Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey Charlie Your name is still on the wall in the bog. All is good

Thanks Seamonkey!!

Got a few chooks last week from a local guy who had hundreds of chickens, ducks, guinea fowl, goats and sheep. Really nice fellow that was more than eager to share his knowledge. We got 2 Australorp and 1 Lohmann at 18 weeks old and in 6 months we will get another 3 birds and then maybe another 3 more later. We are also allowed roosters in our area so might look into breeding down the track. The guy said guinea fowl are great to have around to keep snake and tick numbers down on our block and are great territorial guard dogs, we have a lot of bird life around here so just making sure none of that will be disrupted if we decide to get a couple. Anyone else had experience with them?

The new girls.

I used to have a show winning Australorp, I called her Blackie, and she was so tame she'd jump into your hand when you stretched out your hand. I think she won because she was the only chicken that didn't start pecking when you picked them up.

Although, some of those strawberries they are munching on look too good for chickens!

Cute birds. I miss mine. Stupid labrador.

Did your fancy filters arrive?

Thats funny, my young bloke called the 2 Australorps B1 and B2 (black 1 and black 2)
They are friendly little things, a lot more settled than the Lohmann anyways.

The strawberries have got mould on them, it was an impulse buy at the supermarket the other day and they went mouldy in two days. We usually get them from the farmers market so its our own fault. Im working on our veggie gardens so hopefully will be growing our own soon.

I picked up the bioblocks last month and have collected a bunch of other stuff over time. The new shed is still to be built but the outdoor decking project comes before that etc etc. Life is busy.

Australorps are such a great multi-purpose chook.

Once I'm set up again properly, and it may not be until I move house, I will be getting some more chooks. I used to have Pekin Bantams, and they were gorgeous. Better layers than everyone told me too.
I am also quite keen to have a go with some Aruacanas for the nifty blue eggs

We had Guinea fowl at our old family property and they didn't appear to interfere with the native birdlife at all. But we had plenty of trees and brushcover to accommodate all of them and their food supply quite happily.
BUT - they make a fair racket... We got rid of them for that reason in the end. They were sending Dad nuts

I had a show pekin bantam too. Won a few shows as well, they have the funniest little legs with the feathers all over them.

I used to call her Brownie. Oh yes, I was original with names.

I want to get some silkie chickens after I build the fort knox of chicken pens. Way too many scraps from my system that are going to waste.

+1



++1 But they're great to eat and There eggs are great to eat too, more towards a duck egg

I have a Doberman x Boxer so I too require a fortress.
He killed a hyline that we had after it jumped the fence one too many times. Not pretty...
My Pekins were Mildred, Molly, and Mabel :-)
But as proud owner of aquarium fish called Bluey, Blackie and Yellowy (you read correctly) I can now appreciate boys' naming conventions.

Charlie, will you be trying some different breeds with your next lot? Or sticking with the same?




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The guy had a bunch of different breeds there. Being a first time chook owner I went for the easy breeds first but am interested in some others too. He had silkies, wyanadottes, arucanas and about 6 other breeds. There was about 4 different breeds of ducks too.

The guinea fowl were noisy I can agree with that.

Most chickens are pretty easy to look after. Some are just friendlier than others.

Just get a water & food container that can be hung up off the ground, and they'll be fine.

Charlie, you have chosen well with Australorps. Although the record may have since been broken I know for many, many years an Australorp hen held the world record for the number of eggs laid in a one year period.

Guinea Fowl are great at cleaning up grasshoppers and other swarming insect pests, but I can't see how they would reduce snake numbers (besides, snakes are deaf aren't they?). They seem a bit light on for grey matter, get run over in driveways and are notoriously bad parents. They make half-hearted nesting attempts, often in ridiculous places, and don't seem too fussed about keeping the few chicks that they somehow manage to hatch out alive to perpetuate their species.

Araucanas are great to keep and produce beautiful blue-green eggs.

Thats interesting on the guinea fowl, PJL. I think they guy really liked them and gave them a good wrap during the visit, he explained that he watched a few of them attack and kill a big brown snake on their property and are good for keeping down numbers. He did waffle on a bit so may have exaggerated slightly