Your first step should be to make enquiries with your local council to find out what you can and cannot do. Many local councils have regulations on the keeping of poultry.
Typically, council regulations will include a restriction on the number of birds that are allowed on any given property. Many will also prohibit keeping roosters in metropolitan areas – yes, they do crow at dawn, and yes, your neighbours will mind.
There are three main considerations – the breed of bird, the number of birds and their age.
What sort of birds do you want? The breed of bird should be determined by your main reasons for wanting chickens in the first place. If you like the idea of a lifetime supply of eggs, then commercial hybrids with high egg-laying potential such as the ISA Brown or Hy-line Brown are for you.
If you’re all about looks or just after a loyal chook companion, then your options are limited only by your imagination. Recommended breeds that are available in Australia are Plymouth Rock, Barnevelder, Silkie, Polish, Frizzle, and Sebright.
How many should you get? Chickens are social animals, so you’ll need at least two birds for their psychological wellbeing. Council regulations may cap the number of birds you are allowed, so make sure to check these first. Otherwise the only limit is the size of your property. As a general rule, a large urban backyard with a lawn and garden can comfortably accommodate 3–4 birds. Rural lifestyle blocks can accommodate much larger flocks.
While chicks are adorable, rearing chickens from day-old requires husbandry skill, time and proper equipment. For this reason, we recommend that you establish your flock first with ‘point-of-lay’ pullets (16–18 weeks). If you want chicks, it might be better to wait until they’re hatched by their mother, who will then do all the work to keep them happy and healthy.
Important: Regardless of the breed, number or age, all birds should be purchased from a reputable source: Either a commercial hatchery or a recognised breeder. Often the classified section of rural newspapers will have advertisements for poultry detailing available breeds and prices.
If eggs are the main reason you’re keeping chickens, then you should consider replacing your laying birds when they reach 75 weeks/1.5 years of age. Beyond this age, they will begin to lay poorer quality eggs, and less frequently.
Once retired from active service, an older hen will still continue to patrol the garden for insects and weeds, fertilise the garden, visit her friends and provide companionship for a number of years.
The Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals and Domestic Poultry in Australia regulates poultry housing. This is available from your State Department of Agriculture or Department of Primary Industries.
You should make sure your hen house complies with the requirements of the Code, for the health and safety of your hens, your family and your neighbours.
It’s important to provide all poultry with protection against weather extremes and predators. It’s also helpful to have them lay their eggs where you want them rather than all over the garden! The hen house serves both roles.
There are a lot of fantastic hen houses available commercially – or you can build your own. Regardless, consideration should be given to the following points to keep your hens comfortable, healthy and productive.
If you’re keeping hens in your backyard, they may well be free to range in the garden during the day. To determine the appropriate size of a hen house for your flock, allow approximately 0.37 square metres (4sq.ft.) of floor space per bird.
Proper ventilation isn’t just about keeping your hens comfortable. Accumulated moisture can lead to respiratory illness, and ammonia fumes created be decomposing manure which can cause eye irritation.
Your hen house should insulate the hens against extremes in temperature, especially radiant heat, which will easily put them under stress. The best options will offer shade from direct sunlight as well as waterproofing from the rain.
Chickens are unfortunately a firm favourite in the diets of foxes, ferrets and feral cats. If you love your hens, it‘s essential that the hen house is constructed to keep them safe from these predators.
Anything within reach is fair game for a roosting chook! Including nets, feeders and the top of the fence.
Without perches to roost on at night, the birds will huddle together in a corner of the hen house. Before long this will create a hard, caked patch of manure which will transfer to claws and feathers and then to nests and eggs – bad news for everybody.
Providing perches for roosting will give you cleaner eggs, and calmer, less ‘flighty’ chickens. Additionally, the perch needs to be within a comfortable jumping height – 600mm (2 feet) is about right – and of the right thickness for their feet to get a secure hold.
While hens can and do lay their eggs anywhere that feels safe, it’s not always convenient to go hunting through the garden for them. Your flock will instinctively use nesting boxes if you make them according to some basic requirements:
This is especially true if they’re coming into lay in autumn, when the days are getting shorter. If you do want to control lighting, safe access to electricity is important.
Do yourself a favour, and design your hen house to be practical and easy to clean. Good hygiene is critical to keeping healthy and productive chickens, but you don’t want to spend your whole weekend cleaning up after them.
A range of poultry equipment is available from most produce or pet care stores, including feeders and water dispensers. Automatic feeders that can hang by a chain from the roof are particularly good, as they only need to be filled as necessary. They also prevent your birds from fouling the feed and help keep the rats and mice out of the food.
Mobile chicken pens are especially good for sustainable backyards. They can be moved to different areas of the garden to allow your chooks access to the weeds, seeds and insects in the soil, and you can quickly shift them to sun or shelter as required. After the chicken pen is moved, make sure any chicken manure that is left behind is removed or watered into the ground. Manure is potent stuff when it’s fresh, and it can cause damage to grass and plants.
We all know how stressful moving house can be, and it’s no different for your chickens. It’s important to make the transition as easy as possible for your new flock. Prepare the hen house by sprinkling fresh wood shavings on the floor and bed up the nesting boxes. Place feed and water inside, ready for the new arrivals.
The new chickens might be a little stressed on arrival and should be allowed to acclimatise in their new home. Keep them within the hen house for around a day before allowing them out to roam and explore the garden.
Chickens are ‘social’, but not always ‘friendly’. Existing flocks have well defined social hierarchies which need to be re-established when new birds are introduced. Be prepared for some aggressive behaviour, such as pecking and chasing, in the first 2-3 days as the birds work out where they sit in the pecking order. Once this is established, peace is normally restored.
During this period of adjustment, watch out for excessive bullying and injury to birds. If you’re concerned for the wellbeing of the newcomer, remove her from the hen house, allow her to recover, and then reintroduce her at a later stage.
If your chickens will be sharing the backyard with other pets, such as the family dog or cat, then these should be introduced and socialised gradually and under supervision. Once dogs have accepted the chickens as part of ‘their pack’ they will become quite protective of them, and help deter foxes and other predators.
Rearing chicks, while very rewarding, requires a lot of extra care and attention if they are to thrive. It is critical for day-old chicks to be vaccinated against Marek’s Disease and Infectious Bronchitis Virus, and this should be done by the commercial supplier before you take them home.
Chicks should be reared for at least the first 3 weeks inside a draught-free enclosure, on clean, dry litter material (such as wood shavings or rice hulls), with a heat lamp or heater positioned so that the temperature at the level of the litter is 32oC to 35oC.
You should decrease the temperature gradually, aiming to reach about 21oC-24oC at 3-4 weeks of age. Once the birds are fully feathered, at around 5 or 6 weeks of age, they’ll be able to tolerate lower temperatures.
Remember that a chick’s beak is tiny and the feed should be appropriately sized. If you scatter the feed on paper around the feeders and drinking points for the first 24 to 48 hours, the young chickens will learn how to access their feed and water. We recommend using a water dispenser rather than a bowl, so that your chicks are not at risk of drowning.
With their soft feathers and gentle disposition, chickens can be lovely to hold, especially for kids. If your family wants to be able to pet and handle your chickens, then it’s best to start from an early age so the bird becomes used to it as it grows up.
The best way to hold a chicken is to put your hand under its body to support its weight. With your other hand hold the wings down, which will prevent the chicken from flapping about.
