but only as much they can eat or scratch in within a day). It is important to keep a 20-­‐40cm thick layer of straw, hay, dry leaves, wood chips or similar in the straw yard at all times, to be periodically harvested for use in the garden. The straw yard can potentially become your composting system and remove the need for extra compost bins. The straw yard should be fox proof, requiring you to lay a 40cm flange of mesh coming off the main fence at 90 degrees about 10 cm below the ground. You should ideally completely cover the roof of the straw yard with chicken wire to make it 100% fox proof. Fenced Run / Orchard
The main chook run fence needs to be around 1.3-­‐1.4 metres high to prevent the chooks escaping and should be dug in at least 50mm to stop the chooks scratching a hole underneath. In this area the birds will gladly keep down grass, weeds, pests, and fertilise the fruit trees and vines it makes sense to plant there, and source a proportion of their own food in the bargain. Chooks will control pests and provide fertiliser for the fruit trees. Multiple Runs
If the chooks can by cycled through different areas, this allows grass and other greens to regrow, giving the chooks some extra green in their diet, and the soil a chance to recover. These can be managed with gates or small chook sized hatches. Highly recommended! Chook Tractors
Consider a chook ‘tractor’, ie. a mobile pen without a floor. This can be moved around the garden allowing the chooks to scratch the ground and eat weeds or leftover veggies, while spreading their droppings. This should be done about two weeks before you want to plant out this area. Other Needs
Ensure that your chooks have plenty of shade for the hot months. Chooks love mulberries and fruit, so why not plant a mulberry/fruit tree right next to your chook house and they’ll appreciate the shade and the fallen berries. Chook Behaviour
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Chooks are very territorial and will put themself to bed at dusk in the same place every night. •
Chooks are social animals and should never be kept on their own. •
When introducing new hens, add at least two at a time, otherwise the new hen will be picked on. Food
Various grain or pellet mixes can be purchased from farm suppliers. Chicks – start with chick crumble for the first few months, (at least 20% protein) then -­‐ 16 weeks and older: •
Kitchen scraps, eg. pasta, veggie peel, scrambled egg, mashed potato •
Layer mix or grain mix. To lay well, chooks need approximately 18% protein in their diet. •
Grit for their digestion – eg. shell grit •
Insects and earthworms – a large run in a healthy garden provides these for the diet •
Greens, eg. grass, spinach, parsley, carrot tops, cabbage leaves (tie up in bunch and fasten to the side of the chook run). Or grow a ‘green manure crop’ that will condition your soil + provide green pick for your chooks. Don’t feed them: avocado, chocolate, green potatoes, rhubarb For recipes to make your own chook food see Alanna Moore’s Backyard Poultry – Naturally or Harvey Ussery’s The Small Scale Poultry Flock. Water: Always have fresh water available. Keep the container out of the sun otherwise the water will become too hot for the chooks to drink. Breeds
Some breeds are excellent egg layers, others are bred for their meat, others are ornamental and some breeds are dual/general purpose (ie good for both egg laying and meat). If you want to breed chickens, buy pure-­‐breed chooks. Otherwise, there are a good range of hybrid and pure-­‐breed chooks for each purpose. Good egg layers that are friendly and suitable to a backyard: Australorp – Australian, dual purpose. Large, handsome, black bird. Rhode Island Red – U.S. dual purpose. Isa Brown – Cross between Rhode Island Red and Rhode Island White breeds. Sussex – U.K. breed. Dual purpose. Suited to cool climates. Wyandotte – U.S. dual purpose. Cuddly looking. Pekins – a bantam breed, great for kids. Quiet, tame and low impact on the garden, so they can free range in more areas. .. there are many more great breeds! Maintaining Chook Health - Naturally
Think about planting herbs and flowers on the outside of your chook run fence which the chooks can selectively eat to keep themself healthy as the leaves grow through the fence. Some recommended plants are: Comfrey – Wonderful herb for your organic garden. Perennial, large green leaves, grows in sun or partial shade, plant from a root cutting. Chop up and feed to chooks regularly. It is also a compost activator (see VEG compost worksheet). Comfrey has a vigorous root system, so grow it away from your veggie patch. Nasturtium – Great for your chooks general health and it repels insect pests. Nettles – Helps increase egg production and is fattening for your chickens – a great winter food, but must be dried or they will not eat it. Nettle is also a compost activator. Rue – Good chook medicine & insect repellent. Dry and scatter through chook house to repel pests. Wear gloves when handling this herb as it can cause some skin irritation. Southernwood & Wormwood – Insect repellents and medicinal. Treats internal and external parasites. Grow wormwood away from other plants as its roots inhibit growth. Good to dry and scatter through chook house and laying boxes. Tansy – Attractive fern-­‐like leaves with yellow flowers. Tansy is a vigorous grower that repels pest insects. Dry and scatter leaves through chookhouse. Tansy is also a compost activator. Rosemary – Insect repellent. Chop and scatter in chookhouse. Worming your chooks – regular garlic treatment is the most popular natural method: Place 1-­‐2 cloves (per bird) of crushed garlic into your chooks drinking water, for several days in a row. Other methods – add a little apple cider vinegar to the drinking water or any of the following -­‐ nasturtium seeds, grated carrot, wormwood tips, mustard or pumpkin seeds. Mites – Mites can live in the cracks of the chook house and march out across the perch and up the chook’s legs at night to suck their blood. Check periodically at night with a torch, and if you find any treat the inside of the chook house with boiling water or a paste made from hydrated lime. Regulations
VEG have compiled a list of council regulations here: www.veryediblegardens.com/iveg/chooks/council-­‐
regulations Good books
Backyard Poultry – Naturally 2nd Ed, Alanna Moore, Python Press The Small Scale Poultry Flock, Harvey Ussery, Chelsea Green © Very Edible Gardens PTY LTD w. www.VeryEdibleGardens.com e: [email protected] p. (03) 9005 6070