Photo from: http://animalia-life.com/data_images/chicken/chicken5.jpg

Chickens are popular pets nowadays, and they are fantastic pets for all kinds of families and backyards. Chickens are curious, have individual personalities and often become a much loved family member, especially with small children.

Although low maintence, chickens do require some important basic care.

As with all pets we recommend that you inquire with us before purchasing chickens to make sure they are the right pet for you.

Our basic care guidelines:

To start with they will need protective shelter from the weather, predators (such as foxes and dogs), a place for their food and water to be kept, nesting boxes for laying and perches for sleeping. Their enclosure ideally should let a lot of natural light in to minimise the potential of vermin and parasites living in the chook house. 'Chook tractors' are easily available and allow  the house to be moved around the yard, this is beneficial for the chickens health as they have new fresh ground every few days, and is good for your yard to spread manure. If your chicken house isn’t portable it is best to have a non permeable floor so it can easily be cleaned.

Chickens need fresh clean water available at all times, and a complete food source like pellets or mix grain such as 'Redhen'. It is best to have their food and water containers off the ground or hanging, for hygiene reasons.

Chickens may be wormed twice yearly; however a worming regime is individual and depends on the weather, housing and number of birds being introduced to the flock. There are a few different administering options for bird worm products; a product into the water, a liquid given into the mouth or a tablet. Please drop in to discuss your individual bird’s needs.

Chooks are susceptible to a few different viral diseases, vaccinating chickens is done in commercial farming and vaccines can be hard to find for the hobby farmer with just a few chooks. A healthy chicken's immune system with a healthy environment should be able to protect itself against most illnesses that are faced in a hobby farm situation.

Different breeds of chicken will lay varying amounts of eggs through the year. All chooks go through an ‘off season’ in winter where egg production dramatically slows or stops through harsh conditions, this is normal, and laying will start again with the longer light days and warmer weather. Chooks may also 'moult' their feathers and grow new ones; they may stop laying during the moult period.