AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Hi (I'm new so sorry, but its stupid question time )

Are there more breeds who are liable to fly more, lay more and make more noise than others?

Also how long do chickens live for (approx) and do they lay once they are older?

I am currently twisting hubbys are and am looking to set up a home for them this weekend, then looking in the trading post for point of lay...what should I look out for?

Sorry, I have heaps more gems like that, but I am reading and reading all of the great info on here too

wow what a list , yes there are some very flighty breeds , however with regular quiet habits around them , and when in a mixed yard a lot of this is avoidable { well so far its wored for mine } i am able to pickup any bird in my yard with know problem , dose that help as to age a lot depends on the breed to a great degree as a hen ages her egg productin drops but a lot will keep laying just not on daily basis , then its up to you weather to cull or keep hoping this of some help , cheers n beers gary

Thanks Gary....when you say cull? *gulp*

I keep reading about RIR and australorps, but I thought these were bantams? If so are their eggs small? I KNOW we are going to end up with one cute silky as my 3 year old is obsessed! but would like some "proper" eggs to bake with...

Rhode Island Reds and Australorps are available in standard (large) and bantam. I didn't know bantam size existed until I joined APF. I also thought Silkies were bantam size only. APF has helped me learn a bit.

RIR eggs are typically bigger than Australorps.

Despite having a couple of Australorps here and no pure RIRs, I'd certainly choose to add a couple of RIRs before more Australorps if given the choice.

However, my White Leghorns give me medium eggs, lay most days and eat much less than my heavier girls.

And that brings me to your original questions.

Flying. Leghorns!

Noisy. Leghorns (especially if you catch one).

Egg laying. Leghorns lay regularly. My five pure girls give me 4-5 eggs daily. Only 3 eggs is unusual...and I'm talking about now -- Winter, windy.

When you ask this question is it because you do or don't want birds like this?

Regarding the culling comment. It basically just means getting rid of, whether it be killing or finding another home for. Often purebred birds advertised are the culls from someone breeding program and the bird might not quite match the standards. It might have the wrong eye or leg colour, or not be the right size or colour. Sometimes this is the only way backyarders can buy one of these breeds to keep. Some breeds are very hard to come by and breeders can have waiting lists for the culled birds. You should probably always ask how old a bird is you're buying, point of lay might mean you have a couple of weeks to wait before they start laying, but this is better than a bird already in its second or third year +. They might be laying larger eggs but the frequency will start to slow down.

The commercial layers are generally cheap and easy to find. They might not look as pretty as some of the purebreds but they are good consistent egg layers, not easily put off the lay. If they aren't purebred they may have a shorter lifespan due to the massive amount of eggs they lay in their first year or two.

If it is something you don't know it is not a silly question, how else will you learn.
As for noise, production and flightiness most of the light breeds will tick all these boxes.
Light breeds are those that have white ear lobes, with the exeption of the Welsummer which has a red lobe the same as all heavy breeds.
As a general rule the light breeds will fly, the exception here is the Silky ( very quiet, perfect for kids), the smallest of the standard light breeds which are unable to fly.They are very active can be noisy and generally higher in production but a little shorter lived.With the exception of Silky and Welsummer they lay a white egg, white lobes= white egg.
The heavy breeds are generally more docile, quieter, less likely to fly, lay a bigger brown egg and live a little longer. Here it is red lobe = brown egg.
The commercial X bred or hybrid layers are easier to come by but are selected for high production of good sized brown eggs, which is what most housewives and families seek in backyard laying flocks.In commercial situations they are culled after thier 2nd lay and these can be picked up cheaply and you will get a couple more seasons of reasonable production for the family.
Most breeds come in standard (large) and bantam varieties and some of the bantams are perfect for backyard/family situations. Breeds like Leghorn, Langshan, RIR, Australorp,Wyandotte and some other light or mediteranian breeds are a good selection for home purposes.
The added advantage of bantams is less feed,smaller housing, an interest for the kids.Once they take an interest is is not to be unexpected that they will want to show and a bantam breed is a good place for them to start as well as give the family all the fresh eggs you require.
In using bantam eggs in cooking, as a cook/chef I use 3 bantam eggs to replace 2 hen eggs as a general rule of thumb.
Some councils will not allow poultry in a suburban back yard, breeders have got around this by not keeping a rooster and housing them in an aviary at which time most will accept them as cage birds not poultry.
The adventure is all before you, Good luck.

you sre all so nice, thank you...

