My 4 Hy-Line Girls

On the first day of Level 2 Lockdown I was off in the car to collect 4 young 13 week old brown Hy-line pullets. I had ordered them just before lockdown but had to wait several weeks until I could safely pick them up. 

It was a 2 1/2 hour journey one way to get them and I was wondering how they would travel. I needn't have worried as they just settled in the box and hardly made a peep all the way home. 

I was hoping I wouldn't have any stops on the way as 4 chooks in a box in a car could get quite hot! I was so careful not to speed as I didn't want to be pulled up and have to explain that I had 4 chooks on board. 

This made me remember of a funny thing that happened to me a while ago driving to Hamilton. I was going along at the speed limit when a Pukeko on the side of the road suddenly flew up towards my car. All I could see was it going up and over but I didn't see it land on the other side of the road. I thought it had got caught in the roof rack on my car. I couldn't really stop as the road was quite windy, and traffic was on my tail, but a couple of km's on there was a stop go and I had to stop. When I was stopped beside the lollipop lady I wound down my window and said "excuse me, but is there a Pukeko on my roof? "  She gave me the strangest look as if I was crazy and nervously glanced up towards the top of my car. "Ahh no, there isn't. Should there be?"  I realised how stupid this must have sounded so explained what had happened. She looked so relieved, then it was a green go for me so I drove off. I had a good chuckle thinking back on how this must have sounded! 

I have really missed not having beautiful fresh eggs since moving up to Coromandel, and you are allowed to have up to 6 chooks here in town, so it didn't take much convincing that I needed to get some chooks again. 

To me, chickens are an integral part of the food chain in a Forest Garden / Permaculture situation. They not only produce those glorious golden yoked, out of this world tasting eggs, but they help keep the bugs and weeds you don't want in your garden down, and at the same time leave behind rich beneficial manure. 

A win win all round! 

I was really lucky that my daughter and son in law didn't need their dog kennel anymore as their dog had become a right soft house dog, and they brought the kennel round here for the chook house and run. A quick purchase on Trademe got me 12 meters of chicken fencing which I managed to use as 2 boundaries of a run, and I used our existing boundary fence for 2 sides making a good big area for the girls to scratch around in. 

My husband Sandy made 2 awesome nest boxes and a perch that fits neatly inside the house. The roof of the kennel lifts up, so will be super easy to collect the eggs each day.

My eldest grand daughter is just so in love with the chooks, and checks everyday she comes inside the chook house incase there is an egg. I have decided that when the first egg is laid, I will leave it and get her to visit me, and let her 'find' it herself. How exciting that will be! 

The pullets came from a big poultry farm in Eureka near Hamilton and had been housed in wire cages.

It was amazing to watch them walking on the ground for the first time - tip toeing over grass and not really knowing what to do. They were pecking at everything they came across - like a baby putting everything in their mouths. I watched them for hours. 

Within a few days, they were totally behaving like normal chooks and are now enjoying any food scraps that is thrown their way and scratching and digging on the ground. 

We have a little Shih Tzu dog and I was wondering how things were going to go when she saw these 2 legged feathered things running around her yard. 

For the initial greeting, I locked the chooks up in the small run where it was totally dog proof.  She was quite interested in them, but wanted their droppings more than them! 

Gross!!!!

I let the girls out into their run, and then let the dog in with them with me to supervise.

Dog smelt chook. Chook poked/explored/pecked nicely dog. 

Dog smells chooks bum, chook nibbled dogs fur. 

Dog crouches down and yaps to play.  Chook looks at dog wondering what to do.

Dog yaps again.  Chook pecks dog nose. 

Dog backs off. 

Dog yaps again and pounces to play. Chook stands still and pecks dogs nose.

Dog gets bored. 

Dog wanders off and starts eating the poop off the grass again. 

Gross !!!!

Phew. That didn't draw blood anywhere. 

What a relief. 

I tend to feed my chooks on supermarket pellets. They are easy for me to get, and with only 4 chooks, a 10kg bag will last a long time. 

I had over 40 chooks on a previous property lifestyle block we owned a few years back and they went through so much food it was crazy - and with not great return of eggs!!

I have got a good amount of silver beet growing, and they are enjoying this. I pick a couple of leaves a day for them and from initially not knowing what to do with it, they are now pecking it and eating it with enjoyment. My last lot of chooks really loved Comfrey, so I have a lot planted around the garden so with a bit of luck they will like it too.

I am hoping that they will be laying in a few weeks time - after winter solstice on the 21st the days will begin to get longer again and egg production will be in a natural rhythm. They are 17 weeks old now, so a perfect age and time to come up to their point of lay. 

That first egg is going to be the best tasting egg ever!!!!

I can't imagine having this garden with no chooks now, and they are going to give me and many others a lot of pleasure to watch, listen and learn from them.

My belief is that a garden isn't really a garden until you have chooks......