Backyard Chookies

Here are my feathered pals, and what they've taught me since I joined the poultry world.

Backyard chooks • Photography © Bottle and Brush Studio 2022

Keeping backyard poultry is a great hobby that is essential in a permaculture-style garden. Looking after chickens can be a beneficial and rewarding experience but… (there is always a but) can sometimes be overwhelming when things like extreme weather, sickness, bad behaviour or predator attacks occur. There is so much to know about “chooks” (nickname for chickens in Australia). You have to understand their nature, which helps to provide them with a suitable environment. They are prone to various diseases and parasites, so constant observation, care and coop hygiene are vital. If you are new to this and wish to keep a chicken flock in your garden, I’d recommend finding introductory books, joining poultry social media pages, and doing your research. I don’t consider myself an expert, but since I became a backyard poultry enthusiast, I just keep learning constantly. Every new bird I introduced into the flock has taught me a lesson. Fortunately, things always improve and get easier to manage with time.

Our first Tumba backyard ladies • Photography © Bottle and Brush Studio 2018-19

Years ago, when I was still in Montréal, my bestie Val started raising chickens in her suburban backyard. She was one of the pioneers of the backyard gardeners of my generation of friends falling for poultry keeping and breeds. Later, when I moved to Australia to join my hubbie in a rural environment, I also got into gardening and chickens. We first started with any breed we could easily get, like Isa browns. I was more interested in charismatic and diverse varieties like Val was, but it was not easy to find colourful fluffs at first. Locals suggested I go check out a poultry auction. We bid and won a pair of Australian Langshans and blue Silkie pullets. We still have Sheila, one of the Langshans (my hubbie’s favourite), she’s now our oldest hen and still lays eggs occasionally. But the Silkies were returned as they had health issues that I did not want to spread in my flock. I wish I had done a better job of inspection on-site... The last time we went to check an auction, I was more experienced and aware of poultry diseases and could notice just by the look a fair amount of birds with infectious conditions... that shocked me. My advice now is, to find a good breeder, visit the farm, ask to inspect the birds and discuss some “return policy”. You will save time and money on the birds and with the vet.

In good company • Photography © Bottle and Brush Studio 2020

When I joined local poultry groups on social media and met breeders to buy my chickens directly, things got more exciting but also brought me more new challenges. Introducing point-of-lay hens, young chicks or hatching fertile eggs are all very different adventures with pros and cons, and different costs. Sexed pullets can be more difficult to "train" and approach, but at least you don't end up (or should not) with surprises. Chicks a few weeks old are fun but can be very flighty and will need to be separated from the flock a little longer than the two-week quarantine (recommended time) before introduction. Hatching fertile eggs under a broody hen and getting very young chicks are the best, as they are so cute and will be raised your way. But like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get. Sometimes, I had different breeds than what I was sold… or with a few roosters. Some people would not recommend mixing breed sizes in a flock, but that is not impossible (I guess that can depend on having a rooster and its size). With supervision at first and by slowly letting them get used to each other, they will establish their hierarchy, become pals and size won't matter much then. I have bantam chooks that took pecking order on top of my giant ones straight away. My favourite breed is the Belgian Barbu D’Uccle. They are small, easy to manage, and so cute with their beardy cheeks and feathered "booted" legs.

Various breeds, colours and sizes • Photography © Bottle and Brush Studio 2019-21

Minnie, a buff Millefleur was our first D'Uccle and she's our very special one. The name of that variety refers to French “millefleurs”, meaning thousands of flowers. This is due to the feather pattern that multiplies at every moult, plus they are like living flower bouquets in the garden. She has a "scissor beak" unaligned malformation, but that has never been too much of a problem. We had her as a special exchange from the breeder, and she bonded with me very quickly as she was single and too little to introduce to other pullets. She was hanging out in my veggie garden, jumping on my shoulders at sunset, snuggling under my hair and then I was putting her back in a pet box for the night. That was only a few weeks before the bushfires, so she and our cat (who's chook friendly) came with us when we evacuated. Sadly we could not bring all the other ones, it was an awful thing to leave them but they were big enough to look after themselves for a few days with plenty of food, water and access to the whole garden. We were grateful to some neighbours who stayed in town and looked after them while we were away as the fire threats lasted longer than a few days... Minnie was a little sunflower in the darkest times while we were evacuees and our hosts were in love with her. She stayed inside with us as the air was extremely hot and thick with smoke. When we came back, we found Minnie some D'Uccle siblings. She's a happy chookie!

Minnie • Photography © Bottle and Brush Studio 2019-21

Both D’Uccles and Silkies are "wanna-be mamas". After a dozen eggs, they go clucky. That can be a little annoying to manage as my chickens don't like queuing for egg laying (even though there are many nests available they all want the same one for some reason). As I only let a hatch happen once a year, I have to "break" their broodiness as while they sit on eggs, they don’t eat or drink enough. I had a Silkie-D'Uccle cross called Rockie, extremely devoted to being a mum. I found fertile eggs and had my first experience of hatching chicks with her. It is so beautiful to watch the natural instinct and how a broody hen feeds and teaches the chicks everything. Working from home is an advantage when raising chicks, as you still have to check on them quite often. Rockie had a thick layer of very soft feathers, which made it very cozy and warm for little chicks to snuggle in. Bantam can raise larger breeds without any problem until they get bigger than the mum... At that stage, the mum usually wants to return with the flock. Chicks are spoiled being raised in my veggie garden... and my backyard is fenced and netted so I can protect them, and my veggie crops.

Our chooks are pretty spoiled in our backyard environment. They are fun to watch and surely make us laugh. On top of that, they fertilise the garden with their poop and do some good pest control by eating bugs. In return for all the feed and treats, we get some free-range eggs with delicious and deep yellow yolks! Since 2022, my chook's photography has been published in a few issues of ABC Organic Gardener Magazine, including two covers!

Coming up: a story about poultry photography including some tips and behind-the-scenes!

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