chook pen

Anyone know of a chookpen for sale in melbourne area. Looking to house my girls for the winter as neighbours do not like the noise they make when cackling! To date they are free ranging down the side of the house and shelter under a roof at night. I aim to build a simple shed with recycled timber however looking fro ideas. Isa

 

:twisted:

 

chook pen

Yippee! chickadee!
I had found this page before, and thought I bookmarked it – but and I have searched and searched and not been able to find it- THANK You.
I actually want to modify the igloo ones to make a goat tractor.
Anyone with any comments to make about the concept of a goat tractor?

 

You know, I'm not sure that goats make really good "tractors". They just aren't built right.
You can castrate a young male and train him up to carry loads for you, (apparently), but getting him to pull a plow or a rotary hoe would seem to be asking a lot.
You can tie them out to get them to graze/browse certain areas, but this is a bit tricky, since they are such social animals and will get tangled up on each others ropes or get their ropes tangled in brush, if that is what you are wanting them to "tractor". Actually confining a goat to a small area seems pretty contradictory to their natures. It might be fair enough with a pig or some chooks, but I don't like the idea of doing it to a goat. They just want to frolic around and be free, man...

 

Richard,

I had a goat tethered for 8 years, on the lawn for the dry season and out in the long grass for the wet season.

She did wonderfully, at nearly all the cooch out of the lawn, all the round leaf weeds, she trimmed the tamarind, ate all the frangipani leaves she could get. She even gave a big bouganvillea her best shot. [the bouganvillea won].

Gertie was supplementary fed sometimes, let loose sometimes but she would normally run into the house when that happened. She liked to be near the family if we were having a meal outside.

Gertie turned a wild wild 1/2 acre yard into something resembling a normal garden. She did kill a grapevine once but that was all. We moved her every day and made sure she had access to shelter and water.

Apart from milk and 3 kids [which we ate] she was a great pet, family member and did a fine job in a tropical situation.

As a 'tractor' goats dont like 'stale' food all the time if left in any one spot for too long they simply stop eating and start losing weight.. So not what I would advocate for a tractor, chooks & pigs for tractors..

cheers

 

chook pen

Ok thanks for that input.
I will think about it further. I definitely dont want the goats running wild. I cant tether because I am concerned a/ dogs and foxes b/ neighbours. On Saturday we had to have a mini working bee at the back of my property because one of my neighbours from a few properties along decided to cut down a willow tree and throw the lot uphill over my 2m chainwire fence. I protested, and they were on site 8am Sat to remove it (not entirely in good humour bout it, but there nonetheless). I spoke about getting goats to help keep down the paddy lucerne and other woody weeds and stuff that is overgrown in that corner. But they immediately told me tethering was “cruel”, and since they will be itching for revenge given their public humiliation re the dumping issue, would report me the same day I bought them. Nothing else is as suitable as goats to get rid of all this vegative rubbish. I cant even slash down there because there is too much fallen timber and there are too many “landmines” for even my magical Grillo. I cant get anyone to come and slash for me – job is “too big” or “too small” or “too much trouble and not worth it”. And the next thing will be for the vengeful neighbours to have council issue me with a clean up notice. Yonks ago my Dad would have had a small cold-burn autumn/winter grass fire and cleaned the place up, but you cant do that anymore either!

 

Oh! I see what you are getting at. You could probably tether a goat in an area like the corner you describe periodically, and put her in a pen at night that would protect her from the dogs.
I had a different idea in mind when you said "tractor"...
I would research them a lot first before jumping in and just getting a goat though. As Mike points out they are very intelligent and social creatures. It is easy to form attachments to them as you would a pet, which makes it harder to manage them as livestock!
We have a small herd now, with both of our does having given birth to 5 kids in total. They require a fair amount of care, as all animals do when you keep them in captivity...

 

Movable electric fencing may be your answer to confining the goats and keeping out canine predators. You can get solar-powered ones. The kind most often seen around here are the 1 or 2cm wide tape, but they also come in netting form.

Also, if the plants you want down are brush types, goats are good. If it is grass-type, sheep are better.

