The Chook Shed

The old chook shed.

As I mentioned earlier in the week we now have a brand new chook shed which Graham has been working on the last couple of weeks.

The new improved chook shed!!!

It seems to have the chickens seal of approval as one of them laid an egg today in one of the brand new nesting boxes after months on having none. Hopefully there will be more to come.

Graham ...after careful consideration, research and design has put together what can only be considered the Hen Hyatt of Preston .

Here are the pics:

The back door with plastic strips to keep out the sparrows

Putting it together on the deck

 First of all he put it all together on the deck then moved it up the back laid a concrete slab and rebuilt it .

Nesting boxes

Nice and cozy

Somewhere to perch at night time.

Chickens, chooks and backyard poultry.

Here in Melbourne, it seems backyard chooks are becoming quite the trend. These, as you probably realise are some of my current brood. The big red and white one is Rosie, and she is the boss! She and her sister Dottie are leghorne x buff orpington. They have a great character and are quite a gentle chook. They lay beautiful large creamy coloured eggs.

With many people becoming more self sufficient and wanting to grow their own fruit and veggies, keeping chickens is just a natural progression. Today's post is about ......you guessed it poultry.

I've been looking at different breeds over the last couple of weeks as i am wanting to expand our little roost as much as is possible! I have made a decision that from now on I am going to concentrate on pure breeds. So i thought I would take the opportunity to discuss some of the breeds which are of interest to me.

These girls are Light Suffolks they are big birds which lay large creamy/white eggs.

There are as I can see about 4 reasons for keeping chickens:

white silkies

As pets-chickens are real little characters. They are personable birds which will follow family members around and interact with each other and you they are also very sociable. They are pretty and great to watch and each has their individual personality. Ideal birds to keep as pets are Pekin Bantams, Silkies and other smaller breeds. These breeds are not big layers, but do produce eggs, and hours of entertainment, and of course they will provide you with free chook poo!

For eggs- home grown eggs are wayyy superior to bought eggs. They are richer, larger and more yellow in colour and the taste is just sublime. When you bake with home grown eggs you can see the yellow in the final result, once you use home grown eggs you just won't want to go back. So if its eggs you are after then you need to have good layers. As a general rule most of the good layers are larger breeds although some smaller breeds are good layers too.

Eggs come in all colours and sizes too. Our Leghorn chooks lay cream eggs and our Araucana x's lay beautiful blue/green coloured eggs.

For the table-there are breeds which are also good for the dinner table. Our chooks have a happy and content life, are able to wander and flap around, enjoy the sunshine and the rain and have a safe place to roost at the end of the day. If i was able to do it (which i cant) I would happily grow and eat my own poultry. However for those who have the room and the incentive, good breeds to raise for this purpose include, Rhode Island Reds & Plymouth Rock Hens amongst others.

Introduction to Permaculture

Tomorrow I am going to attend the first part of this Permaculture course with http://www.veryediblegardens.com. If you're living in Melbourne and have an interest in Permaculture, growing your own veggies and want to get in touch with like minded people their website is well worth a visit. They run courses on no dig garden beds, keeping chooks, how to make worm farms and all sorts of other things.
An Introduction to Urban Permaculture
Duration: Two days


Permaculture is a broad design system for building sustainable human habitats, drawing inspiration from patterns in natural systems. Topics covered in this course include context and an introduction to permaculture ethics and design principles, illustrated with topics relevant to home food production and frugal resource use, such as garden design, water catchment and use, urban animals, companion planting, caring for soil. Includes case studies and design examples. Hands-on activities include marking out contours on slopes and making a good compost pile. The course material is broken up with illustrative games and group work. Participants receive a handout covering all the topics on the course and a certificate of completion. The course caters to backyard permaculture but also encourages people to look outside the home for opportunities and resources in the community, to visualise how we can create a healthier and happier urban environment. Also information about how to get involved in the Permablitz network.

And now to the Chooks!!!

Everyone who has the space and has kids should have chooks....or chickens as most of the world calls them!!

We have five, some people would think we are completely looney to have chooks in our suburban garden, and I must admit they do stay in their run most of the time because our garden is only young but they have quite a good life.

Other chook owners use theirs for eggs, chook poo, and when the time comes they also have free range poultry, me I love them way too much to serve them up for dinner. I'm told it was a fatal mistake giving them names: Rosie, Grace, Dot, Ruby and Sooty!

They arent pure bred chooks but Rosie and Dot are Leghorn Welsummer crosses, Rosie is Queen of the roost that's her to the right with the beautiful red breast.

Sooty, Grace and Ruby are Araucana /Frizzle crosses. The Araucana part of them means their eggs are blue and very pretty.

We have arranged our chook shed with a permaculture design in mind, our back yard is on a relatively steep incline. So the chookies are right up the back at the top of the hill. When it rains, although this a rarity at the moment all the goodness from the chook run flows down the hill and into the swale, where we have planted a couple of fruit trees. So they get the benefit .

At present we do get about 5 eggs a day, on a good day, but when the're molting they tend to go off the lay which is probably just as well, because if how they look is anything to go by they need all their energy to get new feathers as soon as possible.

My son Sam wants me to borrow a rooster so we can have chicks,I have yet to decide whether i will or not we shall see! We love our choockies and their eggs are well worth the trouble.

This is Bruce, guardian of the chooks.(He's a Border Collie)