eggs wrote:
In article ,
Chookie wrote:


I e-mailed the Rentachook guy yesterday. Hoping six weeks of fresh
cackleberries will convince DH of the wisdom of keeping 'em permanently!


Couldn't help yourself, eh Chookie? I've been looking at that website a
fair bit myself. Technically, I think our yard is too small to legally
keep chooks, but the house on one side is empty and for sale, so I could
probably do it for 6 weeks before we had any neighbors to bother with
them.

Campbelltown Council (NSW) says;
If chookyard s paved, must be 10 metres from any habitation,
if chookyard is unpaved, must be 15 metres from any habitation,
or in otherwords, how to not have chooks without banning them outright.

Terry Collins writes:
Campbelltown Council (NSW) says;
If chookyard s paved, must be 10 metres from any habitation,
if chookyard is unpaved, must be 15 metres from any habitation,
or in otherwords, how to not have chooks without banning them outright.

Terry, think "high-rise". :-))
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

In article ,
Terry Collins wrote:

Campbelltown Council (NSW) says;
If chookyard s paved, must be 10 metres from any habitation,
if chookyard is unpaved, must be 15 metres from any habitation,
or in otherwords, how to not have chooks without banning them outright.

There was a reason I wanted a large back yard... :-)

Of course, that's the *official* chook run. That's where you shut them up for
the night or when you're away from home. There's nothing there to ban you
from having them free-range or in a chook tractor during the day (unless your
neighbours complain, but if you offer them the occasional fresh egg you should
be right).

wondering if I have worked in a bureaucracy just a bit too long

Anyway, assuming I get hubby on side, what breeds do people recommend for life
in a back yard with two kids? I am interested in having one chook that lays
white eggs so that we can colour them at Easter, but expect we will need 2 or
3 for the household.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"In Melbourne there is plenty of vigour and eagerness, but there is
nothing worth being eager or vigorous about."
Francis Adams, The Australians, 1893.

G'day Chookie

Have you thought about a couple of ducks? They don't scratch in the
garden and will eat snails etc as well as give you some eggs. A bit
dish for water (or small tub) sunk into the ground makes a good swimming
hole for them too.

Hard to see I'm a duck/goose person, rather than chooks?? LOL ;-))

Chookie wrote:
In article ,
Terry Collins wrote:


Campbelltown Council (NSW) says;
If chookyard s paved, must be 10 metres from any habitation,
if chookyard is unpaved, must be 15 metres from any habitation,
or in otherwords, how to not have chooks without banning them outright.


There was a reason I wanted a large back yard... :-)

Of course, that's the *official* chook run. That's where you shut them up for
the night or when you're away from home. There's nothing there to ban you
from having them free-range or in a chook tractor during the day (unless your
neighbours complain, but if you offer them the occasional fresh egg you should
be right).

wondering if I have worked in a bureaucracy just a bit too long

Anyway, assuming I get hubby on side, what breeds do people recommend for life
in a back yard with two kids? I am interested in having one chook that lays
white eggs so that we can colour them at Easter, but expect we will need 2 or
3 for the household.

HC wrote:
G'day Chookie

Have you thought about a couple of ducks? They don't scratch in the
garden and will eat snails etc as well as give you some eggs. A bit
dish for water (or small tub) sunk into the ground makes a good swimming
hole for them too.

Hard to see I'm a duck/goose person, rather than chooks?? LOL ;-))

i second that. ducks are great. they are reasonably quiet and can be
good with kids. they'll certainly clean up the snails (the ducks of course)

In article , HC wrote:

Have you thought about a couple of ducks? They don't scratch in the
garden and will eat snails etc as well as give you some eggs. A bit
dish for water (or small tub) sunk into the ground makes a good swimming
hole for them too.

My younger son is 3 months old, so he won't be drownproofed for a couple of
years. I thought ducks had to dabble their food, resulting in a fair bit of
mud around?

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"In Melbourne there is plenty of vigour and eagerness, but there is
nothing worth being eager or vigorous about."
Francis Adams, The Australians, 1893.

Chookie wrote:


My younger son is 3 months old, so he won't be drownproofed for a couple of
years. I thought ducks had to dabble their food, resulting in a fair bit of
mud around?

Only just around the water. The problem with most duck yards I've seen
is that the ducks are caged into a relatively small area and of course
they pick all the green out of it, so it ends up muddy.

The "problem" is that they dabble other stuff, like soil in the water
and of course you have to occassionally dredge the water dish/pond. In
small yards, this means they tend to excavate near the pond.

speaking of Katrina, an uncle has ducks and of course he suck a whole
pile of bath tubs for the ducks. It would have been better if he had not
suck them the full way and put an outlet trench to drain them off.
Instead he now has to laboriously empty them each time.


and you need a ramp, in bath tubs, that they can not move, just incase
one falls in and can not get out.


but the duck and broccoli would be a major problem here. Of course, if
they like borage, or roddicio (sp?) or even spinach or comfrey, then
there wouldn't be a major propblem with sharing that. Not sure I want to
go back to fencing in all the gardens again (shades of free range
rabbits at one stage).

Chookie wrote:
ndering if I have worked in a bureaucracy just a bit too long

Anyway, assuming I get hubby on side, what breeds do people recommend for life
in a back yard with two kids? I am interested in having one chook that lays
white eggs so that we can colour them at Easter, but expect we will need 2 or
3 for the household.


Orpingtons / Australorps are big softies - relatively tame and very
docile and friendly. The eggs are somewhat tinted but can still be
coloured.
The others are right though about the ducks. Indian Runners are probably
the best for cleaning up slugs and are great layers too.

Ute