Since [Molly the rooster moved out to the farm](http://green-change.com/2008/11/13/chicken-quest/), we’ve been wanting to get another chook or two for the chicken tractor.
Our three black silkies are just about to come into lay (I’ve been saying that for 3 weeks now!), but we thought it would be nice to get a ‘proper’ layer as well. We had decided on an [Australorp](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australorp), being an Australian-developed heritage breed. It’s good to support chicken diversity and keep the old breeds viable.
I’ve been scouring newspaper classifieds, searching the web, ringing poultry clubs, even asking at pet supply stores, and haven’t been able to find anyone with Australorps ready for sale. I’ll post an article soon on all the places I’ve found to get chickens for your backyard.
So we widened the search to other breeds and found a guy at Dapto selling a Cuckoo Leghorn, an interesting patterned variation of the Italian Leghorn breed. Leghorns are a medium-sized chook, and are very good layers. If you’re interested in buying from the same breeder, visit the [Backyard Poultry Notice Board](http://www.backyardpoultry.com/index.php?page=board.php) and search for ‘Gez’.
By the way, if you’re researching which breed of chicken to get start with [Wikipedia’s List Of Chicken Breeds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chicken_breeds) for good information on all of them.
Hannah and I called in on the way home from work this afternoon and picked her up. Hannah loved visiting the ‘farm’ and seeing the goats, sheep, ducks and horse. She chatted to our new chook all the way home in the car.
When we got home, we put our new lady in the chicken ark with the silkies. She made herself at home straight away, getting stuck into the feed and digging and scratching around in the garden scraps. She turned over more soil and scraps in the first half hour than the timid little silkies have moved in months!
Now we just have to all agree on a name for her!
What a gorgeous chook! Wow, you have me tempted to get on of these beauties and one Australorp now…Glad to hear she is settling in well.
We’ve been getting about 6 eggs a week from one of our silkies who is about 5 months old now. Our other silkie (who is a replacement for the 2 roosters we got by accident) is only 11 weeks old, and still has a way to go before laying. I think the older silky started laying about 25 weeks, with an egg here and there, but now it’s almost every day.
Good luck with finding a name, and we look foward to seeing your list of chicken contacts! Chickens really are all the rage – this months Organic Gardening magazine has 2 articles all about chooks 🙂
Cheers,
Ally and Rich
http://www.happyearth.com.au
Very cute. We’re on the look out for some new chooks – our girls are over 2 yrs old so we’re only getting about an egg a day. I’m going to give your contact a call.
Libby
Thanks guys! We like her, and it’s nice that she’s a little bit different. I think our silkies are about 20-22 weeks old now, I’ll have to do the maths to work it out. I thought they’d start laying about 20 weeks or so, but the chook guy yesterday told me they lay a bit later than other chooks so it might still be a few more weeks.
The leghorn should be in lay now, although we haven’t got an egg yet. Still, it hasn’t even been 24 hours :-).
I’ll have to check out the Organic Gardening mag – mine hasn’t arrived yet, so hopefully it’s waiting for me at home!
Darren.
Hi,
Very impressed you have chickens! It appears that everyone has chickens – with the blogs I read anyway. It is the one area of being sustainable I would love to get into but living in the inner city I don’t think it is fair on the chickens or our neighbours (and not sure if the Sydney local council will approve anyway).
I will enjoy reading about everyone’s chickens until the day I can have my own.
Thanks for the post.
Hi Sarhn,
Yeah, lots of the ‘green’ bloggers seem to have chickens. I guess it’s a relatively simple step to take, with a pretty good payoff. Chickens don’t need a lot of space, aren’t expensive to buy or keep, they’ll eat most of your kitchen and garden waste, they provide you with fertiliser, and they give you eggs. Oh, and lots of entertainment!
I only know of a few other households in Kiama that have chickens, though, and none of my immediate friends or neighbours do. When I was a kid, at least half of my friends had chickens. It seems everybody is too busy now.
Darren.
hallo I am lydon I’m 9 years old I bought small cuchoo can you tellme the size when he grow thks.
@Lydon: Welcome! I don’t have an actual cuckoo, just a chicken that has cuckoo plumage. I’m not sure how big your cuckoo will get.
I acquired a cuckoo mother and 11 chickens (wandered into a friends property). The feral little critters are hard to keep contained but I am winning. They have fully enclosed pen 5 m x 2-1/2m which normally keep my langshans, barneveldas, etc. safe and sound.