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Chooks! What breeds do you have running around laying eggs?

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i think ill make an auto door for the house, it only happened because i forgot to lock them up that night

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i found the best fox deterrent is to pee around the perimeter of the chicken run. I hadnt peed round there for few weeks when the disaster happened

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Should also work for foxes , there a design concept on this page that works for our relentless chook killers. The jury is still out on if we have foxes here, a tiger quoll will kill the lot in one night then come back for the carcasses night by night after.

http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/SJON-52F7NQ?open

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Try building a chook dome. We used 20mm electrical tubing and bird mesh. It's pretty easy, just a pain to construct. No matter how easy those permaculture books make it look, there's nothing fun about weaving wire through jagged diagonally cut bird wire... but it's worth it. So far no snakes, goannas, foxes, eagles, etc... knock on wood. The roost in our chook dome is about 4ft off the ground and there's no way in other than digging under the frame. Do a DuckDuckGo and you'll find dozens of websites with instructions on how to build.

Otherwise, an Isa-Brown cross was our best chicken yet, followed us around like a dog, literally! Came when we called, etc... next best is Auracanas, they're very kind and good natured, and despite their tiny size they lay giant eggs, although not every day... Their hair-due is pretty funky. We've tried Sussex, they're huge birds that eat tonnes, and took the longest to start laying, and mere medium size eggs - a raw deal I say! Australorps is a great layer, no-nonsense bird. And we've tried a Sicilian buttercup as well, a very cute small/medium bird, but she doesn't lay all that much and her eggs are definitely smaller. Our leghorn is a major nuisance, always flighty, escaping like a ninja, never sociable, etc. Won't buy them again.

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My two chookies got munched a few nights back by Mr Fox. Was quite strange, I heard somthing middle of the night and went to check it out but nothing there. Next morn I find one dead on the lawn and one still in the cage which had been dug into. Both with necks snapped?

We always get Gingerhams. They are by far the friendliest chooks ive ever seen, thy will follow you everywhere incase you drop some food or stir up a worm. They each without fail pop out a nice big egg every day.

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The only chooks we could get in town were rhode island reds, they've been really friendly. A fox tried to dig under the coop last summer, though it gave up after about 30cm. It definitely helped burying a metre of mesh down when the coop was put up.

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I keep some Malay game and Asil. These birds are great with people but adult males will fight and can seriously hurt or kill each other. Wire fences are no use as they will fight thru the fence and cut their feet on the wire. So a solid fence up to waist height and wire above that is the way to go for most game types. Hens that do not know each other will also fight to set pecking order. Even with all that i still find these birds very enjoyable to own, and preserve some rare genetics at the same time. For normal old egg laying chooks i can recommend light or buff Sussex, Welsummers, Marans(can be costly), Aracauna(lays a blue to blue/green egg), New Hampshire, and Faverolles in the pure breeds. The Marans are prolific layers of large sized very dark brown eggs, but can be a bit flighty. The Aracauna is a very hardy breed with good egg production over a long life span and the blue egg, but are also a bit flighty and will head for trees if left to free range. The Sussex, Welsummer and New Hampshire would be quieter in nature and still with good egg production of brown eggs. The Faverolle would be the most layed back of them all in nature and will give you a good supply of eggs. I would ask you to consider keeping one of the pure breeds which ever one it may be and a rooster if local laws allow and help keep one of our heritage breeds going. Happy to pass on any tips or help i am able to make your chicken venture a happy one. Cheers Vulcan PS the best fox deterrent i have had was a pet fox i had that i found down a mine shaft, half starved and dehydrated at about 6 weeks old. Didn't have the heart to kill him, so i roped my way down and got him out. Took him home and raised him in a secure pen and called him Basil Brush. I could even walk him on a lead but after a while he would get sick of it and bite my boots. He was alright with me but totally unpredictable with anyone else. From the time he matured i never had foxes raid the property until he died 5 years later from snake bite. In my view he earned his dogfood and worm tablets for keeping other foxes away, and a funny little bugger to boot.

Edited by vulcan
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the best fox deterrent i have had was a pet fox i had that i found down a mine shaft, half starved and dehydrated at about 6 weeks old. Didn't have the heart to kill him, so i roped my way down and got him out. Took him home and raised him in a secure pen and called him Basil Brush

I love foxes. They remind me of half cat , half dog. I had a fox cub for about 4 days, but it was savage as anything, and wouldn't tame so we returned it to its den where we caught it. I came across another very small cub in a swamp one night, and it wasn't savage, but it let off some awful smell,lol,so i let it go. I think they are legal to keep as pets in NSW?!.

I have also had foxes chew the head off chooks in the past. They are cunning buggers, they keep coming back to find a way into the coop.

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Just got my first 2 chooks last week a Speckled Sussex and Black Australorp Hybrid , so far my best purchase ever. Just wish they would poop more

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post-1178-0-85279400-1392437913_thumb.jp

No longer have any poultry due to some arse hole cat. here's a pic of my pekin and silkie hanging out in there favorite place under the brug (where they were buried)

post-1178-0-85279400-1392437913_thumb.jpg

post-1178-0-85279400-1392437913_thumb.jpg

Edited by prier

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http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/AUTOMATIC-CHICKEN-DOOR-OPENER-HEN-HOUSE-COOP-DUCK-GEESE-/140896651238?pt=AU_Business_Industrial_Farming_Agriculture_Farming_Agriculture_Equipment&hash=item20ce1847e6&_uhb=1

I bought one of these and i have to say it is damn awesome. i can spend a weekend away now and not come back to dead chickens.

They did dick me around with delivery as im pretty sure they dont stock these in aus and ship from germany. It seems really well built and should last forever i think.

I made a door out of aluminium plate and plastic glass sliding door track and the whole thing works faultless

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