Ok... a few things...

What the heck are ear lobes, well I know that Ms Gillard is renowned for large ones, but chickens?! Where are they on a chicken?

I am allowed 5 chickens in my shire (Casey) but noise complains can result in them being asked to leave I only have a 500 sq block but I've worked out a great spot that I can put a coop AND a run around it, heres the next question Being keen to get started and not wanting to shell out $300 for a flat pack coop AND being a bit carpentry challenged, I have an idea In the back yard I have a zinc shed 2 meters sq, if I got some ventaliation in there and a roost and some boxes would they be ok in there or do they need wood? I can partially shade it and could use shade cloth in front for summer too.

In reply to the question ïs that what you want" hmmm, no I dont want them to fly, we have dogs and so do our neighbours. I would love them to be chatty but not roudy and I want them to lay eggs obviously, but am learning (I think?) that the ones who lay less do so over a longer period, which would suit me as I dont fancy the culling thing...

Seemingly all of the breeds get along so if I got a silky, a RIR, an austra...and I have seen such a beautiful one who has white feathers edged with black, they would get along?

I just saw a huge brown silky in the pet shop, I really didn't think they got that big! How do you know weather its a big silky or a little one (When it gets older I mean?) because I take it the bigger the bird the bigger the egg?

I love baking, but I suppose you can weigh the eggs or use the 3 for 2 rule quite happily

Think thats it for now, thank you all agin

Ok, I can make a start on some of your questions. Earlobes are the fleshy part on a chooks face kind of below and back from the eye. Different breeds have different sizes and colours. If you click the below link you'll see a picture of a spanish bird (they have really obvious large white lobes so they'll be easy to see).
http://paforumphotogallery.com/displayi ... p?pid=2361

Five chooks, thats great...but so not enough! I'll warn you they are a bit addictive and you may find yourself justifying an extra or two as time goes on.

Regarding the breeds you have mentioned this is what I know about them (not much).
Silkies: Cute but one of the poorest layers. They may need their poms trimmed (the fluffy bit on their head) as it can sometimes impede their eyesight. I would avoid buying anything from a petshop personally. They often have no idea what they're talking about. You'd be much better off sourcing your new birds from a breeder.
RIR: (Rhode Island Red): good layers - can be bossy.
Australorp: (Is this what you meant when you typed 'austra'? These are ripper birds! Friendly and consistent layers. They come in bantam and standard. They come in a few different colours but black is the most common.
White birds with black lacing: Im thinking you probably mean a silver laced wyandotte. Is this the bird you mean: http://paforumphotogallery.com/displayi ... p?pid=1766 Yes they are gorgeous but can be difficult to find. You might need to go on a waiting list for them. They are not bad layers but can go broody quite a lot, meaning they stop laying and want to sit on their eggs to hatch babies (they don't realise they need a rooster to hatch babies). You might enjoy the experience of letting them hatch out fertile eggs you get from elsewhere, or choose to 'debrood' them yourself.

You said they all get along. Thats true and not so true. Birds kept together will get along in so far as the top birds pecks everyone below it, the 2nd top bird pecks everyone below it and so on down to the last bird who's bottom of the pecking order. You'll see when you put treats out the top birds get it first. Birds raised together will sort out the order early on and then everyone's happy. If you introduce new birds later on (after quarantining to make sure they aren't sick first) they can be picked on quite mercilessly by the other birds until the new one works out where it is in the pecking order. Its never a good idea to introduce one bird because of this. Its generally better to stick with the one size, or if you want a bantam maybe get two as you'll find they'll probably hang together.

I think using a shed you already have is a great idea. I did the same and its fantastic. We attached roosts of staggered height up the back. The nestboxes sit on and underneath a table we found at the tip shop (5 of the 6 girls use the nestboxes on the table but all of them fly from the table to the roosts at night. Its really handy being able to keep your food out of the weather and also know they have a largish area to hang out in when the weathers bad. Not that they always do, most of the time when its raining they manage to get wet. Its also really handy being able to stand up inside the shed. I started with wood shavings as flooring but I found they soak up any water and after a big rain I'd have to pull it all out and start again. Pretty expensive. I now use sand and love it. Its really easy to clean their poop off with a kitty litter scoop and dries really easily if it gets wet.

For a pen we simply bought the really tall star pickets and the chicken wire and basically put the star pickets in the ground, walked the wire around the outside, tied the wire to the star pickets and presto one pen. (We have a large 'farm gate' using a star picket attached to wire which swings out which means we can get wheelbarrows etc into the pen). We did it this way because if we want to move the pen, or leave here the whole pen will be down in half an hour. In saying that it isn't fox proof and knock on wood this hasn't been a problem for us for the past three years. My chooks basically free range through the backyard all day though so the pen hasn't been that handy.

One thing to mention regarding culling. Chooks can and do become sick and may hurt themselves when you least expect it. You'll need to be prepared to do the deed to put a chook out of its misery. There are many different ways of doing this and its worth knowing how you are going to do it so you don't delay the task when its time. Keeping live animals means you are going to have dead ones too I'm afraid. When you said you wanted the longer living chooks so you wouldn't have to cull, don't forget you can advertise and sell birds you might be ready to replace. There'll always be someone out there happy to take them on even if you give them away through freecycle. You don't have to keep them until old age if you don't choose to (in suburbia it might not be economical to do this).

Anyway, my fingers are tired from all that typing! I hope it gives you food for though and there'll be plenty of other opinions coming along Im sure.

Edited to add a bit I forgot:
Farmstock classifieds has lots and lots of chooks for sale: http://www.farmstock.com.au/Classifieds/Poultry/Sale/
Its a good idea to use the computers filter to help find what yo're looking for because its just one ad after another. Hold Control and F to bring up the FIND box and type a word in that you're looking for, example wyandotte then keep 'nexting' through the matches.
Also the breeders index on this, and other poultry websites is a way of finding breeders in your area with the birds you like.

Good luck

OMG Roova, I'm making you a virtual cuppa for all of that effort, thats so nice of you , thanks

The local council will only let me have 5 but the side of the house I will be keeping them on has the nicest neighbours! I'm thinking if they don't get too roudy and they don't smell I could maybe sneak in a few extras *whistle*

With the Austras (AB) if I get bantam ones are they the bigger bantam type or smaller, and yes I agree a pet shop is not the way forward And thanks for the link, I will have a peek in in minute.

With regards to your shed, do you have any ventalation in there at all? and do you just peg the door back during the day? Also re the run, how did you secure the gate? I was thinking about using a security fly wire door (so they cant peck out the wire) and then chicken wire around but was thinking that the posts were gonna cost heaps...however if I can do star spikes that would a) be way easier and B) way cheaper Also how did you attatch the roosts? With it being metal I don't want to muck it up by testing too many things out.

The wyandotte is just beautiful and I think I would love one and maybe have to sneak some eggs under there when hubbys not looking

So the culling?!?! I hate blood...can you maybe smother them or something? Anything that doesn't involve an axe is ok!!

I'm off to peek at those classifieds thanks again

You can give your culls away to people like this

Will take unwanted poultry
Hello, I will take any roosters, hens, chicks, ducks that you need to let go of or cannot sell.
Melbourne or Yarra Valley. Melbourne/Yarra Valley areas PArrien@hotmail.com
http://forums.permaculture.org.au/

There are always heaps of wanted ads on farmstock