WELCOME

Hi there, and welcome to the chicken keeper, this blog is devoted to the keeping of chickens, and the trials and tribulations that go with it, I also would like to share my D.I.Y tips and ideas. We started keeping chickens in September 2008, which is about the time I started on the recycling drive, and self sufficient lifestyle. List of Poultry we have at present, 4 Brown Shavers, two are in lay, two aren’t laying at the moment, the others are one Minorca, (in lay), one Light Sussex, and one Wyandotte Gold Lace . At present we live on a 1/3 of an acre with a creek running through the back, in Waitakere City, which is part of the greater Auckland area in the North Island of New Zealand, although i’m originally London/Irish and the other half is from Waterford, in Ireland. We arrived from the UK in April 2008, the aim is to attain 10 acres, to become truely self sufficient.
I work as a local handyman, and the other half is a teacher at the local primary school, we feel we have moved to a lovely community, we have already met half the street, mainly through the fact that we are keeping chickens, unlike other big cites of the world people still stop each other in the street for a chat, or strike up conversation with strangers, a forgotten pastime.
Comments are very welcome, I hope you enjoy the site and maybe find some of it useful.

Nest Share

Hi there keepers, I try to write my posts first thing in the morning when the brain is supposed to be alert, I make a coffee, roll a smoke, and sit down to type. So far today I have sorted out the feeder, it’s getting a bit clogged up with the damp weather, then I went to collect the eggs. Yesterday when cleaning out the coop, which was very messy, as it has been raining so much I haven’t felt inclined to stand out in the rain scooping chicken poo, well I noticed Manuella the Minorcan has stopped laying under the coop, she is the fussiest layer, if you so much as touch the egg that you are leaving behind in the nest, she will kick it outof the nest, she has done this on three occassions, and finally she has decided to move her nest, just when I had tracked down Daphne and Daisy’s new spot, and found the new nest of Betty.
I decided to clear the nest that Daphne and Daisy are using, it had been two days since I checked it , again due to the weather, and to my surprise found it contained three Minorca eggs too, so it would appear three out of the four current layers are using the same nest, which makes my life a bit easier, and dryer, as I only have to negotiate one damp shrubbery. So the girls have come to their senses and set up a time share nest in Mani’s garden next door, fortunately they have set it down just over the small bamboo fence, which I can easily reach. I wonder do they know Nancy is only inches away from them, just behind the trellis, sitting broody on an egg about six weeks old, I hope she doesn’t break it, the smell would be awful, the neigbours wouldn’t be too happy either as it is just by their outdoor seating area.

NEW ARRIVALS

We have increased our breeds kept by 300%, sounds like alot when you put it that way, but infact all we did was get 3 new chicks all of different breeds, than the one, Brown Shavers we already had.

We now have a Black Minorca ( Maria) spanish origins, also lays in the winter which will be great when the others have stopped laying, also we got a Light Sussex ( Dorothy), english breed, and then the last is Betty the Wyandotte Gold Lace origins in America.

I now need to re-erect the run i had just pulled down, as the other birds are free ranging through the whole garden, and a bit through next doors garden too. It is lovely to have a variety of hens, I can see how people start like this and end up with far too many, it must become a bit of a collection obsession,' oh, I must get one of those Silkies they look so fluffy' and so on.

The neighbours kids came over after school with my son, and swapped chicken stories, as they keep White Shavers themselves, which started me thinking, do you start to meet loads of people who keep chickens, when you yourself do, a bit like, when you get a new car, you start to notice others on the road, of the same model.

So on we go, 8 birds now, 5 hens and 3 chicks, I ahven't mentioned that the breeder where we bought the chicks, also breeds pigs, hmmmmmmm?