Coop life - backyard chickens

[mich1972]

So we adopted our girls in April and they bring us so much joy, eggs and beautiful fertiliser !!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jason]

Thanks for joining in the discussion @Aussie-Garden. Great to see the growing interest in backyard chooks from Workshop members and visitors alike. As Michelle has mentioned, it would be fantastic to see photos of your setup if you could share some.

Jason

[Aussie-Garden]

I took a couple of photos today and will have a look at them later tonight.

It really is nothing special, so just lowering all your expectations now while I have the chance. 😛

Wing clipping was mentioned just recently.

None of ours are clipped.

We back onto a forest and national park and we went through a couple of weeks of getting one of the older girls  out of trees behind us with a broom at night. 😂

We have farm fencing with mesh on 3 sides of our boundary, so they all stay in their yards, other that what I mentioned above.

[mich1972]

 Chicken Coop refresh. Snoozle, Charlie Charcoal and chopped up Wormwood. Wormwood is great for repelling Mites in the coop. I like to use Lavender and Rosemary too , but find the Wormwood is the best.

[Aussie-Garden]

Nice! Looking good @mich1972.

Do they like to scratch around in it and how good is it for odour?

I dust the girls and their coops with Diatomaceous Earth occasionally to keep away the mites.

[mich1972]

They absolutely love it @Aussie-Garden 🥰 laying straight into it. Coop smells good 😂 I use Biochar ( Charlie Charcoal ) so this helps deodorise the coop. I also use it in the run and the peck at it. 

yes DE is good to use too. 😊

[mich1972]

I am going to have to grow more Wormwood now 😄

[mich1972]

Our beautiful Lemon Myrtle is flowering !! Australian Native edible . We have it growing in a pot in the Chicken Run. The fragrance when you crush the leaves is delightful 🐝🐝

 

 

 

[MitchellMc]

Great photos @mich1972, many thanks for sharing.

Do you use it for cooking or teas at all? 

Mitchell

[Aussie-Garden]

Looks good @mich1972. 

Back when I was a chef, cooking with native plants was not really a thing and was very uncommon. 

I gave up that career a good 20 years ago now, and it's one thing I feel like I missed out on. Sure I can learn now, but it would have been great having access to so many brilliant ingredients like these back then.

Now back on the topic of chooks for a sec... I got two, 3 week old Speckled Sussex the other day.

Gorgeous little things and fingers crossed on them being girls. The guy who sexes them has about a 95% success rate apparently. 

My last 3 Platinum Sussex from him were all girls.

[mich1972]

Thank You @MitchellMc . No I have not. Tree is still young so I don’t want to take leaves off yet 😃