Sue

 

chook pen

Yes Sue, think I need goats. The property ran about 5 sheep between 7 and 15 years ago and they ate all the grass, giving the woody weeds and crap an unfair advantage.
Wont rush in – will put this back in the 'when I get to it box'.
I just got fired up cause of the rude behaviour of the neighbours right down the back. I thought if I got the woody weeds under control they might be less tempted to treat my property like the town tip. But I think the message got through anyway.
Yesterday I saw an absolute Rolls Royce Buckingham Palace bloody chook pen at a community garden. I am a quiver with envy.

 

"Yesterday I saw an absolute Rolls Royce Buckingham Palace bloody chook pen at a community garden. I am a quiver with envy."

Your chooks would never know the difference. (pat, pat)

Sue

 

Hah Neighbours !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How the heck is cackling noisy &*(^ me some people just get so patheticly week and have nothing better to do with their minds....

They should try living next door to my neighber @ roosters crowing 23.9 hours a day

Some people as so fussy ...

Tezza

Oh yeah Chooks dont reall require a Buckingham palace style house.naturally they live in jungles .... oron ground or in branches

The thing they do require above all else Is a DRY Warm/Cool area at all times of the year,ample drinking water,and good fresh scratching and green feed if you want yummy orange yolked eggs,And of course to be safe from predators ,human or nimal

Tezza

 

:twisted:

 

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mate... I am gobsmacked, truly



Cheers

Floot

 

Chickadee, from your description, I think I can safely say *MY* house probably isn't as sturdily constructed as your chook house!

Now, HOW many eggs will it take to pay for itself???

Sue

 

Ha Ha Ha ....thats the thing about chook houses the can cost sweet F A or a queens ransom......mine was allready there wen i moved ..it was a shed still is but a chook shed now :lol: :lol: :lol: They nevr have to be to fancy just practible warm and dry and breezy when needed..Mines 10foot high 40 foot long by 13width,more then enough room for what i need i can accomidate a 100 if need be but dont swear to that.lolol.my chooks are on open range and come and go as they please,wich suits me fine,i can go camping or away at nite and not worry.On the floor i mix up straw and choppd herbs as ground cover,to keep odours away,and also in chook pest controls,i have seperate nesting boxes,that they like to shre lol.i place their water outside to avoid dampness in shed.My stock of chooks is basicly Rhode Island Reds.as these truly are The best breed of birds Ive ever had...Nice freindly,Lovely coloured eggs(brown)Great mothers,They dont normally jump over fences 1 meter fences,Lay eggs 5/6 out of seven days,when young.Able to hatch eggs and care for their Offspring and even accept others as their own...I had that with a mum whose only hatched egg died of cold after a week She took over and looked,help feed and warned of danger to chiks 4 weeks old who she never new and was even hostile to when she was hatching her own eggs,that was a first for me 8) 8)
Good Luck with Buck Palace

Tezza

 

Yeah i love RIR's they are beautiful.
if they are about at the farm then i'll definately go for a couple of them.
I also like the brahma's with there fat furry legs they look so cool.
the araucana are interesting with them easter eggs and the houdan's aren't bad either.

any of them ones will be a bonus if i find them, otherwise it may just be a few isa browns and a few leghorn crosses.

geez i'm starting to get excited again talking chookies, it's raining a bit so i can't do much today, just running around collecting water as i do.

 

I used to cross isa browns with R.I.Reds to make my flock,but i got a lot of flack about not using old breads..So now my flock has been boken up Ill be going back to str8 R.I.Reds......Dont want to upset some people,

It pays to check out the chooks before purchasing any.Some people only want brown eggs.....not much use bying leghorns..
Some want an egg a day, most breeds from experience dont go near that,
Feather foots get untidy on free range if they scratch and forage..
Dark feathered chooks dont seam to go missing as much as white/light coloureds,maybe the foxes are racists in my town :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Tezza

 

"Dark feathered chooks dont seam to go missing as much as white/light coloureds,maybe the foxes are racists in my town"

I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find that white birds are more easily spotted from the air (hawks) and at night (foxes, opossums). Maybe they are "glow-in-the-dark" birds! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Sue

 

:razz: