Hi from Liam and Becs

Hey guys just a quick hello
We just bought a small piece of land up in Warkworth and are looking to run some poultry. Never had anything more than a garden before but we're both handy and looking forward to learning how to build and secure fences, gates and look after our small herd of chickens, a bantam and a duck called Ping (they come with the house).
I'm a landscape architect by trade with lots of years under my belt doing design and build but mostly decorative rather than rural. We both like to make other provisions, cheese, salami and other cured meats. I do quite a lot of charcuterie and teach it on occasion. Especially like making parfait, black puddings and potted shrimps! Its been a good xmas!
I also build breweries and a run a small 100 litre unit in my current workshop.
Keen to learn more about poultry and whats the best breeds to help keep the mowing down to a minimum. happy to keep them for meat, eggs or just as lawn mowers. Was thinking geese or turkey would be a good option but really have little idea as yet...
Fun times ahead!

If you want to landscape and keep a nice garden, you will have to fence the chooks so that they cannot fly out/crawl under any netting you put up, or they will trash the garden. They do not make great lawn mowers....will eat quite a bit of grass, but you will still need to mow it from time to time. They will dig holes in it and make mowing more difficult. Geese will mow grass as will ducks, but are noisy dirty and greedy. I have found solid fences work best. If a hen cannot see through the fence, she will not take it on provided you have either a tall fence, or have a wing clipped so they cannot fly. I had no trouble in 8 years of hens in suburbia with them running my backyard and only a 900mm fence between me and neighbours beautiful garden. But here, the main fence is windbreak over post and batten fencing and they drill holes under it and escape into my garden all the time and "worry" the pool fencing until they figure out how to escape through it too. I do love my chooks though, so holes get patched and I have a plan to try some wide gutter guard stapled on where they have stretched the windbreak.

Good luck with your new lifestyle and welcome to the LSB

Awesome thanks Stikkibeek
We have just adopted 3 chooks from a friend before we move and finding out some of what they do - especially to grassed areas, not that friendly to it haha

After 6 years 'experience' with backyard chooks, I have learnt that it is easier to fence them out rather than fence them in!

Build enclosed netted frames over and around the garden plots and let the chooks roam free - this also helps keep other critters (sparrows, possums, cats, dogs, etc) out of the crops as well. Chooks can be let in to individual garden areas as their contents have been harvested to pick and scratch over the remains, and fertilise of course. Make sure enclosures are standing height - your back will thank you later - and they are also handy for draping frost cloth, shade cloth, etc over when required, and rigging up irrigation.

Also pays to fence off the back door/deck/access to the house - chooks will try to get inside given a chance, especially if there is cat food around. Do not rely on your cat or dog to keep them out - chooks have a mafia mentality and have learnt the art of threatening postures. :dry: :woohoo:

jafa5 wrote: Hey guys just a quick hello


I'm a landscape architect by trade with lots of years under my belt doing design and build but mostly decorative rather than rural. We both like to make other provisions, cheese, salami and other cured meats. I do quite a lot of charcuterie and teach it on occasion. Especially like making parfait, black puddings and potted shrimps! Its been a good xmas!
I also build breweries and a run a small 100 litre unit in my current workshop.
...
!

Can I marry you? :kiss: :kiss:

Oh damm I'm married already :huh: :whistle: :lol: :lol:

Thanks Lindee, I think thats the concept the existing owners have adopted too with fenced vege patches and the chooks get out and graze whatever they find. Guessing they get a good source of natural food that way to? Still looking at feeds and volumes, seems to be an open ended topic haha.

Anakei, you can always pop over and pick up some parfait, you don't need to marry a fella for that!
I always make more than we can eat

If you can get it up there, Fiskins makes a good layer pellet which I use as a preference over NRM's pecknlay for instance. It's cheaper by volume and recommended amounts per chook are smaller (half cup per hen as opposed to full cup per hen per day. Yes they will harvest grass, bugs, greens and of course most of your kitchen scraps (except potato peelings which aren't good for them) but if you want eggs, then they also need feed with at least 18% protein daily.

lindee wrote: After 6 years 'experience' with backyard chooks, I have learnt that it is easier to fence them out rather than fence them in!

Build enclosed netted frames over and around the garden plots and let the chooks roam free - this also helps keep other critters (sparrows, possums, cats, dogs, etc) out of the crops as well.

My chickens live in a coop within my orchard paddock effectively unfenced. They come up to the house, and scratch out the unfenced garden beds. It's just a nuisance. While they don't really dislodge any dirt from beds, they do prevent the ability to plant and grow in the gardens, and fencing all the garden beds is too much of a hassle. And when it rains they shelter on the porch, and poop everywhere. Sloppy poop. And they often come up to the stoop and sit there for a while making whiney annoying noises. Sure it's cute when they jump up to the brick ledges outside the windows, and peck on the windows. They do a poor job at weeding when scratching the garden beds. In theory I don't need to provide water, as they go to the water race themselves.

I think the benefits to keeping them in the paddock are becoming clear. Less flies, as they no longer have a reason to spend time up around the house. No poopy doorsteps, or sheltering chickens when it's rain on the doorsteps, etc.. Better able to plant in my gardens without the occasional chicken incursion into the fenced beds, or having to fence the ones that are currently unfenced.

jafa5 wrote: Guessing they get a good source of natural food that way to? Still looking at feeds and volumes, seems to be an open ended topic haha.

Welcome!

Chickens are omnivores needing plenty of protein and quite quickly will clean out an area of insects. So, as Stikkibeak said, they need a feed that is high enough in protein or they won't lay well or grow well. It is nice to allow them to forage as it provides mental and physical activity but to be healthy they need us to provide pretty much all their nutrients.

Name123 wrote: [
My chickens live in a coop within my orchard paddock effectively unfenced. They come up to the house, and scratch out the unfenced garden beds. It's just a nuisance. While they don't really dislodge any dirt from beds, they do prevent the ability to plant and grow in the gardens, and fencing all the garden beds is too much of a hassle. And when it rains they shelter on the porch, and poop everywhere. Sloppy poop. And they often come up to the stoop and sit there for a while making whiney annoying noises. Sure it's cute when they jump up to the brick ledges outside the windows, and peck on the windows. They do a poor job at weeding when scratching the garden beds. In theory I don't need to provide water, as they go to the water race themselves.

I think the benefits to keeping them in the paddock are becoming clear. Less flies, as they no longer have a reason to spend time up around the house. No poopy doorsteps, or sheltering chickens when it's rain on the doorsteps, etc.. Better able to plant in my gardens without the occasional chicken incursion into the fenced beds, or having to fence the ones that are currently unfenced.

We let our chooks free range around the place but as they got more confident they wandered further afield and started becoming a nuisance. First to be fenced off was the veggie garden, then some flower beds but when they started poo-ing on the deck we changed our tactics and fenced them into their own space. They have their coop plus the back lawn to themselves and we don't have to look where we sit down or step with bare feet. Much better.

Hey guys.

I saw that you build breweries!!!! Totally caught my eye there! How big size wise, is your 100L one? And do you do kitset ones?

Welcome by the way.